It is 8:00 pm (20:00) and 91º F (32.7º C) at milepost 14.3 on BNSF's Cajon Subdivision and the sun is touching the western horizon as Amtrak train 3, the westbound Southwest Chief, passes by with BNSF ES44C4 on the point. At this point, the train is 16 hours behind schedule - it should have departed Barstow at 3:45 am, but instead departed at 7:42 pm (19:42). On July 8 Amtrak P42DC 137 was set out in Mendota IL with a locked axle, and BNSF ES44C4 6616 was "borrowed" from a light engine movement passing through the town. So just 83-miles into its 2265-mile journey from Chicago IL to Los Angeles CA this train fell 6 hours 45 minutes behind schedule - and its woes only got worse from there. By the time it reached Topeka KS, it was over 9 hours behind schedule, and was now 17 hours late. How does this happen? There are multiple factors that come into play at this point, from the fact that the freight engine is geared slower resulting in lower top speeds to planned meets with other trains not occurring to crews running out their 12-hours-of-service and needed to be replaced, and the delays causing new crew change points to be hastily arranged (and fresh crews needing time to get to these locations). In fact, just 23 miles ahead this train would be delayed another hour because they would need to wait for eastbound Amtrak Chief 4 at Victorville in order to swap crews. This poor train would eventually arrive in Los Angeles at 12:38 am on July 11 (instead of 8:00 am on July 10)! The next day's westbound train 3 would arrive in LA just nine hours later (rather than the scheduled 24 hours later). Thank goodness for long summer days, or we would have missed this shot! (Hodge, California - 8:00 pm, July 10, 2019)
