Lake Shore Limited (lost 4 hours 5/26 why?)

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Probably the dual mode engines. My trip a few weeks ago was over an hour late leaving NYP for that reason.
 
jis said:
Apparently #49 had to to return to Penn Station after departure due to some equipment issues. It left several hours later after fixing or working around whatever it was.
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I was on that train last night. 49 originally left NYP about an hour late, no explanation. Then, shortly after leaving the west side tunnels, the train died. Despite many attempts over the next hour and a half, power would only stay on for a few minutes at a time. Amtrak pulled a scheduled Empire Service train alongside, removed the passengers from 49 and took us to Albany while they towed 49 back to NYP to switch out the engines and then run it to pick us up in Albany.

We ended up leaving Albany on 49 about 11:30 pm (4-1/2 hours late in total) and that delay stayed with us to Chicago. In Chicago, the EB, SWC and other trains were held to allow us to make our connections.

I’m now on the EB westbound.
 
PME said:
I was on that train last night. 49 originally left NYP about an hour late, no explanation. Then, shortly after leaving the west side tunnels, the train died. Despite many attempts over the next hour and a half, power would only stay on for a few minutes at a time. Amtrak pulled a scheduled Empire Service train alongside, removed the passengers from 49 and took us to Albany while they towed 49 back to NYP to switch out the engines and then run it to pick us up in Albany.

We ended up leaving Albany on 49 about 11:30 pm (4-1/2 hours late in total) and that delay stayed with us to Chicago. In Chicago, the EB, SWC and other trains were held to allow us to make our connections.

I’m now on the EB westbound.
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I think we found @Michigan Mom's engine.
 
PME said:
I was on that train last night. 49 originally left NYP about an hour late, no explanation. Then, shortly after leaving the west side tunnels, the train died. Despite many attempts over the next hour and a half, power would only stay on for a few minutes at a time. Amtrak pulled a scheduled Empire Service train alongside, removed the passengers from 49 and took us to Albany while they towed 49 back to NYP to switch out the engines and then run it to pick us up in Albany.

We ended up leaving Albany on 49 about 11:30 pm (4-1/2 hours late in total) and that delay stayed with us to Chicago. In Chicago, the EB, SWC and other trains were held to allow us to make our connections.

I’m now on the EB westbound.
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I was watching transit docs, wondering why the Zephyr wasn't departing. I had figured it was due to 49. Have a good trip on the Builder!
 
PME said:
I was on that train last night. 49 originally left NYP about an hour late, no explanation. Then, shortly after leaving the west side tunnels, the train died. Despite many attempts over the next hour and a half, power would only stay on for a few minutes at a time. Amtrak pulled a scheduled Empire Service train alongside, removed the passengers from 49 and took us to Albany while they towed 49 back to NYP to switch out the engines and then run it to pick us up in Albany.

We ended up leaving Albany on 49 about 11:30 pm (4-1/2 hours late in total) and that delay stayed with us to Chicago. In Chicago, the EB, SWC and other trains were held to allow us to make our connections.
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I am unfamiliar with the Northeast. It sounds like they were fairly close to Penn. Why not take it back to Penn instead of taking it all the way to Albany?
 
jis said:
Sunnyside seems to be doubling down on its sad habit of sending equipment that is not fully in order out on trains. Several recent cases of things not working at Penn Station on Penn Station originating trains.
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I would assume the choice is either that, or cancel outright.
 
jis said:
Sunnyside seems to be doubling down on its sad habit of sending equipment that is not fully in order out on trains. Several recent cases of things not working at Penn Station on Penn Station originating trains.
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So Sunnyside and Chicago yards are lazy? Is there any yard that isn't?
 
Cal said:
I am unfamiliar with the Northeast. It sounds like they were fairly close to Penn. Why not take it back to Penn instead of taking it all the way to Albany?
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For context, LSL runs north from NYP along the Hudson River to Albany, picks up cars from Boston in Albany, then heads west across NYS then along the southern lake shores and up to Chicago. The thinking they described was rather than having us wait another hour on 49 for the tow back to NYP with intermittent power, HVAC and toilets, moving us north sooner on a comfortable train was preferable.

it was stressful worrying about the connection to the Empire Builder, but Albany station had decent restrooms and UberEats delivered so the couple of hours waiting there was bearable.

I felt worse for the elderly passengers who were terrified if transferring trains across the tracks. They didn’t bridge the cars; we stepped down to track level and back up to the car.
 
Well, the P32-DMs are a small fleet of old engines. I'm not surprised they're getting fragile. They're next on the list for replacement, probably tagged onto the Metro-North order.

