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Off You Go
Apr. 16th, 2022 04:30 pmYesterday morning, my ears pricked up as I heard on the radio scanner the engineer of Amtrak #5, the westbound California Zephyr talking to the Union Pacific Nevada subdivision dispatcher. She told the dispatcher that they needed to put a passenger off the train and would they call the sheriff to meet the train. The passenger "failed to comply with the instructions of the conductor."
The conductor of a train is like the captain of a ship: their word is law. If you don't follow the conductor's orders, they can put you off the train, theoretically anywhere. Lisa and I have seen cases where on the Coast Starlight they stopped the train at a dirt road grade crossing and put someone off the train. In practice, law enforcement is usually involved, and the passengers aren't actually abandoned in the wilderness, but turned over to the sheriff or police for further action.
Checking the Amtrak Track Your Train website, I saw that the Zephyr was sitting stopped at Darwin siding, about ten miles east of Fernley, waiting for an eastbound freight train to pass it. Darwin is a terrible place to kick someone off, for it has virtually no road access, so I assumed they would come to Fernley, and I was right.
( Fool Around, Found Out )
I'll probably never know the end of this particular story, but it's not the first time that I've seen a passenger's trip come to a premature end. There are a lot of people who think they don't have to follow rules. This could have been someone who refused to wear a mask on the train, in defiance of federal orders applicable to all public transit (trains, airplanes, buses, subways). Maybe he'd been drunk, and in particular maybe drinking a private stash (prohibited in the coaches; you can drink your own liquor in the privacy of a roomette or bedroom). Possibly he was smoking or vaping. Or maybe he got into a fight with someone. All of these things are possible, and all of them will get you removed from the train. Do not mess around with the conductors, or you will find out what they can do to you, and you'll learn that it's a long walk from Fernley to Emeryville.
The conductor of a train is like the captain of a ship: their word is law. If you don't follow the conductor's orders, they can put you off the train, theoretically anywhere. Lisa and I have seen cases where on the Coast Starlight they stopped the train at a dirt road grade crossing and put someone off the train. In practice, law enforcement is usually involved, and the passengers aren't actually abandoned in the wilderness, but turned over to the sheriff or police for further action.
Checking the Amtrak Track Your Train website, I saw that the Zephyr was sitting stopped at Darwin siding, about ten miles east of Fernley, waiting for an eastbound freight train to pass it. Darwin is a terrible place to kick someone off, for it has virtually no road access, so I assumed they would come to Fernley, and I was right.
( Fool Around, Found Out )
I'll probably never know the end of this particular story, but it's not the first time that I've seen a passenger's trip come to a premature end. There are a lot of people who think they don't have to follow rules. This could have been someone who refused to wear a mask on the train, in defiance of federal orders applicable to all public transit (trains, airplanes, buses, subways). Maybe he'd been drunk, and in particular maybe drinking a private stash (prohibited in the coaches; you can drink your own liquor in the privacy of a roomette or bedroom). Possibly he was smoking or vaping. Or maybe he got into a fight with someone. All of these things are possible, and all of them will get you removed from the train. Do not mess around with the conductors, or you will find out what they can do to you, and you'll learn that it's a long walk from Fernley to Emeryville.
