What does Amtrak do with large quantities of chainsaws?

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I doubt he stole them all at the same time, so many of them might have been ones to replace previously stolen saws.
Plus, as noted above, each train probably as one on board to clear the tracks of downed trees & branches.
 
It was AlanB who was traveling with us at the time and he had his scanner on and relayed the information to us the next morning. I should have been clearer in my earlier post on how I got the information. Alan noted that this was not necessarily the conductor's responsibility. But that this particular conductor had gone beyond the call of duty to clear the tracks so we could proceed. i was happily snoring away in my roomette as this drama unfolded. But in my experience Alan usually had a balanced perspective of what was going on.
 
On the roof of passenger cars in Canada and I imagine it's the same in the US........locations are marked where the roof panels can be cut for an emergency escape. Those locations even have a chain-saw symbol. Usually it would be a first-responder doing the cutting but I wonder if a chain-saw is carried on board for use by the crew? (photo below is from a TSB Report)

R12T0038-photo-02.jpg



I don't have an GO Bi-level roof photo.....but here's my model that shows roof cutting locations.

20210310_120634.jpg
 
Seaboard92 said:
Just imagine how many they need to maintain the NEC with all of the wires, and their own row. Trees fall and need to be cleared.
Click to expand...
Definitely on the NEC. When I started riding between Baltimore and Washington in the early 2000s, there was all kinds of brush growing right up to the tracks. I remember arriving at Union Station one evening after work and finding the whole NEC shut down because somewhere up the line the wind blew a tree branch on to the catenary. People just kept pouring into the station from the Metro and nobody was leaving. Fortunately, the crowd was very well-behaved. I connected with a few other commuters who rode the same train every day and vaguely recognized each other. We ended up going out front and taking a taxi (for $75) from Union Station to the BWI rail station, where there was a MARC train waiting that took us up to Baltimore. I got home several hours late, as you can imagine.

A few years after that, there was a big push by Amtrak to clear out all the trackside bushes and trees. I don't know whether they used contractors or their own people (and chainsaws.)
 
Steve4031 said:
It was AlanB who was traveling with us at the time and he had his scanner on and relayed the information to us the next morning. I should have been clearer in my earlier post on how I got the information. Alan noted that this was not necessarily the conductor's responsibility. But that this particular conductor had gone beyond the call of duty to clear the tracks so we could proceed. i was happily snoring away in my roomette as this drama unfolded. But in my experience Alan usually had a balanced perspective of what was going on.
Click to expand...

I can assure you that if the conductor refused to help the engine crew he would not be popular!!!! (I used to be a conductor on a tourist railroad that also carried a chainsaw on all trips for downed trees... trust me... it’s part of the job! Haha).
 
I certainly didn’t mean to imply that some conductors might refuse and some might not. I had never thought about this until that trip. I assumed(incorrectly) that track crews would do this rather than the operating crew. Now that I’ve thought about it, waiting for someone else to do it Word’s hours to the delay.
 
AmtrakBlue said:
I doubt he stole them all at the same time, so many of them might have been ones to replace previously stolen saws.
Plus, as noted above, each train probably as one on board to clear the tracks of downed trees & branches.
Click to expand...

We don't have chainsaws onboard trains, just radios and phones to call the people with the chainsaws. :cool:
 
I know what Amtrak management does with the chainsaws:
  • They chop employees from the payroll
  • They cut employees working hours
  • They cleave amenities as much as possible
  • They hack away at the schedule
  • They whack the whole idea of dining
  • They thin the running fleet of cars and engines
  • They clip their customers
  • They mince their brains
  • They sever the system
  • They truncate the long distance trains
I'm sure others can come up with more.
 
me_little_me said:
I know what Amtrak management does with the chainsaws:
  • They chop employees from the payroll
  • They cut employees working hours
  • They cleave amenities as much as possible
  • They hack away at the schedule
  • They whack the whole idea of dining
  • They thin the running fleet of cars and engines
  • They clip their customers
  • They mince their brains
  • They sever the system
  • They truncate the long distance trains
I'm sure others can come up with more.
Click to expand...

This might not be a bad thing. There are some customers I don't even wish On Greyhound, much less Amtrak.
 
Right here (in NC) we are chockablock with loblolly pines which can grow to 100 feet or so. Despite NS and CSX trying to keep the rights of way clear, when a strong storm comes along (we do get tornadoes) trees end up on the right of way, even though they were growing from a point off the right of way. So, we believe all Amtrak trains should carry chainsaws.

jb
 

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