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Trainspotting
Aug. 16th, 2022 02:09 pmWe leave for Chicago on the eastbound California Zephyr on the afternoon of Saturday, August 27. (I get a train ride for my birthday.) That is, assuming everything goes well, and with the line's track record (ahem) for the past year, it's something to worry about. For example, it appears that the CZ of a couple of days ago got hung up and annulled completely at Green River, Utah due to washouts west of there. Today's CZ passed Fernley around 1:45 pm, when it should have been past six hours earlier.
I'm keeping an eye on these trains. For example, the westbound CZ that goes through Fernley on Friday, August 26 is pivotal, because not only is that the trainset that will leave Emeryville the next morning and pick us up in Reno on our way to Chicago the following afternoon, but the onboard staff heading west is the same people who go out the next morning. (That's the coach and sleeper attendants, dining car staff, and lounge car attendant, not the engineers and conductors. The latter change at specified locations, including Reno and Winnemucca. The on-board service staff work a round-trip Chicago-Emeryville.) They are guaranteed a certain minimum hours of rest (which is reasonable), so if the westbound train is sufficiently late — they're supposed to arrive at EMY at 4:10 pm — the following morning's 9:10 am eastbound departure will be delayed waiting on a crew.
It could be worse than just being a bit late. We've been some hours late on this train before; as we never schedule these trips without a minimum one day connection time if we need to connect, we've also never been stranded. All that happens is that we get an extra on-board meal, which apparently is always the same. Reportedly, all the long-distance trains carry large cans of Dinty Moore beef stew and supplies of rice, which they serve as the "bonus" meal. No, what's worse is that the train might not run at all.
If one of these trains gets sufficiently far behind, Amtrak will annul it, which means the train itself will be stopped at a certain point and the passengers put on buses for the remainder of the trip. Passengers from the other terminal and intermediate points similarly will be bused to where the train is. Crews sometimes get flown to where they have to be, all because there isn't enough equipment, and everything has to yield to the location of the trains themselves.
I hope it doesn't get that bad, of course. Our trip has days of padding both at the beginning and the end. But we didn't spend all of this money for an Amtrak Superliner bedroom to ride a bus, or even a plane. The odds are that it will not come to that, but in the somewhat precarious state that Amtrak is in right now, it's more likely than it has been on any of our past trips.
I'm keeping an eye on these trains. For example, the westbound CZ that goes through Fernley on Friday, August 26 is pivotal, because not only is that the trainset that will leave Emeryville the next morning and pick us up in Reno on our way to Chicago the following afternoon, but the onboard staff heading west is the same people who go out the next morning. (That's the coach and sleeper attendants, dining car staff, and lounge car attendant, not the engineers and conductors. The latter change at specified locations, including Reno and Winnemucca. The on-board service staff work a round-trip Chicago-Emeryville.) They are guaranteed a certain minimum hours of rest (which is reasonable), so if the westbound train is sufficiently late — they're supposed to arrive at EMY at 4:10 pm — the following morning's 9:10 am eastbound departure will be delayed waiting on a crew.
It could be worse than just being a bit late. We've been some hours late on this train before; as we never schedule these trips without a minimum one day connection time if we need to connect, we've also never been stranded. All that happens is that we get an extra on-board meal, which apparently is always the same. Reportedly, all the long-distance trains carry large cans of Dinty Moore beef stew and supplies of rice, which they serve as the "bonus" meal. No, what's worse is that the train might not run at all.
If one of these trains gets sufficiently far behind, Amtrak will annul it, which means the train itself will be stopped at a certain point and the passengers put on buses for the remainder of the trip. Passengers from the other terminal and intermediate points similarly will be bused to where the train is. Crews sometimes get flown to where they have to be, all because there isn't enough equipment, and everything has to yield to the location of the trains themselves.
I hope it doesn't get that bad, of course. Our trip has days of padding both at the beginning and the end. But we didn't spend all of this money for an Amtrak Superliner bedroom to ride a bus, or even a plane. The odds are that it will not come to that, but in the somewhat precarious state that Amtrak is in right now, it's more likely than it has been on any of our past trips.
