Lyon_Wonder wrote:This happened back in the 1950s too, at least according to one show about Donner Pass on the History Channel.
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And they cannot find buses because they all went to the Super Bowl.
Someone should build a very special system for rescues in that pass.
The only other thing I know about Donner is signs :Downgrades 40 miles" past that one scale house outside of Reno.
I clicked on the link but it was still pretty cryptic-a large plow "fell through the tracks"? Huh? Was this a road plow, a bulldozer or a railroad snowplow? Did something fall off a road onto the tracks? Was this a derailment?
What happened?
....That is sad....The level of communication now should be much better than in years past when something like this happens. People would be much more tolerant if they would just be updated on what is happening.
"Fell through the tracks"....That is an off the wall bit of info. No way to know from that what actually has happened.
Fortunately, it seems like food and heat were available and if the passengers would have had a bit of info of their situations, surely that would go a long way to keep them calm.
The Donner Pass incident {passenger train trapped}, of many years ago was with loss of life if I remember correctly....When was that, 1952...?? Haven't looked it up. It was serious stuff though.
Quentin
The reporter on the scene must have been ticked off when called out from her hot Friday night date. With that she finds a passenger who probably complains about the sun coming up in the morning. Together they make it sound as if Amtrak has just abrogated its god-given power to to just "part the snows" and proceed on as if nothing was wrong.
They're getting snow falls measured in feet up there. Even with that the trains themselves aren't stuck, just the problem with the plow, derailed probably.
Just reminds me that I shouldn't complain when I have to move a mere 6 inches of snow off my driveway. Pay the guy and shut up.
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Nah, I'm with you, eolafan. I think it would be fun, unless I had somewhere I really needed to be (like a wedding). Again, provided there were light, heat, food, and sufficient sanitary facilities.
We too often get a good case of hubris and figure that there's nothing in nature that can stop us. We need a dose of reality, in the form of a stranded train or even a Hurricane Katrina, to remind us that we are mere fleas beside the elemental forces of this planet.
We should be thankful that, due to ingenuity and technology, we can USUALLY get a train through Donner Pass in the winter (a situation that was certainly not true a hundred years ago), rather than being annoyed that once in a while, Mother Nature decides to show us who's boss.
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Just be wary of the new specials in the dining car......
Dan
Why? Is something wrong with the roadkill? Besides, if it was good enough for the Donners, why not for us? . Besides, they were stranded for six months!
I notice the woman on the news whining about having a contract with Amtrak. That's a perfect example of what I was talking about in my earlier post. Anyone who thinks Amtrak (or anyone else, for that matter) can guarantee passage through Donner Pass in the middle of winter is either stupid, insane, or both.
OTOH, I agree with the people who were bitching because Amtrak didn't tell them anything. Most people would be pretty understanding of being delayed by snow. The trouble is, officials often want to have good information before they say ANYTHING at all, when sharing what you know, even if you know almost nothing (and admit it) is usually the right course.
CG9602 wrote:That's it. time to re-route the Zephyr via the ex-WP through the Sierras, at least between Reno and Sacramento. Get it off of Donner Pass.
From a pure operations perspective, you're probably right. However, the scenery there is beautiful, and some of us like the thought of more or less following the same route as the first transcontinental railroad.
CTValleyRR wrote: I notice the woman on the news whining about having a contract with Amtrak. That's a perfect example of what I was talking about in my earlier post. Anyone who thinks Amtrak (or anyone else, for that matter) can guarantee passage through Donner Pass in the middle of winter is either stupid, insane, or both.
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As also posted to the same question in the Passenger Thread:
The Feather River Canyon route is 3-4 hours slower between Winnemucca and Sacramento, 66 miles longer, has no spare capacity to take a pair of daily Amtraks unless freight trains are pulled off and/or reduced in length, and is highly vulnerable to flooding, washouts, mudslides, and rockslides. The Feather River Canyon in the last 20 years has had two major floods; the most recent in 1996 closed the canyon for 61 days.
If this is reason to close Donner Pass, we might as well close half of the airports in the U.S. and most of the Interstate Highway System, from October 1 through April 1. There's no such thing as a perfect, all-weather, all-the-time transportation system. Donner Pass has historically been much more reliable than other transportation avenues to/from Northern California, if the alternatives are flying (DIA and O'Hare being major hubs feeding to San Francisco on United Airlines, and more frequently closed or seriously delayed than the railroad over Donner Pass), or driving (I-80 being more frequently closed).
RWM
One bright side to this is the amount of snow they have in the mountains this winter, because a lot of the reservoirs out there are low, yes?
On the other matter, I'm with Jim. I'd rather spend 18 hours waiting in a train than at an airport. Sounds like it could be fun.
....I would like very much the time in a room or roomette traveling on a train but being stopped for 12 or so hours....In real life, I believe the facilities would start to go south, etc....and that would not be much fun. In the high rockies in the heart of Winter, could be dangerous.
Have ridden trains accross this great continent and enjoyed it...but I'd like it to be under good normal circumstances.
Poppa_Zit wrote: Sounds like it could be fun.
Check out http://video.dot.ca.gov/, specifically "80 at Applegate" - Tahoe area. It's night as I post this and it still looks nasty.
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Another good reason for keeping the California Zephyr on the ex SP Donner Pass Line is it serves Reno, NV which provides more traffic potential.
RJ
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I saw video footage early yesterday which made it pretty clear that neither train was actually snowbound.
But on the communications issue, while I agree that Amtrak did eventually talk to every passenger, that wasn't the point some were making. I was on northbound Amtrak train between New York and New Haven CT when we came to an unexpected stop. We sat there for a couple of minutes, and then the conductor or the engineer got on the PA system and explained that one of the tracks was closed for maintenance and the dispatcher had decided to let a southbound freight proceed ahead of us. He estimated that the wait would be about 20 minutes. At the 25 minute point, he was back on the PA, telling us that the freight was moving slower than expected and that it would be another 20 minutes, but that he could make up some time between New Haven and Old Saybrook.
Needless to say, we thought it was a stupid reason for a delay, but at least we knew what was going on, and when an expected event didn't occur, we were told why.
I think the real problem is the automobile mentality. We as Americans are so used to driving and being in control of our destiny (although traffic and construction still cause disruption and delay), that we think air travel and train travel are just like driving, except someone else is doing the work. People don't or won't take the time to understand a little bit about the logistics of the system (like the fact that Amtrak doesn't own -- or dispatch) most of the track on which it's trains travel, or that Amtrak (and the airlines) have to consider where their vehicles end up, because they need them for other routes on other days.
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