Trio of Late Amtrak trains

June 27

On June 26th, one of the locomotives on Amtrak train number 4, the eastbound Southwest Chief, failed in New Mexico. They pulled an engine off of its westbound counterpart, train 3; however, they lost around 6 hours in the process.

Saturday Morning, June 27, I was track-side on the BNSF Topeka Sub in Eudora to catch the late passenger train. Because it was overcast, I set my camera speed up to 400, and kept an ear to my newly-acquired scanner, hoping to catch 4 calling the BNSF dispatcher to report their station times after they left Lawrence. I also had a computer program that receives signaling information, and I noticed that 4 had gone past the siding at Lawrence without me hearing the Dispatcher call.

I did hear something on AAR Channel 69 that I had not heard when monitoring the railroad radio with my previous scanner: “B-N-S-F Detector, Milepost two-one-point-eight. No Defects. Repeat: No Defects. Total axles: four-zero. Out.” From where I parked my Subaru, I saw a sign along the tracks reading one-nine, so I’d best be getting myself into position.

63926 — Amtrak 94 leads the *Chief* through Eudora.

63927 — Closeup of the three P42s. Presumably, the engine they pulled of #3 is the trailing unit, which is facing the passenger equipment.

63930 — Obligatory rolling away shot of the *Chief* crossing Eudora’s Main Street.

July 1

On June 30, I heard that Amtrak 4 suffered another engine failure and required another engine off of 3. This time, there was something a little different. The privately-owned car Tioga Pass was on this edition of the Southwest Chief.

63940 — Amtrak 148 leads the Chief past the E 1900 Road Crossing between Lawrence and Eudora.

63948 — **Parting shot of Amtrak 4 with *Tioga Pass* on the tail end.**

63949 — My feeble attempt to zoom in on the PV.

July 7

The July 7th edition of Amtrak 4 was very late. This time, however, it wasn’t due to engine failure. A BNSF freight train derailed in front of Amtrak, and there was no way to detour around the train.

Because I was helping out my cousin in Perry, I would up hopping across to Lecompton to catch the late 4.