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Suddenly, the headlight illuminated a huge tree limb that had fallen across the track at windshield level. Lee and the two engineers she was riding with saw it at the same time.
“Glass flew everywhere around the cab,” she recalled later in the Cardinal’s café car. “It went all through my hair and I think I still have some pieces in my sweatshirt.”
Fortunately, everyone was wearing safety glasses and there were no injuries.
No. 77 wasn’t so lucky. The limb shattered the right windshield and scraped off the roof-mounted air horns. While the lack of a horn was an issue — the train could have proceeded without one by flagging every grade crossing — the shattered windshield made it unsafe to proceed onward. At least the engine was still capable of supplying head-end electricity, keeping passengers comfortable, the coffee hot, and the toilets working.
Since the Cardinal was less than a mile out of Connersville and relief power would need to be secured from CSX through Amtrak’s Consolidated National Operations Center in Wilmington, Del., the operating crew knew it needed to back up the train off of single track to the station and wait.
But there was another problem. The conductor determined that moving equipment past still-encroaching tree limbs wasn’t safe, because they could knock windows out of the seven-car consist. So the train had to stay put until CSX Transportation could dispatch a maintenance crew with chain saws.
That set in motion a day-long saga which culminated in a Chicago arrival at 7:12 p.m., more than nine hours late. Trains News Wire was aboard to observe the proceedings.
*—Note: Corrects reason train could not proceed.
Reminds me of a very similar story we had here in Adelaide Australia a few days ago. During a massive storm a train stopped due to trees fallen on the line, one of the drivers got out to cut it out of the way using a saw from the locomotive tool box, and got hit by another falling tree. Poor guy had to be rushed to hospital.
kudos to Amtrak for their response on this.
Wonderful and positive story about how to adapt and adjust to make the best of a very dynamic situation. Great story of the literally dozens of people, from the CSX track crew to the people at Amtrak’s reservation center to the Chicago maintenance people, not to mention all the train crews, bus drivers, baggage handlers, etc., who “busted butt” to make sure their customer’s travel was disrupted as little as possible. Congratulations to all involved!
People working together in difficult circumstances.
Very interesting story. Thanks for the narrative and the effective photos.