Long distance train turnaround time

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The whole process is generally known as "turning the train".

On the shorter "turn" end, away from its maintenance base, where cleaning, topping off stock from the commissary, physically turning the consist, washing(maybe), and light repairs 4-5 hours appears to be about the minimum. This could vary a bit between the terminals due to physical characteristics, at Seattle the Starlight and Builder have to be taken down to the Coach Wye just south of Spokane St to physically turn the consist, a fairly time consuming operation. At LA they reverse the consist using the natural wye at Mission Tower (CP Chavez and CP San Diego Jct) to reverse the consist on the move either to or from 8th St Yard, but the move to and from the coach yard takes a bit as 8th St Yard is a few miles away from LAUS. Not sure how they do it at Oakland, probably there's a wye left with the tail track being a remnant of the the line to the Oakland Mole.

Switching cars in and out of the consist is usually down on the overnight turn at the maintenance base. For the western trains, only LA's 8th St really has cars any available, they have three Superliner trains with fairly long layovers and can steal cars from a Sunset or Chief consist to put out on the Starlight and have the rest of the day (or longer for the Sunset) to fix them. LA also has somewhat more facilities, being the maintenance base for the Starlight and the West Coast maintenance and shop facility. Not sure if there are a few "protection" Superliner cars permanently hanging around LA, as the major West Coast maintenance facility, but Seattle and Oakland definitely do not.
 
zephyr17 said:
The whole process is generally known as "turning the train".

On the shorter "turn" end, away from its maintenance base, where cleaning, topping off stock from the commissary, physically turning the consist, washing(maybe), and light repairs 4-5 hours appears to be about the minimum. This could vary a bit between the terminals due to physical characteristics, at Seattle the Starlight and Builder have to be taken down to the Coach Wye just south of Spokane St to physically turn the consist, a fairly time consuming operation. At LA they reverse the consist using the natural wye at Mission Tower (CP Chavez and CP San Diego Jct) to reverse the consist on the move either to or from 8th St Yard, but the move to and from the coach yard takes a bit as 8th St Yard is a few miles away from LAUS. Not sure how they do it at Oakland, probably there's a wye left with the tail track being a remnant of the the line to the Oakland Mole.

Switching cars in and out of the consist is usually down on the overnight turn at the maintenance base. For the western trains, only LA's 8th St really has cars any available, they have three Superliner trains with fairly long layovers and can steal cars from a Sunset or Chief consist to put out on the Starlight and have the rest of the day (or longer for the Sunset) to fix them. LA also has somewhat more facilities, being the maintenance base for the Starlight and the West Coast maintenance and shop facility. Not sure if there are a few "protection" Superliner cars permanently hanging around LA, as the major West Coast maintenance facility, but Seattle and Oakland definitely do not.
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Just before the new year I rode the starlight out of Seattle. The inbound equipment was very late, arriving seattle shortly after 8am. (Keep in mind they are supposed to leave southbound as train 11 shortly before 10am).

There was a snowstorm during this time (pretty uncommon for the NW) which caused a lengthy delay servicing the train. Many parts had frozen so they had to spend a lot more time than normal getting it ready for passengers. The train arrived the station around 2pm (except it was backwards). So they actually wyed the train with passengers onboard after leaving seattle. All in all it took them about 6 hours to service the train. Was an interesting ride.

(This was also the only time I had been served lunch and dinner on the stretch between seattle and Portland!)
 
trimetbusfan said:
Just before the new year I rode the starlight out of Seattle. The inbound equipment was very late, arriving seattle shortly after 8am. (Keep in mind they are supposed to leave southbound as train 11 shortly before 10am).

There was a snowstorm during this time (pretty uncommon for the NW) which caused a lengthy delay servicing the train. Many parts had frozen so they had to spend a lot more time than normal getting it ready for passengers. The train arrived the station around 2pm (except it was backwards). So they actually wyed the train with passengers onboard after leaving seattle. All in all it took them about 6 hours to service the train. Was an interesting ride.

(This was also the only time I had been served lunch and dinner on the stretch between seattle and Portland!)
Click to expand...
So they backed out of King Street? Interesting.
 
Oakland's wye is conveniently located within the mechanical facility, however the tail track is too short for the Zephyr's consist. As a result, the consist must be split in two sections in order to completely turn the train. To expedite, only the power, bag and trans dorm could be wyed. This of course leaves the other sleepers on the rear, which is probably why I haven't seen it done much lately.
 

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