Sten: It should be a nice rail trip around the USA. We will railfan the morning of the 6th in San Antonio since your Amtrak trip will be interrupted by the hurricane damage in New Orleans. See you Monday night, Sep 5th (USA time). Also, check email. A sudden change in plans has caused this short notice stop on the Sunset Limited. Sten will fly from San Antonio, TX to Orlando, FL on Tuesday, Sep 6th. I am sure that several other travelers will be re-routed because of the damage. Any ideas when the Sunset Route will be restored? It will affect freight, too. [ September 17, 2005, 06:35 AM: Message edited by: sapacif ]
From BNSF News Letter: Hurricane-Damaged Line Expected to Open Thursday 2005-08-31 BNSF expects to open its line between Lafayette, La., and New Orleans late tomorrow, Thursday, Sept. 1, after crews complete repairs to a bridge over Bayou Boeuf at Morgan City, La. The bridge was stuck by floating equipment as a result of wind and wave action from Hurricane Katrina. Darren Whitten, BNSF's superintendent operations at Lafayette, plans a town hall meeting Friday, Sept. 2, to discuss train operating plans with employees in the area affected by the hurricane. BNSF crews began working yesterday, August 30, to restore signal systems along with 145-mile line and remove trees and other debris from the trackage. The work should be completed by the time the Bayou Boeuf bridge is ready for service. BNSF's principal New Orleans-area yard at Avondale, La., was unaffected by hurricane-related flooding. However, the railroads with which BNSF connects at New Orleans reportedly have been affected by flooding, and the extent to which BNSF will be able to resume normal operations over its lines in the area depends on the other railroads' progress on any necessary repairs to their trackage. BNSF is working with the CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads to reroute shipments around affected areas, using the gateways of East St. Louis, Chicago and Memphis. BNSF told carload customers in a Service Advisory issued yesterday that they may experience delays up to five days on shipments rerouted around the affected areas. In a separate advisory, intermodal customers were informed that the BNSF New Orleans Intermodal Facility will be closed, with service to and from New Orleans suspended, until at least September 6.
This is good news! When reopened, there will be an excellent avenue for bringing in relief supplies and equipment. Boxcab E50
I beleive these are photos taken from a yard in New Orleans Note the locomotives on the top right, looks as if the track has been washed away from underneath them You can certainly appreciate the enormity of the clean up. Just to clean the rail network will take months considering all rollingstock will need to be cleared, all the electrical and signalling systems will be down until such time all electircal and electronic components are replaced, providing spare equipment is available.
oh well,. kinda glad I'm flying over it now. I'm sitting at the departure gate at the moment on a e-lounge, if there are any spelling mistakes, there is no seat and I am kneeling on the ground to type. Last I had seen Amtrak only forecasted for the week, I know US RR's are a little quicker to implement special working than we are here, so if the road bed is dry, the train will run - with numerous slow orders. Flash, I sent you an e-mail last, night, I don't think I'll get a chance to sit near a computer between now and Monday night so hopefully I'll see you there.
How can I know when the Sunset will get to San Antonio on Monday night? I know the scheduled time is 10:25 pm, but is there some way to tell the actual arrival time while it is enroute? Thanks. [edit] I just checked the Amtrak website. The train may continue on a delayed schedule? I'm not sure. [ September 04, 2005, 06:05 PM: Message edited by: sapacif ]
A big thanks to Flash for an excelllent but unfortunatley brief tour of San Antonio. Only wish we had more time. got to see the layout and will post some pics when I get back home. heading to Orlando now Sten
cool!!! arrived in Washington DC this morning off the Silver Meteor, which was 1hour late... but better than the 2hrs it was after being held behind a freight that went into emergency (don't know why) the tables over here have a lot of pick up time in them. ie 1hour to run 9miles. I guess it is a good thing. Amtrak personnel don't seem to be in a hurry. If a Countrylink service got that late in Australia, Control would be onto the PSS (Conductor) with a curt reminder that their job is about Timetables. ie cut all smoke breaks out etc. load unload and go.
