The 2X "Broken" Builder
A bit of a lengthy story, but one I will never forget.
A month shy of my 18th birthday, I decided that I was going to take Amtrak #7, the Empire Builder" from Milwaukee to the Twin Cites and back. No hotel - just "lay over" in the depot. My primary reason is I wanted to ride as much Milwaukee Road double track as possible as Soo was hacking it apart on the river sub, and the Tomah Sub was next.
The afternoon of August 23, 1990, I boarded #7 in Milwaukee on a pleasant clear afternoon and once aboard spent most of the trip in the observation car. Around 10:30pm, I headed to my more comfortable Superliner seat.
I had my scanner with me and was listening to radio traffic through my headphones as we cruised along. Lights in the train were dimmed and people settled in for the evening. At exactly 11:00pm, the train went into full emergency and immediately we lost HEP. A car attendant walking with a passenger right next to my aisle seat at the moment it happened yelled "Hold on!". Quite an experience going from full track speed down to zero in a matter of seconds....
Listening to the scanner, after some initial chaos and calling the DS, they figured out what was going on. The train broke in two at MP358.5 - those of you more familiar with the River Sub can fill me in on the exact siding location. When we hit the switches for the new single track sidings, we would bounce something fierce. I distinctly remember several "shakings" at other switches prior to this event. This particular extreme "ride" over a switch ended up causing a car with a faulty pin lifter to bounce enough that it uncoupled the car.
The locomotives and the rest of the head end of the train backed up to couple with us. The conductor had to walk back behind the train to see if we "lost" someone that may have been between the cars when we broke apart....imagine having to do that! Thankfully no one was in between the cars, likely because it was late in the evening with fewer people moving about the train. An hour later at 12:05am on Friday the 24th, we were on our way back at full track speed.
At 1:06am we amazingly had a second separation at MP405/Dunn Yard! Listening to the scanner the problem was lead car #32034, an ex-Santa Fe sleeper. This time the HEP connector was smashed on the tracks, so we ended up with no power on the back half of the train for the duration of the trip.
At 1:28am they had us back together and now under a 40mph restriction to Midway station. We finally arrived at 2:05am which is about 2 hours late. It was decided to remove the troublesome car from the train, so switching moves commenced. At 3:18am, #7 was finally on it's way.
I waited the few hours between then and the arrival of #8 for my trip back in a dark, quiet and empty depot all to myself.
What an experience!! The event even made it to the newspapers. Quite the trip for my first trip on the "Broken" Builder!
The 2X "Broken" Builder
A bit of a lengthy story, but one I will never forget.
A month shy of my 18th birthday, I decided that I was going to take Amtrak #7, the Empire Builder" from Milwaukee to the Twin Cites and back. No hotel - just "lay over" in the depot. My primary reason is I wanted to ride as much Milwaukee Road double track as possible as Soo was hacking it apart on the river sub, and the Tomah Sub was next.
The afternoon of August 23, 1990, I boarded #7 in Milwaukee on a pleasant clear afternoon and once aboard spent most of the trip in the observation car. Around 10:30pm, I headed to my more comfortable Superliner seat.
I had my scanner with me and was listening to radio traffic through my headphones as we cruised along. Lights in the train were dimmed and people settled in for the evening. At exactly 11:00pm, the train went into full emergency and immediately we lost HEP. A car attendant walking with a passenger right next to my aisle seat at the moment it happened yelled "Hold on!". Quite an experience going from full track speed down to zero in a matter of seconds....
Listening to the scanner, after some initial chaos and calling the DS, they figured out what was going on. The train broke in two at MP358.5 - those of you more familiar with the River Sub can fill me in on the exact siding location. When we hit the switches for the new single track sidings, we would bounce something fierce. I distinctly remember several "shakings" at other switches prior to this event. This particular extreme "ride" over a switch ended up causing a car with a faulty pin lifter to bounce enough that it uncoupled the car.
The locomotives and the rest of the head end of the train backed up to couple with us. The conductor had to walk back behind the train to see if we "lost" someone that may have been between the cars when we broke apart....imagine having to do that! Thankfully no one was in between the cars, likely because it was late in the evening with fewer people moving about the train. An hour later at 12:05am on Friday the 24th, we were on our way back at full track speed.
At 1:06am we amazingly had a second separation at MP405/Dunn Yard! Listening to the scanner the problem was lead car #32034, an ex-Santa Fe sleeper. This time the HEP connector was smashed on the tracks, so we ended up with no power on the back half of the train for the duration of the trip.
At 1:28am they had us back together and now under a 40mph restriction to Midway station. We finally arrived at 2:05am which is about 2 hours late. It was decided to remove the troublesome car from the train, so switching moves commenced. At 3:18am, #7 was finally on it's way.
I waited the few hours between then and the arrival of #8 for my trip back in a dark, quiet and empty depot all to myself.
What an experience!! The event even made it to the newspapers. Quite the trip for my first trip on the "Broken" Builder!