Decision Time!!

[racer1735]

My son and I have reservations for an 'up and back' trip to Chicago today, taking #51 westbound, then #50 on the return trip tonight. Presently #51 is running 6:30 late and I'm trying to decide if we are going to make the connection for the return leg this evening. Can someone tell me what 'arriving train' in Chicago becomes #50? I'd like to see if that particular train is running late as well. I beleive that 1 p.m. is my 'drop dead' time to cancel for another day.

Thanks!

 

[AmtrakFan]

Racer,

51 turns to 50 into Chicago. Uses the same set but Changes Locomotives.

 

[racer1735]

Racer,51 turns to 50 into Chicago. Uses the same set but Changes Locomotives.

So, am I safe taking 51 knowing that it is the same trip home, regardless of how late it is? I'm not going for anything specific in Chicago, just to ride the rails.

 

[Trogdor]

There are no guarantees in life. While the Cardinal's consist (one sleeper, a dinette, and a couple of single-level coaches) makes it difficult to interline with any other route in Chicago, it is always possible that they might have an extra Viewliner sitting around in Chicago, meaning they could theoretically throw together a couple of other cars and make a trainset out of it.

Or they might not. Who knows.

 

[AmtrakFan]

Guys,

ETA of 51 was 15:00 when I was at CUS and it looked like they didn't have any spare cars. I counted 26 In the Shop Tracks on my Metra Train in, 1 NPCU, 5 Baggage Cars, 3 Amfleet's, 10 Horizon's, and 8 Superliners. There were prorably more that I didn't see.

 

[Steve4031]

51 was posted as delayed do to late inbound equipment. I was in Union Station today picking up a friend.

 

[racer1735]

We made the late (very late!) run...will post a report in the 'trip report' section ASAP.

 

[The Metropolitan]

We made the late (very late!) run...will post a report in the 'trip report' section ASAP.

I was wondering if/how you made the run, and even who you were, as I too was waiting for the outbound #50 that Saturday evening where #50 was the last thing leaving Union. Quite an adventure to be sure, as the freezing equipment problem nagged us for nearly the entire trip, including at Indianapolis, Huintingdon, and Hinton. Due to arrive at 7:38pm last night, we finally eased into Baltimore at 4:16 this morning. :blink:

 

[racer1735]

I was wondering if/how you made the run, and even who you were, as I too was waiting for the outbound #50 that Saturday evening where #50 was the last thing leaving Union. Quite an adventure to be sure, as the freezing equipment problem nagged us for nearly the entire trip, including at Indianapolis, Huintingdon, and Hinton.

I was with my six-year-old son. We arrived at 6:15 local time on #51 and turned right around to take #50 back to Crawfordsville. Only real dilemma on the return run was that the coach we were assigned to didn't have ANY heat. And the crew waited until we'd arrived in Rensselear to allow us to move to another coach (there were two 'empties' behind ours that had pleny of heat!). Yes, it was very late, most people weren't too appreciative of the cafe car attendent coming through the train 10 minutes after departure announcing loudly 'I'm already on overtime...the cafe will be closing in 20 minutes!' Then we literally froze for the first 90 minutes of the trip (at times you could see your breath while sitting in your seat). Once they let us change cars we were fine. And of course, my son thougth it was a great adventure!