Engine Crew Districts

For long distance trains, how are the engineers switched en route? Are long distance Amtrak engineers sojourners like freight engineers?

Also, how does the schedule go for same day routes? (i.e. NY-DC, NY-BOS, NY-Charlotte, NY-Niagara Falls/Buffalo, Albany, St. Albans, etc.)

Federal Hours of Service laws apply: Basic shift can run up to 12 hours on duty.

As one example, on the California Zephyr, the crew changes I know of run:

Emeryville (origin/destination)
Reno
Salt Lake City
Grand Junction
Denver
Omaha
Chicago (origin/destination)
It's currently carded at 51h 20m, so they're running 6 crews.

On the SWC, they run:
Chicago
Kansas City
La Junta, CO
Albuquerque
Needles
LA

With a 43 hour run, each run has about 4 hours of engineer time "on the law." 5 crews.

HTH

John Perkowski

If the scheduled time of the run exceeds six hours, then an Assistant Engineer is also assigned.

First assignment coming to mind affected by this rule is Auto Train which has districts of Lorton-Florence and Florence-Sanford

Also with like Short Distance Trains like the Hiawahta, Empire Service etc. Did they always run with 1 Engineer?

AmtrakFan

I'm certain, Mr Fan, that the effective date of that Agreement was the last time an Assistant Engineer was assigned to the Hiawathas.

And in case anyone is curious, the Empire Builder leaves Chicago with a Milwaukee-based engineer, who rides all of 90 minutes before getting off back at home. I believe (but am not 100% sure) the next engineer switch is at St. Cloud, MN.

The conductor, meanwhile (also Milwaukee-based), rides from Chicago to Winona, MN.

Go figure.

Robert Madison

To answer Mr Amtrak Fan's question...

It's been in my lifetime and Mr Norman's Adulthood that railroad labor law fell back from full crews for every train, everywhere.

Prior to a huge strike against the Flagler lines in the early 1960s, railroads had not changed crewing requirements since steam:

Engineer
Fireman
Head Brakeman
Conductor
Flagman
Brakeman

Every train, freight or passenger, carried all these. (Some of the motor cars of the 1920s-40s were an exception; they could get by with Engineer, Brakeman riding the left seat, and conductor) ... but those were few and far between.

Mind you, cabooses ran on freights to the 90s, even though DOT had eliminated roofline catwalks basically by 1980.

Further, work rules were based on division points that allowed hours of service for slow steam freight drags... as late as A-day, the Union Pacific, in Kansas, ran a crew from Kansas City to Salina ... that's not much more than 250 miles, another from Salina to Ellis, and still another from Ellis to Denver. Up on the CB&Q (BNSF), the route of the CZ, which is just about the same distance Omaha-Denver, now runs the route with one crew.

I hope this history lesson helps.

As for the NEC:

Acela Express: crews go from Boston to NYP and return. (vice-versa for the crews that are based out of NYP)

Acela Regionals: Boston to New Haven and return. New Haven to NYP and return. NYP to Phil and return. Phil to DC and return.

The Lake Shore Limited crews work one way between Boston and Albany, go into hotel for the night then return hom next day.

So I guess long-distance crews spend a lot of time away from home? Also for the Regional shifts, would that be Boston-New Haven RT for one work day, then New Haven-NYP, Phil-DC, etc. each covering one day?

Yes,r/t in one day on the regionals. For example, train #137 (100PM sign-up) to New Haven, CT then return to Boston on train #94. about 300 miles round-trip.

so does a crew that takes train #5 from Needles to l.a , rest the day in L.a , and take no 6 back that nite , or do they have to spend a nite there and take the following nites train ?

Also , do crews ever change 1/2 way through to the corresponding train going the other way , so as to end up back at htier homebase at the end of their shift .On the long distance trains i mean .

Out of Albany, Amtrak engineers run to New York, Syracuse, Montreal,
Rutland and Boston. All of these jobs are home terminal at Albany at
present.
The only job with an assistant engineer is the Montreal job.
Not sure now, but the last I knew, some of the regional trains between
New York and Boston had engineers who ran right through and a few of
them did not.
New York - Washington, most engineers run through.
Noel Weaver

In very round terms, Mr. Benton describd the most economical operating plan where there is frequent train service. That is simply to schedule crews so they will be able to make a rount trip during a 24 hour period (i.e. a "day") and comply with the Hours of Service Law.

This of course will result in avoidance of away from home meals and lodging costs; it also means that if a matrimonial relationship is to "go South", the parties will find it more difficult to "blame the railroad".

However, where there is one train a day over a route, often the most economical is to "run 'em till they die". This was obviously Amtrak's conclusion with the establishment of long crew districts such as I noted earlier regarding the Auto Train. However, ever since Amtrak and the Employees (through duly accredited representatives) agreed to permit assignment of an Engineer only on runs six hours or less, there may have been some "rethink' with the objective of establishing shorter districts to avoid requiring an Asststant's assignment.

To answer Mr. Madison Question about the Builder I believe the next Enging Crew is Staples. Also do the guys who work the Hiawahta are they also Qualfied for the Builder? But I could be wrong this isin't the 1st and this won't be the last.

AmtrakFan