Train 5 is connected to the back of train 3 leaving Chicago today due to a washout on train 5's route. The conductor says that they will either separate them at Galesburg or Kansas City.
Train 3 & 5 are one today (8/23/14)
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DesertRat
Lead Service Attendant
Interesting. Does this procedure happen often?
LittleTuck
Train Attendant
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Can someone please elaborate on the washout on train 5's route and does anyone know how long this washout will last? I am a bit concerned as I will be on the CZ next Sunday. Thanks in advance.
I am on train 3/5 and was wondering were the engines for train 5 were coming to come from when they separate the two trains.
Just went around a long curve and found the engines, they are on the rear of this very long train.
Just went around a long curve and found the engines, they are on the rear of this very long train.
fixj
Service Attendant
Amtrak's Trak-A-Train shows 5 in Napperville and 3 in Princeton. That is a long train!
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Since someone may ask about this later, I'm assuming they're hooked up together for dispatching purposes.
Gemuser
Service Attendant
> The conductor says that they will either separate them at Galesburg or Kansas City.
Ok, if they separate in Galesburg, but if they do so in KC how will No 5 get back to its route? What problems will that cause ob the non Amtrak routes?
Ok, if they separate in Galesburg, but if they do so in KC how will No 5 get back to its route? What problems will that cause ob the non Amtrak routes?
No. The standard detour for when something goes wrong with the regular route through southern Iowa is sending the Zephyrs on the Union Pacific mainline through northern Illinois and Iowa to Omaha, where they would rejoin the usual route. I've been told that a detour through Kansas City has been done before, but being combined with the Southwest Chief wasn't mentioned.
The trains were separated in Galesburg.
See post #6 - I knew someone would ask.
Haven't gotten verification, though, of my assumption.
And I'm guessing they did it that way because they were not sure if the trains would separate in GBB or at KCY.See post #6 - I knew someone would ask.
I once rode number 4 on a detour from Kansas City to Galesburg over the BN route via Quincy....very interesting...we rejoined the Santa Fe line at Galesburg. Lost about two hours on that detour, not bad, considering.....
I wonder if that route still exists today, I recall it partially used some N&W (former Wabash) trackage rights.....
I wonder if that route still exists today, I recall it partially used some N&W (former Wabash) trackage rights.....
neroden
Engineer
That route is still there, or at least was there in 2004. Not sure what condition it's in.
BNSF owns the route from KC towards Council Bluffs on the east side of the river, through St. Joseph. If I read the map correctly, it meets the regular route at Pacific Junction.
That is correct. And from Pacific Junction they have three options....continue north to Council Bluffs, then use trackage rights over the UP bridge into Omaha, or cross the Missouri on the BN bridge to Plattsmouth, then north to Omaha (the current regular route), or if they want to try to make up some time, take the freight short-cut route from Plattsmouth up to Oreapolis, then west to Ashland, rejoining the regular route into Lincoln....it would save time, but mean bypassing Omaha....
Is this the Brookfield Subdivision? It uses NS trackage rights to access Kansas City.
It doesn't appear the tracks actually run north-south through Pacific Junction. North of the junction is the Council Bluffs Subdivision; to the south, the Napier Subdivision.
So, without a reverse manoever, there's no way to get to Council Bluffs.
Probably one engineer to run combined train over certified territory or even preventing disruption with crews' schedule.
According to my 1978 Rand McNally RR Atlas, and this current BNSF map http://www.bnsf.com/customers/pdf/maps/carload_map.pdf , there is, or was...
But if you look at Google Earth, it does appear that the line north of the junction has been removed for a short segment for some reason...I suppose that all trains from Kansas City are sent via Plattsmouth instead of Council Bluffs now....so, you are correct...they would have to make a reverse move and use the connecting legs to get to Council Bluffs.
Years ago, the Amtrak SFZ went via Council Bluffs semi regularly....I don't know why they did, unless they chose whichever route had less congestion at the time....
PaulM
Engineer
Assuming the washout occurred in Iowa (the usual suspect) or at the Illinois approach to the Mississippi crossing, this is the only explanation that makes any sense. Amtralk must not have know by departure time whether the wash out would be fixed. Apparently it was fixed by the time the combined train reached GBB.
Now if it occured east of GBB, the both trains would have to take another route between CHI and GBB; and the dispatching / qualified on the route explanation for combining them woukd make sense. Except that there would be no question of them having to separate at KCY.
The title & the 1st post say it happened on the 23rd.
Yes - I was offering a comment narrowing the window in terms of when it happened/began... so yes, sometime after 5(22) passed through but before 5(23) did [possibly related to all the rain we ran into driving from the west coast to OMA - had never seen so much flashflood damage in the four corners area, nor such an extent of thunderstorms afterwards].
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