58 / 59 why not wye at Hammond?

[Gord]

Anyone know why they turn (wye) 58/59 at Jackson, MS whenever there are flood / bridge issues south of Hammond, LA?

There is an active wye at Hammond with reasonable curvature that looks like it could be used. I'm assuming the reasons may be crew or servicing related, crews timing out, etc?

I deferred a couple of Amtrak trips to NOL this year and drove rather doing a bustitution from Jackson.

Gord

 

[CCC1007]

My guess is that the wye probably doesn't have enough of a tail for the whole train, which would complicate the maneuver.

 

[Gord]

Lots of room, it's a very long spur going several miles (if not more), with active freight customers along the way so there must be other explanations.

G.

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

It should be noted that even in Jackson(at least the time I was bustituted from NOLA) the entire train is not turned -- only the engines. The rest of the train is run in reverse to its normal configuration.

 

[offroad437]

It is a private spur that has not seen maintenance in a long time. Not sure it would support any traffic now.

 

[Gord]

There is fairly frequent freight service on the spur with 286,000 lb.rated hopper cars on it so you would think the small portion needed to wye the locomotives or even the whole train at a walking speed would be sufficient. I am leaning toward more facilities being available for crews, inspections, maintenance, fuel, etc. at Jackson which is a major yard and crew change point. From a passenger standpoint, Hammond would be much more convenient resulting in a far shorter bus ride when service has to be cut back due to flooding.

Gord

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

Of course, the latest flooding was in the Hammond area so Amtrak had to bus around Hammond anyway.

 

[Gord]

As a matter of interest, I notice 58 is leaving Memphis Central Station just now at 11:58P. Both 58 and 59 seem to have been a bit later than usual off and on for the couple of weeks. 59 often arrives here ahead of the scheduled 6:30A time. The joke around here is that the engineers on these early arrivals live in Memphis and are in a hurry to get home. Any idea what the delay causes are? I'm taking 59 to NO tomorrow and the Sunset to Houston on Saturday.

Gord

 

[chakk]

Maybe the trains are early because the engineers are walking in Memphis with their feet ten feet off of Beale (Street).