Holding #58 for #1???

[Midland Valley]

I got my tickets in the mail today for our Jan2/6 trip to New Orleans. We have been assigned roomette 2 on both trips between CHI-NOL. That should be right across from the attendant and the upstairs bathroom.

On the travelogue forum they were talking about #58 having to wait for the #1 train from Orlando. I checked and yes we will be tavelling back to CHI on a Friday so........What are the chances we will be waiting on the #1 and if so what is an average wait, and how long will they hold #58 for #1 before heading on?

I shouldn't let it bother me since we are in a sleeping car and have over 6 hours of layover.

 

[AmtrakFan]

It is very rare that 1 would be 6 hours or more late into NOL

 

[battalion51]

On what planet? Happens all the time. If there are a significant number of transfers they will either hold 58 if it's only going to be a delay of an hour or less, or they will bus the passengers from Bay St. Louis to say Jackson or Hammond, or something along those lines. It gets very expensive to lodge 60 people overnight for the next 58, they'd rather leave the gate a little late or bus people before they do that. But say for example 01 got catastrophically late (like 10 hours late) then they'd probably bite the bullet and just put people up in a hotel overnight.

 

[Midland Valley]

I'd hope to shout! Even if they bussed them that late, the train would have to go so slow for them to catch up it would probably miss all connections in Chicago. Boy, I never even thought of that when I made my reservations. I did schedule our San Antonio return to avoid the #2 which is usually even later.

 

[Save Our Trains Michigan]

Here is the deal with #58 and a late #1 the best way is to hold 58 in nol if train 1 is late no mater what.for 1 reason the only station out of NOL that has checked baggage is Jackson MS thats where they would have to cab or bus you.

 

[Midland Valley]

If they hold #58 at all that means the #1 is already 41/2 hours late. It must not come to that too often because #1 seems to be pretty much ot by the time it gets to Chicago unless they have padding somewhere.

 

[battalion51]

Matt, that's not right. If they have to transfer bags they can do it wherever they need to. The Conductors might have to a little bit of work, but if it saves a lot of money for the company, they'll do it.

 

[Save Our Trains Michigan]

Matt, that's not right. If they have to transfer bags they can do it wherever they need to. The Conductors might have to a little bit of work, but if it saves a lot of money for the company, they'll do it.

No they can't if the station has no checked baggage they can't check the baggage at these stations no mater what.

 

[jccollins]

Passengers boarding train 58 at NOL would still have their bags checked at NOL and put onto the train for them there.

Passengers on train 1 scheduled to connect to train 58 at NOL can (and sometimes are) taken off the train at an UNSTAFFED station before NOL and put onto charter buses. The charter bus drivers and train conductors will transfer the checked baggage already checked on train 1 in this case to the charter buses and the passengers will not be able to access the bags or need to carry them themselves. When these charter buses arrive at the UNSTAFFED station north of NOL where passengers will transfer to train 58, the checked bags already onboard the charter buses will be transferred over to train 58 by the charter bus drivers and train staff. Again, passengers will not be able to access their checked bags or need to carry or transfer the bags themselves. In this scenario baggage cannot be checked or claimed at either of the unstaffed stations mentioned, so in a way you are both partially correct. Hope that helps.

 

[Save Our Trains Michigan]

Passengers boarding train 58 at NOL would still have their bags checked at NOL and put onto the train for them there.
Passengers on train 1 scheduled to connect to train 58 at NOL can (and sometimes are) taken off the train at an UNSTAFFED station before NOL and put onto charter buses. The charter bus drivers and train conductors will transfer the checked baggage already checked on train 1 in this case to the charter buses and the passengers will not be able to access the bags or need to carry them themselves. When these charter buses arrive at the UNSTAFFED station north of NOL where passengers will transfer to train 58, the checked bags already onboard the charter buses will be transferred over to train 58 by the charter bus drivers and train staff. Again, passengers will not be able to access their checked bags or need to carry or transfer the bags themselves. In this scenario baggage cannot be checked or claimed at either of the unstaffed stations mentioned, so in a way you are both partially correct. Hope that helps.

Here is the deal if a maned station has no checked baggage which Hammond is a staffed station they can't take checked baggage off train 1 and put it on a bus and load the bags in Hammond on train #58 this was done once before at this station and it was put to a stop and won't happen again.Checked bags have to be checked in at NOL or Jackson MS not anywhere in between if they try this again the checked bags will be left behind and NO the conductor's will not take any checked bags at a Station that has no checked Baggage.The reason for this is the stations don't have equpiment to handle the baggage.

 

[Guest]

YEP DAT'S RIGHT. BNSF is the only railroad that handles Amtrak at all in the southern region......