How do you think you'd feel stranded for 36 hours on a train in the snow?

Probably about as exciting as the three days I spent in Atlanta’s airport in the winter of ‘81—‘82. Not exactly fun, but not exactly a nightmare. Adventures should always include some peril. That’s life!

Right? I would view it as an adventure too! But…I’m also medically and mentally healthy and that makes a difference.

I would see it as a challenge, kind of like primitive camping. You have to figure out how to make do.

I read the article to see if they had heat and they did until the last night. Freezing for 36 hours would have made me grumpy. But I would have made the best of it by talking, reading, sleeping.

I would have broken out the pre-electronic games I know, like Charades.

Depends. Food in the train to buy, outlets to charge my cellphone and laptop with internet access and I’m good.

I can’t imagine they made them pay for the food @mazingerz88.

During the heavy snowfall we had around my home 2 weeks ago, we lost phone service, electric power, and were largely unable to leave the house, due to road conditions, including my driveway, which the snowplows graciously piled 4 feet of snow in front of, blocking any access to the road, which was still horribly dangerous. We we housebound without the luxuries we are used to.
During all that, I never got upset. I kept telling myself that it wasn’t worse than Puerto Rico.

I wonder if the plumbing was working ok on the train (in other words, to go to the bathroom, wash hands, etc.). I would think for a mother with a baby, it would be tough. What if the baby needed formula? The mother might have enough for a few hours but maybe not for 36 hours. Medication? Diapers? Also, if someone had to get somewhere, like to a wedding, or was on vacation from work and they were missing connections and stuff like that, this could really impact their trip. 36 hours is not that bad but I would think the tough part would be not having an inkling when it’s going to end. Is it ending tonight? Tomorrow? Nobody would have a crystal ball but the anxiety was maybe not helpful either.

They said the bathrooms were working.

They said ”“We could see people snowboarding past us, people came driving down the road… we felt we were inside a snow globe.” If there had been a dire emergency they could have gotten help to them.

I just googled it because I hadn’t read up on it when it first came out. This was one quote from CNN: “Still, she said, the hardship had been stressful, because passengers could not go anywhere. The stranded train was surrounded by feet of snow. She said some Los Angeles-bound college students had panicked because their professors wouldn’t accept their excuse for missing class.
Dodson said Tuesday morning that passengers had been told breakfast would be the last meal available.
She said the passengers included families with children and a few dozen college students—including about 20 students from Japan. Crew members had been “professional and nice” throughout.”

I try not to be too smug about how I think i would react to a situation i haven’t experienced.

@jca2 they got stranded on Sunday evening but started rolling again on Tuesday so food wasn’t a problem. If it had become a problem, like they went a whole day without eating, it wasn’t like they were stranded on a mountain in the middle of nowhere. There were people driving by the train all the time.
One passenger said, “We really wanted for nothing except for maybe someplace comfortable to lie down and a shower,” passenger Marcia Trujillo told CNN affiliate KOIN shortly after leaving the train.
No shower would have made me a little crazy! But I’d make do with melted snow, if it got bad enough.

I wonder if they could have filled up their water tanks with snow, if they started running out of water?

Peoples’ lives are complex and many face issues that are not something you can imagine. People have obligations, jobs, etc and the thought of being held hostage can be quite traumatic, as well as materially harmful. Additionally, many people have issues with claustrophobia, and an ordeal like this could be terrifying.

Sure @hmmmmmm. And like I said earlier, I’m also physically and mentally healthy, and not a lot panics me. That’s why I asked for each person’s thoughts on how they think they’d deal with it themselves.

I think for the students who had the test coming up and the professor was refusing to postpone it, that could cause a lot of stress. There are a myriad number of scenarios where this would cause a great inconvenience and stress people out. I don’t get stressed out easily but if I had a baby, a job where I might be fired, or any other bunch of issues, I could see it being upsetting.

Yes. It could be really stressful for some people, depending on their health and life situations.

Well, if I was in a hurry, I wouldn’t have taken the train. As long as they kept the heat on I guess it would be okay.

They had heat until Tuesday morning, but that’s when the train started moving again, too.

