Amtrak Train Location Update/Heads Up Thread 2024

[Manistique]

Amtrak Train Status is showing "Service Disruption" for this morning's 353 out of Pontiac but no cancelation, yet.

10:14 am update. No 353 yet, an hour and fifteen minutes late so far. "Sevice disruption, please standby for further information." I keep thinking I hear a horn up on Pontiac but nothing passing by, yet.

[Buster Manning]

No 353 today.....and no eastbounds to PNT today either....running 355 tonight....and hopefully 364 gets out of Chicago ( so I can get out of the hotel in BTL, but I'm not holding my breath on that)

[David Collins]

No 353 today.....and no eastbounds to PNT today either....running 355 tonight....and hopefully 364 gets out of Chicago ( so I can get out of the hotel in BTL, but I'm not holding my breath on that)

Do you know if the combined trainset out of Chicago on 354 last night had extra power to account for the fact that Pontiac had only two engines?

Follow up and sorta unrelated question: is it company policy that anything longer than 7 cars needs a second locomotive? Someone told me 354 would’ve had another locomotive regardless as anything longer than 7 cars needs an extra locomotive.

[LansingRailFan]

WB NS B33 today from Jackson to Battle Creek with NS 5272/NS 3329 and 29 cars

[Manistique]

We have an Amtrak on the Holly. 355 left Pontiac on time with a Genesis on the headend and a P42 shoving on the rear.

As to David's question about number of locomotives, I thought that after so many cars they had to add a second locomotive to be able to run at the 110 speed limit. If I recall in the F40 days, they would have two locomotives but only one running until it hit Kalamazoo and then put the second one on line for the 110 mph run Michigan City or wherever.

CN/VIA used to add a locomotive between Windsor and Toronto years ago (back in the FPA4 and FP9 days) when there were more than five or six cars on the train then a third one for longer trains to keep up the 89 mph speed limit on that line.

[David Collins]

We have an Amtrak on the Holly. 355 left Pontiac on time with a Genesis on the headend and a P42 shoving on the rear.

*sigh*…shoulda trusted my gut telling me that 355 would’ve had the two that came up on 354 last night.

As to David's question about number of locomotives, I thought that after so many cars they had to add a second locomotive to be able to run at the 110 speed limit. If I recall in the F40 days, they would have two locomotives but only one running until it hit Kalamazoo and then put the second one on line for the 110 mph run Michigan City or wherever.

I’ve heard this is system-wide though. All of the long distance trains and anything longer than 7 cars (that I’ve seen) always has a second unit. Anything shorter than 7 (unless they can’t wye the train or they’re just repositioning power) I’ve seen most of the time has a solo unit.

[Manistique]

Wednesday Amtrak Wolverine Report: 350 is still scheduled out of Chicago. 351 is "service disrupted (stay tuned) out of Pontiac. It did not leave yet. I don't think there is a trainset in Pontiac for it. 352 out of Chicago: canceled. 353 out of Pontiac, "service disruption" again, meaning canceled probably do to lack of a train. Didn't bother to check out the status of the rest of them. Poor Amtrak.

[Buster Manning]

the "battle plan" for Michigan Service is to run trains with 2 engines with ONLY these trains until the weather abates:

350-355
365-364
370-371

plan your photo ops accordingly

[Buster Manning]

some history: No F40's ever ran 110 on the Michigan line....Amtrak didn't start running 110 until 2012....pretty sure there was no f40's running anywhere leading an Amtrak train at that point

As for the power requirements on trains over a certain car count....who knows?? trains heading west get 2 or 3 engines while 59 and 21 get one and the last I knew, those trains ran with at least 6 cars and "should" have two engines IMHO...but who am I to question our upper management's decisions......

[Manistique]

Amtrak 350, which is running today, is over two hour late so is terminating at Dearborn where 355 will originate this afternoon. "Equipment issues." I wonder how MDOT feels about the Wolverine's winter issues lately? I guess the equipment is theirs, isn't it?

[chapmaja]

Amtrak EB through Dexter about 5 minutes ago. Per the track a train, it looks to have left Chicago on time, but was 2 hours and 52 late into Hammond, In. Between Hammond and Ann Arbor they have lost an addition 25 or so minutes.

Don't know what happened between Chicago and Hammond.

[Manistique]

Go figure. Amtrak 350 just went past MP 22.5 at 5:40 pm with a Charger on both ends. Amtrak Train Status still says it was to terminate at Dearborn but then the tracker shows it past Troy heading to Pontiac. Who knows? Maybe an extra trainset that was on 350? Chaos reigns.

[Manistique]

Amtrak 355 is canceled now due to "equipment and crew issues." So that must have been what went past about an hour ago, bringing 350's train to Pontiac for tomorrow.

[Manistique]

Good 'ole Amtrak keeps us guessing. Canceled Train 355 just went flying past MP 22.5, its horn blaring for Opdyke Road and to say it is back on track, at 6:50 pm. So much for Train Status updates on their website. Good for Amtrak. Maybe the worst is over for now.

[David Collins]

Good 'ole Amtrak keeps us guessing. Canceled Train 355 just went flying past MP 22.5, its horn blaring for Opdyke Road and to say it is back on track, at 6:50 pm. So much for Train Status updates on their website. Good for Amtrak. Maybe the worst is over for now.

REALLY interesting operation today. 355 actually deadheaded to Dearborn THEN got the passengers onboard. I don’t understand the decision making on this, but it’s amtrak, always expect the unexpected.

[justin_gram]

364 is in East Lansing now... about 3 hours late.

[Manistique]

The Amtrak Winter of 2024 Saga continues. 351 hasn't left Pontiac yet. Website says "service disruption" and to look for updates. Same with 353 for this morning. I didn't look to see if 352 or 354 ever ran yesterday, they were not supposed to. Maybe there is no trainset in Pontiac until 350 arrives like the "Battle Plan" of yesterday stated? Not that cold out this morning, 17 degrees in Pontiac right now.

[Buster Manning]

Yes Manistique, there are no morning departures out of PNT until the weather abates( you can go back to sleep after making your wife's lunch for her ----according to the email that was sent regarding which trains will run and which ones won't.....the $10,000 question is: when does Amtrak management think that will happen?? Supposedly the weather predictors are saying it is suppose to warm up above freezing next week....we'll see

[David Collins]

Yes Manistique, there are no morning departures out of PNT until the weather abates( you can go back to sleep after making your wife's lunch for her ----according to the email that was sent regarding which trains will run and which ones won't.....the $10,000 question is: when does Amtrak management think that will happen?? Supposedly the weather predictors are saying it is suppose to warm up above freezing next week....we'll see

Amtrak also blamed crew issues with some other Michigan service trains. Are crews out of position?

[TSS]

Yes Manistique, there are no morning departures out of PNT until the weather abates( you can go back to sleep after making your wife's lunch for her ----according to the email that was sent regarding which trains will run and which ones won't.....the $10,000 question is: when does Amtrak management think that will happen?? Supposedly the weather predictors are saying it is suppose to warm up above freezing next week....we'll see

Amtrak also blamed crew issues with some other Michigan service trains. Are crews out of position?

Pure speculation on my part, but how short of crews are they? Could there be so few crews that in bad weather, they have to cancel at least one train so that there are extra crews available in case a train that does run needs a replacement on hours of service?