Newsgroups: rec.railroad

That wasn't a horror story; just another trip on the CZ.

I ride the CZ 2-3 times a year, either East or West out of Denver. I cannot 
recall a trip that didn't have at least one HEP or unit failure. Unit
failures aren't soo bad when you have three units, even when climbing
a pass. But when two out of three units are off-line, or when HEP
fails, or you only have one unit, you know it. 

On a trip from Roseville > Denver in May, we lost two units climbing
Donner. The asst. hogger (fireman) got them back on-line by Sparks. Then
HEP went down for a while. The next morning, we sat in Salt Lake for
1.5 hours while the mechanic tried to keep power up in the diner. After
serving breakfast for an hour (I got in there early!), diner power
went down for good. We stopped at the Junction for KFC and Fraser for
Wendys. I was glad to get off (albiet on time) at Denver. I caught the
same crew out of Chi on the DZ two weeks ago. The crew chief said 
they enjoyed mickey d in Omaha for breakfast and KFC in
Burlington. The fast food was served free to the entire train. Nice for
coach riders, but the folks in 
sleepers, who has pre-paid vouchers for anything in the diner, thought
otherwise. But then the chief said: "That trip was nothing! You should 
have been on the next run." They had to give up thier lounge car to
replace the Pioneer's diner, which had been damaged while that train 
was being wyed in Seattle for the return to Denver. So the CZ ran
from Denver to Oakland with only a diner. Well, that died before
Salt Lake, so there was no food service (except wayside fast food stops)
from Salt Lake > Oakland. Also, the Pioneer lost its only unit
near Baker on that trip. Came into Denver nine hours late with a
UP motor. That dead FP40 was still in Denver two weeks later (I saw it).

Seems like Amtrak needs more and better-trained mechanics on-route to
handle its aging fleet. The twice-a-year servicing of power and cars isn't
enough. 

As a parting comment, all trip on the CZ aren't bad. I just returned
on a run from DVR>CHI>BOS>CHI>DVR. Each train was ontime; food service was
as expected; sleepers were fine. The only problem was sitting at
Albany-Renn for two+ hours waiting for the New York section of the
Lake Shore Ltd, which was late due to an E9 failure. The head-end crews
made up most of that time, however, before reaching Chi. They must be
doing something right to keep rolling with so many handicaps:

o Operating over private freight roads in the West.

o Aging equipment.

o Most of thier experienced people are gone, so have to train themselves.

o Frozen budget for years.

o Most cross-country trains are packed during the Summer, taxing the
  standard crews ability to provide good service.

I'd like to hear from anyone connected with Amtrak who might offer some
hope to potential new customers and old die-hard ones like me who
purchase sleepers to keep the corp. afloat.

BTW: A scanner is probably a required item for survival on long-distance
     trains. Some Amtrak crews tell you nothing when there is a delay
     or mechanical breakdown that will affect the rest of your trip. You
     learn about what's happening by listening to the train crew and
     dispatcher. Any programmable scanner with 10 channels is good for
     a cross-country trip. The cheap Radio Shack one has served me well
     for years.

alj



Newsgroups: rec.railroad