When I wake up in the morning, we’re just coming up to the Redding station - it’s almost 6am and we were supposed to have been in Redding at 3:14a. So it looks like we’re almost 3 hours behind schedule already. The train makes a short stop in Redding and then continues on it’s way. We have to take the siding shortly thereafter - to let a southbound train pass.
At 6:30a I make my way to the diner for breakfast. While sitting there and enjoying my early breakfast, we stop again at about 6:50a and don’t move again for quite a while. Finally, the conductor makes an announcement that there is a broken rail ahead and UP maintenance crew are on the way to come and fix it …
7:57a - the rail has been fixed and we get the go ahead to follow UP 5679 north through the critical area.
8:30a - as we pass through the Sacramento River canyon, the train makes a short stop in a siding near MP 285 to change crews and the new conductor makes some comments about the positive side of our delay - we get to see this area in daylight. After a couple of minutes, still climbing in the canyon, we get to see first snow on the ground.
There seems to be quite a lot of traffic on the railroad today - we meet a southbound train at almost every other siding. At 9:17a, I see some people down near the river preparing for some riverrafting - brrr, the water must be cold …
9:55a - after a “smoke stop” in Dunsmuir, just as we get ready to leave the station, the conductor announces that there is some trouble ahead on the railroad - a derailment has occured somewhere to the north of us. The dispatcher first wants us to move up towards Mt Shasta, then changes his mind a couple of times … At 10:02a we leave Dunsmuir for good (or so we thought) and head upwards towards Mt Shasta.
10:18a - we go around Cantara Loop and shortly thereafter, we arrive in the siding at South Mott. Mt Shasta itself is not very well visible as it is wrapped in clouds. At 10:25a, we stop in the siding - this is where we are supposed to await further developments.
11:17a - we’re still in the siding when a southbound UP freight train passes us - I guess that train got through the area before the derailment occured. We hear that the derailment involved a tank car and at 11:51a, the conductor tells us that it doesn’t look too good …
12:23a - a further announcement is made that there will be buses coming to pick us up and we will be heading back to the station at Dunsmuir. But nothing happens. Half an hour later, they tell us that a UP freight engine will come and couple to the rear of the train in order to get us back down the hill. I don’t know why this is necessary - we have 3 engines on our train and could easily have used one of those, no?
2:03p - the UP engine is here and is coupled to our train. The conductor explains the plan on the PA. The train will eventually continue to Portland (and Portland only) once the derailment is cleared up. Those passengers going to Portland and points between can elect to stay on the train - however at this point, nobody knows how long the wait will be. For those who don’t want to do that and for people traveling north of Portland, there will be buses to take us the rest of the way.
Since I have a hotel room waiting for me in Portland and a train to catch in the morning, I decide to get on the bus …
At 2:24p we start moving backwards down the hill, around Cantara Loop again and arrive at Dunsmuir at about 3:05p. There are 4 buses and first, they start unloading the checked baggage and transfer the bags to the buses. The platform is not long enough for the whole train, so the passengers needs to wait on the train.
3:33p - they’re finished with the bags and we can now detrain and board the buses - 2 buses are supposed to go to Portland nonstop, one will make stops in Albany and Salem and also go to Portland and the fourth bus will take the people going to Klamath Falls, Chemult and Eugene.
At 4:20p - the buses finally leave Dunsmuir - if you compare that with the actual train schedule, we’re 11 1/4 hours behind schedule.
5:28p - we’re on the interstate highway and cross the border into Oregon - 300 miles to go to Portland. At 6:30p we make a quick stop at a rest area so people can take care of their, hmm, personal needs … Then we continue to Cottage Grove, where we pick up some dinner. After a half hour stop (that’s how long it takes for everyone to go buy some food), we continue towards Portland at around 9:10p.
10:35p - we reach Albany and some people leave the bus. We continue towards Salem, where we arrive at 11:05p. And at shortly after midnight, the bus arrives in Portland. You could say we’re about 8 1/2 hours behind schedule at this point. Everybody has to leave the buses here, since these buses don’t go any further. There are new buses waiting for people going to Seattle, etc. But luckily for me, I just need to hop in a taxi and make the quick trip over to the Holiday Inn, where I will stay for the night.
BTW, a quick check with the ticket office on the next morning reveals that the train finally arrived there at ~7:15a the next morning…
Since the Cardinal didn’t leave until 7:45p, I had a little time to look around Chicago and take in the various types of trains that exist in that city. I checked out of my hotel and deposited my bag at Union Station. Then I strolled over towards Lake Michigan and took a look at the Metra Electric and South Shore lines. I wandered around the Roosevelt Road station for a bit (that station is really just a wooden shack with two wooden platforms below) and the I took the Elevated, first the Orange, then the Brown, Red and Purple lines all the way up to Evanston. I decided to take a Metra train from there back to Union Station. Then I spent most of the evening watching the avalanche of rush hour trains in and out of Union Station and Ogilvie Transportation Center. I found a nice spot - a railroad crossing just north of Union Station - from where to watch the parade of trains. Really quite an impressive show that Metra was putting on there.
