Questions about the Lincoln - Denver, Denver - Lincoln run

[5280 Guy]

On the CZ, I believe there are crew changes in Denver, Lincoln, and Ottumwa on the way to Chicago. The toughest one, I would think, would be the stretch from Denver to Lincoln (and back). It's late at night, it's really desolate, and it's a bumpy ride. I rode it earlier this week. It was -8 degrees and we were rolling at around 80 mph. There is something really cool about that. If I were an engineer, that's the route I would want.

I know sometimes they only have one person up front. Do they most likely have two on that leg of the trip?

 

[zephyr17]

Denver-Lincoln, the engineer district, is carded at 7:17 eastbound and
8:1810 westbound. Since the run is scheduled at greater than 6 hours, 2 engineers are required in the cab. That's per union agreement, not regulation.

The longer schedule westbound is pretty much pad into Denver.

BTW, this run is an example of different engineer and conductor districts. Engineer districts are Denver-Lincoln, Lincoln-Ottumwa, and Ottumwa-Chicago, while conductor districts are Denver-Omaha and Omaha-Chicago.

 

[5280 Guy]

Interesting. Do the carded numbers refer to run time?

 

[zephyr17]

Interesting. Do the carded numbers refer to run time?

Yes, "carded" means the scheduled time.

 

[John Santos]

Don't forget, Denver is on Mountain time, Lincoln is on Central, so there is a skipped hour going east, or a duplicated hour going west.

 

[zephyr17]

Scheduled timings I quoted take the time change into account.

Eastbound 6 is scheduled to leave Denver at 6:59 pm MT and arrives Lincoln at 3:16 am CT. Adjusting that to 2:16 am for the time change, 5:01 + 2:16 = 7:17

Westbound 5 is scheduled to leave Lincoln at 12:46 am CT and arrives Denver at 7:56 am MT. Again, adjusting that to 8:56 am for the time change, that is 8:10 (sorry for the typo of 8:18 above).

Between Denver and Ft. Morgan, the first station east of Denver, is 6 eastbound is scheduled for 1:18, while 5 westbound is scheduled for 2:10. That 52 minute difference is pad ("recovery time") for 5 into Denver.

 

[5280 Guy]

Thanks, both of you. That answers it well. To figure the actual travel time would you subtract the pad time, or is that just the time offset between 5 and 6 so that Denver can get ready for the arrive of #5?

I wonder how the equipment fares in those harsh conditions. At Galesburg I noticed a lot of ice and snow on the trucks. I couldn't help but wonder how much the blowers were used for the traction motors at really low temps (and lots of wind), as well as what the temperature would be in the engine compartment when it's 8 below. Maybe comfortable, This might be a question for railroad.net.

 

[zephyr17]

Thanks, both of you. That answers it well. To figure the actual travel time would you subtract the pad time, or is that just the time offset between 5 and 6 so that Denver can get ready for the arrive of #5?

The scheduled duration is what determines whether or not a run requires a second engineer, irrespective of whether or not pad is included in that schedule.

The actual trip time will vary. In perfect conditions it will be about what it would be without the pad and the train will arrive quite early.

Denver has about 11 hours between the departure of 6 and the arrival of 5, about 10 if 5 uses none of the pad. That is plenty of time.

The reason for the pad is pretty much so moderate delays don't snowball down the line and the train can get back on time. There is a reason the official nomenclature is "recovery time", it is to recover the schedule.