Amtrak has stopped the Crescent south of Birmingham, the City of New Orleans south of Memphis, and the Sunset Limited east of San Antonio until at least Wednesday, posssibly later depending on damage. However, Amtrak started evacuating New Orleans residents to Memphis at 0800 this morning using its New Orleans based equipment. I would appreciate if anyone has an update on this last, especially if you are involved with this evacuation, or Amtrak in the southeast in general....Thanks
Ken, the closest-point-approach of the eye is forecast to be about 130 miles west of Gulfport in the early afternoon on Monday. This is forecast to give the coastal area 40-50 mph sustained winds with 60-70 mph gusts, and a 14-19 foot storm surge. A mandatory evacuation has been ordered for all coastal residents with homes less than 25 feet above sea level, and for ALL folks still living in temporary housing units issued by FEMA after Hurricane Katrina. We are fortunate in that we built a new home following Katrina, 25 miles north of the coast, and 165 feet above sea level. So our major concern is loss of power for a prolonged period, though we have a small genny. That, and the hope that close friends who are evacuating to our home don't bring their dog(s) - our two cats would go ballastic. :tb-wacky:
Welcome to TN?! No refuge for those who stay in New Orleans | www.tennessean.com | The Tennessean This time the storm refugees appear to be headed for TN. Bus & train headed to Memphis. The TN guard, Red Cross, will all be involved. I've seen a report that 1,000 may already be on the train to Memphis. EDIT: only 1,000 Per Train It appears a normal CONOL takes 7:47-7:55 to make the trip. Complicating the journey is the pothole at Memphis, still not fixed? Passengers may have to get off the train & board buses 10 miles from downtown Memphis. http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/aug/30/amtrak-bringing-hundreds-storm-evacuees-memphis/
Hank= Sounds like you may be in a decent position to ride this one out. Guess that won't be known for certain, until after it blows through. 1500 on a train sounds like a bit of a crowd. Boxcab E50
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/aug/31/first-four-trains-carrying-gustav-evacuees-arrives/ FYI the Commercial Appeal is the Memphis TN newspaper.
Hank, Hope you make it through this one okay. looks like it's going to be a nasty storm. The evacuation trains look like they will be some positive press for Amtrak for a change.
Nice article, hope the national media picks up on it, and without putting their usual negative spin to it.
Ken, Darren, and others, our area, 25 miles north of the water and about 125 miles east of the storm center, had sustained winds around 40 mph with gusts to 60, and about 5" rain. Folks within a mile of water's edge saw 75 mph winds with gusts to 90, and up to 19 feet of storm surge. The high water for western coastal Mississippi is common because any storm surge from the southeast is channeled into a funnel created by the Mississippi River delta to the southwest and the Alabama-Mississippi coasts to the north. This funnel narrows to only a few miles across as it approaches the Bay of St. Louis, Pearl River mouth, and Lake Ponchartrain outlet, which forces the water to rise significantly, e.g. 19 feet with Gustav, and 32 feet with Katrina. By comparison, the surge at Pascagoula, MS, 50 miles east of St. Louis Bay, was only 7 feet. Having moved from near the CSX tracks, I don't know if trains are running yet, nor on NS, KCS, and BNSF/UP. I doubt if they are, because I assume that Gentilly Yard (CSX), Harahan Yard (KCS), Avondale Yard (BNSF/UP), and the Huey Long bridge approaches all flooded. Furthermore, New Orleans lost most of its electrical power, meaning no water or sewer systems. Lastly, the New Orleans evacuees are being ordered to NOT return until late in the week when most of the electrical is hoped(!) to be restored.
Glad to hear that all is well. From what I have heard, although there was damage, and people dislocated, that storm passed and weakened quickly. Boxcab E50
Found some pictures of FEMA 1 & 2: FEMA 1 - AMTK 87 & AMTK 63 FEMA 2 - AMTK 13 & AMTK 12 Anyone on TB that can get a shot of the return trips???
Thanks for posting those photos, Glen. Shawn Levy took some nice shots. I don't recognize the location, but that looks like a well preserved station. I doubt if it's a scheduled stop for the City of New Orleans because the brickwork platform doesn't extend to the tracks. I don't think Amtrak allows passengers to board from ballast, though I could be wrong. It's interesting that Amtrak would have used ConnDOT (Metro-North?) SP2000 cars seeing as how New Orleans is about 1200 miles from the New York Metro area. Makes for an expensive staging move.....:tb-confused: BTW, I think CSX ran a train to New Orleans last night about 10:00. The studios of our local TV station, WLOX-TV, are next to the tracks just east of a grade crossing, and I heard a horn being picked up by the anchor's mikes during the 10:00 news broadcast. The tracks are about 50 feet from the studio wall. The walls are insulated, but not well enough to block westbound horns, just eastbounds.....:tb-tongue:
Ray Stewart just posted a Customer Service release on the CSX Forum. CSX says they'll be out of service for 2 weeks while they repair about 26 miles of track east of New Orleans. Guess the horn I heard last night was an inspection Hi-Railer.
