wayman
Engineer
(Long time gone. Howdy!)
First-hand reporting from train 49, btw Buffalo and Erie, where we stopped at about 1:30am (running maybe half an hour late). Theories abounded, rumors swirled, and the only thing we knew for sure was that there were about five police cars and some much larger police van near the train. I assumed it was the (sporadic? occassional? frequent? routine?) Border Control stop, since we were at the normal place for that. But for two-and-a-half hours, no law enforcement or train crew visited our coach.
At 4:00am, the conductor came and told us someone towards the rear end of the train made a threatening remark which had to be treated absolutely seriously. A car was evacuated, all people and all bags, and I imagine thorough inspections were done. My assumption, from the conductor's description (though he did not explicitly describe the threat), is that they were looking for a bomb (as opposed to drugs or immigrants). That assumption is strengthened by no law enforcement ever entering our car -- I would think any Border Patrol stop would sweep the entire train.
If I learn more at breakfast, I'll let you know.
I'd forgotten how long the LSL is. 449 had bag, sleeper, coach x2, cafe, bag. After removing that last bag we added coach x6, cafe, diner, sleeper x2, bag. Lots of exercise, walking from the very first Boston coach back to the diner!
First-hand reporting from train 49, btw Buffalo and Erie, where we stopped at about 1:30am (running maybe half an hour late). Theories abounded, rumors swirled, and the only thing we knew for sure was that there were about five police cars and some much larger police van near the train. I assumed it was the (sporadic? occassional? frequent? routine?) Border Control stop, since we were at the normal place for that. But for two-and-a-half hours, no law enforcement or train crew visited our coach.
At 4:00am, the conductor came and told us someone towards the rear end of the train made a threatening remark which had to be treated absolutely seriously. A car was evacuated, all people and all bags, and I imagine thorough inspections were done. My assumption, from the conductor's description (though he did not explicitly describe the threat), is that they were looking for a bomb (as opposed to drugs or immigrants). That assumption is strengthened by no law enforcement ever entering our car -- I would think any Border Patrol stop would sweep the entire train.
If I learn more at breakfast, I'll let you know.
I'd forgotten how long the LSL is. 449 had bag, sleeper, coach x2, cafe, bag. After removing that last bag we added coach x6, cafe, diner, sleeper x2, bag. Lots of exercise, walking from the very first Boston coach back to the diner!
