Hurricane Sandy

Ridgefielder wrote:The Governor of Connecticut has said that this storm could be as bad as the 1938 hurricane. I'm sure Amtrak management knows what happened to The Bostonian in '38 and has no desire to run a repeat performance.

http://photos.mycapture.com/DYCL/731205/23156385E.jpg

For those who don't know, that train was a GCT-BOS shore line express that got trapped by the storm surge on the causeway west of Stonington, CT. The crew loaded everyone into the baggage car and the locomotive cab, cut the rest of the consist off, and came into Stonington through 5' of salt water with the throttle wide open and the brakes frozen-- after colliding with a house and a sailboat.

That's what i call thinking on your feet! o.O!!!!

High-stepping steam locomotives could go through several feet of water without stalling. Try that with a low-slung modern diesel. I hate to think what an electric would do.

eastwind wrote:High-stepping steam locomotives could go through several feet of water without stalling. Try that with a low-slung modern diesel. I hate to think what an electric would do.

electric/loco diesel locos are limited in the amount of water they can run through because the traction motors will short out. I don't have my books handy, as they are home and im not, but IIRC, in GENERAL (it depends on the model of course) that most electric locos can handle about 6 inches of water and a diesel about 3 inches.

Again, it might be slighty different for an AX, compared to an AEM7, compared to an ALP46, but those are the basic numbers that pop into my head

The Metro North Hudson Line (which is used by Amtrak Empire Service + LSL) looks pretty bad, they just showed footage of it on NBC 4 here in NYC. Looks like the line may be shut down for a while (the MN Port Jervis line was down for a few months following Irene, which is on the West Shore of the Hudson.)

I imagine that the NEC is pretty high priority as far as 'restoring service' goes.

Any ideas on (a) how long service NYP - BOS is going to be offline and (b) what the actual condition of the tracks are right now?

Shouldn't sealed AC traction motors be...you know sealed against water? BTW I had to have someone pick me up in DC, but it was cool being on one of two arriving trains into WAS today. I keep narrowly dodging storms when traveling on Amtrak. Last year I was headed to Boston only a day or two after Irene.

They probably are, but that doesn't mean they're designed to run through water. If nothing else, the shock of instant submerging in 50-deg water could crack the castings. Also, you have motor leads to consider, as well as other under-body electric devices.

This assumes the signals are still up, and there are no washouts.

Bottom line, we're in a massive natural disaster and nothing is going to move soon. Not busses, airlines, or trains. Like I said, you gotta take your licks with everybody else today.

Can't say anything about Amtrak but it looks like this storm will take a long time to clean up. Sitting in my house it looks like a lightning storm on the horizon from all the transformers arcing and blowing. Literally there are big blue glowing flashes in the sky every few minutes. This will be a mess for all the utility crews to clean up, and I can't see power being restored in many places for days.

acelaphillies wrote:Can't say anything about Amtrak but it looks like this storm will take a long time to clean up. Sitting in my house it looks like a lightning storm on the horizon from all the transformers arcing and blowing. Literally there are big blue glowing flashes in the sky every few minutes. This will be a mess for all the utility crews to clean up, and I can't see power being restored in many places for days.

Our power in newtown flickering for the last 2 hours.

Few power dips as well.

Everyone just hold on & wait for the dawn to see what the next steps are. The eye is coming right our way. Guessing no PA trains tomorrow.

25Hz wrote:

acelaphillies wrote:Can't say anything about Amtrak but it looks like this storm will take a long time to clean up. Sitting in my house it looks like a lightning storm on the horizon from all the transformers arcing and blowing. Literally there are big blue glowing flashes in the sky every few minutes. This will be a mess for all the utility crews to clean up, and I can't see power being restored in many places for days.

Our power in newtown flickering for the last 2 hours.

Few power dips as well.

Everyone just hold on & wait for the dawn to see what the next steps are. The eye is coming right our way. Guessing no PA trains tomorrow.

Amtrak has pulled the plug on all service north of Raleigh and east of Chicago tomorrow, as well:

All Acela Express, Northeast Regional, Keystone and Shuttle services are canceled for trains originating on that date. Also Empire Service, Adirondack, Vermonter, Ethan Allen and Pennsylvanian train services are suspended, along with the overnight Auto Train, Capitol Limited, Crescent, Lake Shore Limited, Palmetto and Silver Meteor trains.

The result is the suspension of all Amtrak service from Boston south to Raleigh, North Carolina, and from the East Coast to Chicago, New Orleans and Florida. Amtrak stations in the affected areas and along the affected routes should be considered closed.

Basically if you have a ticket for any train that's east of Chicago and not the Piedmont (or, for some unfathomable reason, the Downeaster), consider yourself grounded. Your train is not going anywhere.

Tadman (or anyone), suppose the vast majority of the damage is confined to the PA/NJ sections of the Northeast Corridor. Is it possible that we could see service restored to the BOS-NYP leg only, or is it not possible to restore services 'piecemeal' in that way? I'm mostly just curious.

Commuting Boston Student wrote: Tadman (or anyone), suppose the vast majority of the damage is confined to the PA/NJ sections of the Northeast Corridor. Is it possible that we could see service restored to the BOS-NYP leg only, or is it not possible to restore services 'piecemeal' in that way? I'm mostly just curious.

It is possible as long as Metro-North is open.

Wow, I pulled an Indy Hat Roll on this one. Glad I took Today's 20 instead of trying for tomorrow.

Not sure why they're not running service Chicago-Cleveland... Is it that bad in Ohio?

After glancing at their website, it appears the Pigeon is running CHI-IND and Detroit service is running.

amtrakdowneaster.com is now announcing that all their runs are cancelled for Tuesday, 10/30. Earlier they were saying that 680, 681 and 682 would be cancelled (and I assumed 683 would be as well unless they have a set stranded in Boston). Earlier today per their FB page, 680-682 went as scheduled, they held 683 for a 1 Pm departure from BON, and cancelled everything else.