Also, I've never heard anything bad about Seattle maintenance, or indeed DC maintenance. Or Albany. Or Bear or Beech Grove, or Wilmington. Or Hialeah (Miami).

I've heard intermittent complaints about Sunnyside and *constant* complaints about Chicago.
 
Yesterdays train 7 also didn't make it out of Chicago on time. Left almost 5 hours late due to mechanical issues.
 
The new dual modes can’t come soon enough.
PME said:
Amen to that! I just started a big circuit (LSL, EB, CS, SWC, Cardinal) over the next 10 days. It was not an auspicious start! EB seems to be going smoothly so far thankfully.
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That’s so awesome! In coach or sleepers or a combination? Good wishes on your travels, and welcome to AU!

Some members here write up trip reports, similar to what you’ve already written, and post them to a section of the forum. Some include pictures. Feel free to post there as well; just a thought.

I hope for better on-time performance for your trip going forward!
PME said:
I felt worse for the elderly passengers who were terrified if transferring trains across the tracks. They didn’t bridge the cars; we stepped down to track level and back up to the car.
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Wait what? Why didn’t they bridge them? Was this in double track territory? How did everyone get down to track level and back up?
 
Cal said:
Yesterdays train 7 also didn't make it out of Chicago on time. Left almost 5 hours late due to mechanical issues.
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Do you mean Wednesday 26th or Thursday 27th? If Thursday, I’m on that train, and it was only about 35 minutes late as they held it for our connection from the 4-1/2 hour late 49 train.
 
daybeers said:
The new dual modes can’t come soon enough.

That’s so awesome! In coach or sleepers or a combination? Good wishes on your travels, and welcome to AU!

Some members here write up trip reports, similar to what you’ve already written, and post them to a section of the forum. Some include pictures. Feel free to post there as well; just a thought.

I hope for better on-time performance for your trip going forward!

Wait what? Why didn’t they bridge them? Was this in double track territory? How did everyone get down to track level and back up?
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Thanks for the welcome - I’m doing the trip in roomettes all the way (well except for the unexpected switch on the ride to Albany).

The area where they did the transfer is a multiple track section just north of the exit from the west side tunnels in Manhattan. They pulled the second train (a regularly scheduled Empire Service train between NYP and Albany) up on the adjacent track and used the internal steps on the cars to step down to track level, onto step stools that were placed between the tracks and then up the internal steps into the ‘rescue’ train. It was wacky.
 
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PME said:
For context, LSL runs north from NYP along the Hudson River to Albany, picks up cars from Boston in Albany, then heads west across NYS then along the southern lake shores and up to Chicago. The thinking they described was rather than having us wait another hour on 49 for the tow back to NYP with intermittent power, HVAC and toilets, moving us north sooner on a comfortable train was preferable.

it was stressful worrying about the connection to the Empire Builder, but Albany station had decent restrooms and UberEats delivered so the couple of hours waiting there was bearable.

I felt worse for the elderly passengers who were terrified if transferring trains across the tracks. They didn’t bridge the cars; we stepped down to track level and back up to the car.
Click to expand...

I could think of worse stations to have an impromptu layover than Albany. I really like their station and can’t imagine how bad things where when they had that Buffalo/Depew clone
 
PME said:
For context, LSL runs north from NYP along the Hudson River to Albany, picks up cars from Boston in Albany, then heads west across NYS then along the southern lake shores and up to Chicago. The thinking they described was rather than having us wait another hour on 49 for the tow back to NYP with intermittent power, HVAC and toilets, moving us north sooner on a comfortable train was preferable.

it was stressful worrying about the connection to the Empire Builder, but Albany station had decent restrooms and UberEats delivered so the couple of hours waiting there was bearable.
Click to expand...

Since it sounds like the train was barely out of the West Side Tunnels, wouldn't it make more sense to just keep everybody on until they backed up into Penn and had people wait at the New Moynihan Train Hall? I would think that's more comfortable that Albany, even if Albany is a decent station. Plus, there are more places to eat around the station while you wait.
 
MARC Rider said:
Since it sounds like the train was barely out of the West Side Tunnels, wouldn't it make more sense to just keep everybody on until they backed up into Penn and had people wait at the New Moynihan Train Hall? I would think that's more comfortable that Albany, even if Albany is a decent station. Plus, there are more places to eat around the station while you wait.
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Hard to tell what the overall context was. In one scenario, if they believed that there was a significant possibility of having to cancel the #49 they might have been keeping the possibility open of turning the possibly late incoming #48 in Albany to become #49 and getting the #48 passengers to NY on an ALB run. I have seen that happen at least once in the past. I think it is hard to credibly second guess these decisions with relatively little context information at hand.
 

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