I have been stranded in airports before, and I once took The Snow Train from Sacramento to Reno, where we got stranded for several hours (not days), so I can say that I just go with the flow.
At the airport, I started showing newspaper crafts to kids and ended up with quite a crowd, for several hours, and many thankful parents. The airport people helped turn it into a hot dog party.

I was stranded in the middle of a lake when the boat ran out of gas. It was just me and Dakota and it was all Rick’s fault, LOL! It happened at about 8:00 at night, as everyone was heading off of the lake so I was all alone. I didn’t get pulled out until midnight. At first I was kind of freaked out because everything was suddenly so outside of my control.
But then I realized, everything was completely outside of my control so I turned it into a grand adventure, just me and my wolf (who slept upside down with her feet in the air the whole time. Useless protector.)
My worst calamity would have been running out of cigarettes.

@seawulf575: “Well, if I was in a hurry, I wouldn’t have taken the train.”

Right. If a 3-hour train ride ends up taking you 36 hours, it’s not that simple.

Chilled

I would use it as an excuse to have time off , and relax.

^^Hooking up with someone would be nice. Lol

@Dutchess_III

I’ve been stuck on the Amtrak before. It’s not an adventure.

Sounds like a nightmare to me. The last day with no heat, no food, surrounded by all those people? No thank you

I think I would get cabin fever and revert to a primal state fairly quickly.

I remember being on an Amtrak that got stalled for an extra hour (so 3.5 hrs instead of 2.5) and I was already starting to lose it.

Assuming I felt well and it was just an inconvenience, I feel like I could deal with it ok. I’d pass the time talking, working, or reading. I didn’t notice if they had electricity to charge their phones and computers. Since it’s a vacation type ride, I’d assume I had stuff with me to make it bearable.

If I was sick, and counting on getting out at a stop to get medicine or supplies that would be a different story. Or, if I started to come down with an illness during the 36 hours I would be pretty upset.

Once the heat stopped working, if it became very cold on the train, that’s when I’d start to be miserable. Sounds like they had heat most of the time. As long as there was some food I’d be fine. Missing a meal or two wouldn’t bother me too much, as long as there was plenty of beverages to keep hydrated. If food wasn’t plentiful, I’d eat a little here and there like snacks assuming the food would keep. I’d drink sugary sodas or juice for calories if they had that.

Also, if I had young children with me, that would be really a challenge I would think.

As far as the students with tests, I would call the dean directly. That’s ridiculous. I really doubt they weren’t allowed to take their exams. The professors are being idiots. This isn’t cutting it close by flying in the same day as a test, or even the night before. A 36 hour standstill is highly unusual.

At least on a train you can stand up easily and walk around.

What compensation are they getting? I’d want a refund and some extra money or free train rides or something.

@hmmmmmm my point is that you don’t take a train if you are in a hurry. It was more than a three hour tour (thank you Gilligan), so if you are already planning on not being in a hurry, you have eliminated things like connecting flights, meetings or events you have to be to, things like that. Life happens. I wouldn’t be ecstatic that I got delayed for a day and a half, but I would recognize that my options were limited. I could scream and cry or I could just deal with it. And not being in a hurry, dealing with it seems so much easier on me.

@seawulf575: “my point is that you don’t take a train if you are in a hurry. It was more than a three hour tour”

from the link – “Bigby, who was on what was supposed to be a three-hour trip from Eugene to Klamath Falls, according to KOIN, told the news station the snack cart was empty and diapers were running out hours into the standstill.”

Seems like your point doesn’t make any sense and is just an opportunity to paint yourself as responsible, while those on the train are not.

Would never happen, because the train driver knows he will get erschossen if it did.

@hmmmmmm

@seawulf575 is corrent. Amtrak doesn’t guarantee arrival times and trains, Amtrak especially, are notorious for delays. The three hours is a very optimised, “assuming that everything goes as smoothly as possible and that there are no other trains along our route” window. Everything from train traffic, to switch problems, to having to move slow because of inclement weather, to some yahoo getting his truck stuck on the tracks in the middle of a field will blow that three hour schedule all to hell.

@Darth_Algar: ”@seawulf575 is corrent. Amtrak doesn’t guarantee arrival times and trains, Amtrak especially, are notorious for delays. The three hours is a very optimised, “assuming that everything goes as smoothly as possible and that there are no other trains along our route” window. Everything from train traffic, to switch problems, to having to move slow because of inclement weather, to some yahoo getting his truck stuck on the tracks in the middle of a field will blow that three hour schedule all to hell.”

