Train 4 Southwest chef really got hosed by a stalled freight train

[dwebarts]

Just curious, if a late running train arrives at Chicago Union Station during the hours it is closed, 11:59 PM to 5:30 AM, are the passengers allowed to remain in the building if they have a connection with a train departing later or to summon a taxi? Or does security just escort the passengers to an exit? I've changed trains in Chicago several times but always during regular business hours.

I didn't even think of this, since WAS is my home station and with the NEC routes, it's open 24 hours. When I was traveling to Montreal a few years back, I just took a late-night Metro train down and waited for the early AM NEC without issue.

Are WAS, NYP, and (presumably) LAX the only stations open all night? I'd hope that at least some of the West Coast stations are as well with the lengthy commutes for many to be able to afford rent/mortgages.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I don't know about the Super Chief, but on December 2, 1967, the westbound Twentieth Century Limited, on its very last run into Chicago, arrived nine hours late due to a freight derailment near Conneaut, Ohio.

By then nobody cared except for some of the Passengers on the 20th Century, and probably a few Train Buffs were glad to have more time aboard.

 

[Asher]

If you are 2 hrs late and miss a connection it’s liable to cost you 24hrs.

 

[west point]

Late arrivals in CHI might have problems as there are more openings for customer service representatives there. This weeks openings in careers for many cities..

 

[JWM]

I know you are being sarcastic but I wonder what would happen back in the Santa Fe, pre Amtrak days if the Super Chief was 19 hours late?

From experience with the late President, John S. Reed, pre-Amtrak. The "Super" got priority always. Late had better be explained with a darned good reason.

 

[MARC Rider]

I didn't even think of this, since WAS is my home station and with the NEC routes, it's open 24 hours. When I was traveling to Montreal a few years back, I just took a late-night Metro train down and waited for the early AM NEC without issue.

Are WAS, NYP, and (presumably) LAX the only stations open all night? I'd hope that at least some of the West Coast stations are as well with the lengthy commutes for many to be able to afford rent/mortgages.

I was once on a Capitol Limited with a connection for Baltimore that was over 10 hours late. And the NEC doesn't run 24 hours. The last train north out of Washington is 66, leaving at about 10 PM. I made the connection only because they held 66 for me. Given that 66 is a slow overnight train with lots of padding, the late departure probably didn't mean a late arrival for most of the passengers.

Washington Union Stations is open 24 hours, but I remember once taking a MARC train at 11 PM (back when MARC had such a late departure), and the place was pretty spooky quiet. Baltimore Penn Station is closed from 2 AM to 3 AM, but that doesn't mean that the ticket office is always open when the station is, as I found once when I took a 4 AM train to New York.

 

[dwebarts]

Washington Union Stations is open 24 hours, but I remember once taking a MARC train at 11 PM (back when MARC had such a late departure), and the place was pretty spooky quiet. Baltimore Penn Station is closed from 2 AM to 3 AM, but that doesn't mean that the ticket office is always open when the station is, as I found once when I took a 4 AM train to New York.

It's definitely quiet late at night. I mainly took the last Red Line Metro to get there past midnight so I didn't risk being late due to rideshare issues trying to make the first train in the early morning. My memory recalls (perhaps falsely) that the first NER left earlier in 2017 than it does now. Metro surely ran later than it currently does.

 

[dlagrua]

About seven years ago during the height of the oil rush in the Bakkens (ND) our EB came into CHI 12 hours late (at 3 AM) causing us to miss our CL connection. In those days Amtrak had a bus waiting in CHI and put us up for the night in a Chicago suburb. The next day we lucked out and continued our trip to WAS in a bedroom. Normal delays seem to run and hour or even two but this one was the exception, also due to excessive freight traffic on the rails.

 

[Willbridge]

In 1997 I was traveling DEN>RAT>KCY>STL and Train 4 derailed in snow while pulling into a siding at Model, Colorado. Braking from about 5 mph, only the lead truck was off. We spent most of the night there and crossed Kansas in daylight, getting ahead of the snowstorm. We missed the afternoon KCY>STL train and were taken by vans to arrive in STL sometime around 3 a.m.

Since then the worst was Train 6 seven hours late into Chicago in 2017. We were put up in a hotel and provided with taxi vouchers and a food voucher good in Chicago Union Station.