Tornado scare on last night of 10day/5 train trip

[flowergirl]

Back home after our 10-day cross country trip. Last night on southbound CNO, my 16-year-old daughter and I waited in corner hall [just beyond coffee and snack station] while car attendant made up beds in our roomette. We were going through Kankakee, Ill. and we heard what sounded like a tornado siren. After we got back into our roomette, I got on Weather Channel on my phone, and indeed, there was a tornado warning for Kankakee and other nearby areas. Shortly after, the train stopped. No announcements. My son, who was rooming with his father in roomette across from ours came to our door. He also heard the sirens. I found car attendant in his roomette and asked if train was stopped for storms. He said, "No, we are stopped because of a frieght having problems below us." A few minutes later, the dining car crew passed through and one of them stopped and told the CA, "I hope that freight gets here soon, so we can move. There's a tornado coming near here." Upon hearing this, my daughter became really frightened. I got my husband up to help calm her. I continued to monitor the warnings on Weather Channel, which said the tornado was a mile wide and traveling 40 mph. and was being followed by spotters. None of the other places other than Kankakee in the path of the storm were familiar to me. Finally, we heard the freight and our train started moving. As we moved along, we could see cars pulled off highways with lights on. Really creepy. We live near an interstate and in an area that gets storm/tornado warnings, but I have never seen cars pulled off the road like that. A few minutes later, we seemed to have left the threatened area and the lightening that filled sky to ground. I checked the stops ahead of us--Champaign and Centralia--and didn't find tornado warnings for them. This weather event was a sudden and scary surprise for me, since I had been monitoring the radar since the night before, traveling through Kansas on SWC.

 

[MattW]

Um...WOW! There certainly were tornadoes in the area, checkout the reports from 6/5: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/100605_rpts.html

If the tornado isn't going to blow the train off the tracks, then I can't think of a better place to observe one from! (yes, in addition to being a railfan, I'm also a weather geek )

 

[Ispolkom]

I can't imagine a worse place to see a tornado from than a Superliner car. It's big. It's tall. It's light (relatively speaking). Single-level, heavyweight trains have been derailed by tornadoes. I'd hate to imagine what a tornado would do to the City of New Orleans.

Not that it's likely to happen, as the central United States is a very big place, and passenger trains aren't that frequent.

 

[jmbgeg]

I can't imagine a worse place to see a tornado from than a Superliner car. It's big. It's tall. It's light (relatively speaking). Single-level, heavyweight trains have been derailed by tornadoes. I'd hate to imagine what a tornado would do to the City of New Orleans.
Not that it's likely to happen, as the central United States is a very big place, and passenger trains aren't that frequent.

I wonder what the Amtrak contingency plan is if a train is evaluated to potentially be in the path of a tornado on short notice.

I was once in a high rise hotel in downtown Chicago when there was concern that a tornado was on a path to downtown. Scary.

 

[mercedeslove]

I actually asked a question about this very subject a few years ago. All I can remember from one of the replies was if there was tornadic activity in the area the train would still move be chances are the tornado won't move as fast as the train would be out of dangers sooner than it would be if they halted the train and allowed the storm to pass.

NVM I was wrong with my recollection

http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?...c=21769&hl=

 

[Everydaymatters]

There were several tornado touch downs and a great deal of destruction. People I know in Streator, Il. said it is like a war zone and there are ambulances all over the place.

I'm glad you are home and were safe.

 

[rrdude]

I can't imagine a worse place to see a tornado from than a Superliner car. It's big. It's tall. It's light (relatively speaking). Single-level, heavyweight trains have been derailed by tornadoes. I'd hate to imagine what a tornado would do to the City of New Orleans.
Not that it's likely to happen, as the central United States is a very big place, and passenger trains aren't that frequent.

Of course there's this old video from 2008 showing the freight cars derailing as a tornado passes directly over the train.

 

[njdon]

Back home after our 10-day cross country trip. Last night on southbound CNO, my 16-year-old daughter and I waited in corner hall [just beyond coffee and snack station] while car attendant made up beds in our roomette. We were going through Kankakee, Ill. and we heard what sounded like a tornado siren. After we got back into our roomette, I got on Weather Channel on my phone, and indeed, there was a tornado warning for Kankakee and other nearby areas. Shortly after, the train stopped. No announcements. My son, who was rooming with his father in roomette across from ours came to our door. He also heard the sirens. I found car attendant in his roomette and asked if train was stopped for storms. He said, "No, we are stopped because of a frieght having problems below us." A few minutes later, the dining car crew passed through and one of them stopped and told the CA, "I hope that freight gets here soon, so we can move. There's a tornado coming near here." Upon hearing this, my daughter became really frightened. I got my husband up to help calm her. I continued to monitor the warnings on Weather Channel, which said the tornado was a mile wide and traveling 40 mph. and was being followed by spotters. None of the other places other than Kankakee in the path of the storm were familiar to me. Finally, we heard the freight and our train started moving. As we moved along, we could see cars pulled off highways with lights on. Really creepy. We live near an interstate and in an area that gets storm/tornado warnings, but I have never seen cars pulled off the road like that. A few minutes later, we seemed to have left the threatened area and the lightening that filled sky to ground. I checked the stops ahead of us--Champaign and Centralia--and didn't find tornado warnings for them. This weather event was a sudden and scary surprise for me, since I had been monitoring the radar since the night before, traveling through Kansas on SWC.

I was on Train 48 from Chicago passing through northern Ohio and Indiana during this period (Saturday night-Sunday morning). There was a tremendous amount of lightening (it was a fabulous show) and during the night the train stopped for about an hour due to, what was rumoured to be, a tornado alert or potentia flooding. Since it was the middle of the night there was no announcemt. In the morning I could see a couple places where trees were uprooted in a straight line pattern.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Um...WOW! There certainly were tornadoes in the area, checkout the reports from 6/5: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/100605_rpts.htmlIf the tornado isn't going to blow the train off the tracks, then I can't think of a better place to observe one from! (yes, in addition to being a railfan, I'm also a weather geek )

I am fascinated by tornadoes though I have never seen one.

My sister WAS fascinated by them until she actually saw a big one. She lives in Texas and saw one about two miles from her office. She had to drive home in notorius weather and street conditions, live wires,etc.. That was enough for her. She had peviously lived in San Francisco and was in many earthquakes including the one in 1989.

She said the tornado scared her worse. She does not scare easily.

 

[George Harris]

As someone noted, this question ahs been answered before.

I do not know what the situation is in Michigan. What I do know is this: BNSF has a private weather service contracted to give them forecasts adn information specific to running trains. There response includes stopping trains in areas where high winds or tornados are located or approaching. I would be inclined to think that the other major railorad companies have some similar set up. The superliners are less likely to overturn than such things as autoracks or double stack container trains, particulary if carrying empty or lightly loaded containers. The superliners are not near as top heavy as either of these trains, and are much more rounded so less affected by teh wind.

I would much rather be in a superliner car than outside it in case of a tornado.