I know, I was thinking that when the photo was taken. anyways I've seen so many breeches of Safeworking in the real world, that it seems small in significance. In DC, going to Gettysburg today (non train related) went to Baltimore yesterday to the B&O RR museum. WOW!!! well done to them on the rebuild - They have also landscaped the outside area since I was last there and moved their "prized" possessions to a car shop - good thing the train is protected, bad thing when trying to photograph something like the Allegheney, you can't get back far enough to get the whole loco Talking to the engineer there about the differences in the jobs (I'm staying in Aus - we get the better deal) between here and back home, he seemed quite intelligent about things other than the US, then he let it slip, he was from England (no offence to the Americans on the group, but the next time I hear someone call Sydney "that outback town" well..... seriously it has been quite funny, hearing of Kangaroos and Steve Irwin.... who??? so what do you do? "I'm a conductor on the Passenger rail system in Sydney" "oh wow you have trains in Sydney" I'll give GSR abit of credit to their advertising, if they know we have trains, they all want to go to Perth on the IP. anyways took a NEC service back to DC, and because New Carrolton is getting refurbished, there is only a small portion of the platform open and as such the driver overshot. so he chucked it into reverse and backed up. WHAT???? there is no way that would have been done in accordance with OSP26, the Conductor didn't cover the rear, no 3 horn blasts bad, bad, bad!! anyways off to Philadelphia tomorrow on the Acela (first class!!!) gotta check out SEPTA
I haven't even seen a hobby shop yet, only thing I've bought is copies of Trains mag and a couple of other rr magazines. Went to Gettysburg yesterday. I think it is one of those things that everyone (American or not) should do. The figures are quite staggering and having read the books by Shelby Foote, this really put everything into perspective. I did notice an E or F unit and some passenger cars, but being a guided tour I never got close enough to snap a shot.
I grew up hearing stories of riding trains in Austrailia as my Mom was stationed there during WWII. The multipul gauges at that time had her frustrated, "It seems we would just get going good and would have to stop and either change trains or sometimes just the wheels under it."
not anymore, unless you want to travel the rural areas although Victoria is undertaking a standardisation project that should finish in the next 10 or so yrs. The reason for it was the state gov'ts who built the systems, had different influences. NSW was heavily influenced by the UK and chose 4'8.5", while Victoria followed the Irish and took 5'3". The rest were looking at cost and took 3'6" The national netwrok project which started in the 70's (or around that time) chose standard guage as it had shown itself as being the most common of both our "parent" the UK and our new ally the US. arrived in Philly this morning, and I have to say I've found the worst commuter rail system in the world. PATCO and SEPTA make CityRail look like gods gift to metropolitan passenger services. I had my first "you can't take pictures" on a PATCO service. Who would waste their time blowing up a 2 car train with 6 people on it. If yanks weren't so gun happy and the transit cop wasn't carrying I would've laughed at him. don't know why they are so worried, the terroist would get lost and take a train back to his bomb!!!
went to my first hobby shop on this trip today. just a small one in Philly. There is one is westmont across the river, but I can't be bothered going there. purchased a Kato SD45 in SP livery. Hey Jason, if you want to do a body swap, send me an e-mail, otherwise this one will be taking a dip when I get home. thinking of painting it in BN colours with C&NW patches like the few that ended up that way.
arrived in New York 2 days ago. picked up a Kato F40ph and a couple of baggage cars. looks like a nice model, they changed the packaging supports, instead of foam, they are using plastic, so I thought it was a life like in a kato box, but it ain't. did the usual touristy things yesterday (Liberty, Ellis, Empire state, that big hole in the ground oops ground zero.) going to Intrepid today, to satisfy another of my interests - planes!!! can't say no to that esp when I noticed an SR71 sitting on the bow of the carrier. probably check out LIRR or MNR in the arvo, not sure yet. then tomorrow NJT and the one I didn't do today. Does anyone remember that name of that abandoned elevated RR on the west side near the meat packing district?? I remember an article on it in Trains mag. anyways whatever it was called I got some pics of the old right of way. 2 more days here then on the Maple Leaf to Toronto.
F40PH, SD45, two baggage cars...I am keeping a list! You are really getting the USA tour! Nice work! I have not been on the Intrepid, but I saw some photos. It is a very nice representation of aircraft from all US services. That SR71 is, indeed, a pointy nose airplane! No doubt at all which end goes first (as with some airplanes).