Fantastic.

While I am also someone who gives myself extra time, I find it difficult to believe that if you and @seawulf575 would give yourselves 33 extra hours in case you are held hostage for an extended time.

What are you talking about?

Which wasn’t at all @seawulf’s point. The point is if you’re in a rush then a train is not the option for you. Yes, a 36 hour delay is highly unusual, but generally speaking your train is going to run behind its posted schedule. The train is for when you can afford to be leisurely with time.

^ So, you’re not really talking about the event that this thread is about. Ok.

At this point I think you’re just trolling for an argument.

^ Are you kidding?

@Darth_Algar: ”@hmmmmmm @seawulf575 is corrent. Amtrak doesn’t guarantee arrival times and trains, Amtrak especially, are notorious for delays. The three hours is a very optimised, “assuming that everything goes as smoothly as possible and that there are no other trains along our route” window. Everything from train traffic, to switch problems, to having to move slow because of inclement weather, to some yahoo getting his truck stuck on the tracks in the middle of a field will blow that three hour schedule all to hell.”

And planes have delays and freeways get snarled and sometimes the trains are the best way to go. Nobody can or should anticipate a 36 hour delay.

I’ve been stuck on the New York State Thruway for 24 hours due to heavy snow fall. Troopers forced everyone off the road and into a rest area parking lot. It was an adventure and a life experience.
I’m sure that experience shaped my need to keep supplies in my vehicles at all times.
When I travel I keep a toothbrush and an extra pair of undies with me just in case.

^^^ But they were able to evacuate some people if there was an emergency, like a woman in labor or a guy having a heart attack, right?

To be clear, this was not a 3 hour trip. It was slated to be a 35 hour trip, by the report cited in the question. It is not a trip that you would take to get somewhere in a hurry. It is a scenic tour. The problem was that 35 hours almost doubled with the delay.

@Dutchess_III In my case, volunteers on snowmobiles were available to help people who had medical issues. They offered to take a few people out if necessary. I don’t think anyone went.

Sounds like fun! Did you get in snowball fights with perfect strangers and stuff?

Some of us did have fun with it. No one know how long we would be there. There was food, water, bathrooms, warmth. A limited number of cots were available but they reserved for the wimps elderly and infirm,
We had it a lot better than homeless people.

Right? Plus the promise of it ending (fairly) soon, unlike the homeless.

@seawulf575

And the general rule with train travel is that the longer the scheduled trip the more delays you can expect.

I was stuck for an hour in the middle of nowhere during one of the hottest days of the summer on Amtrak. We had no power. The air became stagnant and the loud people became annoying. It felt like hell to me.

I was on that train too.

I also had a sit still for about four hours on another trip. They wouldn’t let anyone step off for a smoke. We all agreed the worst part was having no information. We didn’t know why we were stopped or how long it would be.
It was flaming hot outside, but the air conditioning was malfunctioning. We had on, which was an arctic blast, or off. They were afraid to turn it off because they weren’t sure it would come back on.

I always wanted to take the glass topped train that goes through the Canadian Rockies. After reading this thread, that’s the only long train ride I will ever want to take. Other than taking the Metro North to NYC, anything else now sounds very unappealing.

I would feel very proud knowing I had made the biggest piss hole in a snow bank ever!

When taking Amtrak for a long enough journey, I recommend the chicken dinner.
Personal pizza sounds good, and is cheap, but the chicken dinner includes sides, and it is all tasty.
If you smoke, bring patches.

I so want to ride a train from Kansas to the Pacific Northwest to visit my family, but the tickets for a berth train are, like, $1500 each.

When taking Amtrak for any journey I seriously recommend carrying some kind of food and drink with you. Even if it’s just like some Clif bars and bottled water. You can’t always count on the food car being well stocked, so it’s good to have a backup of your own.

So true, DA. Water is especially important to bring along.
There are very few stops along the way where riders can get out and stretch their legs, and even fewer where passengers can find opportunities to shop.

If riding the Zephyr across the Midwest to NorCal, Grand Junction is prettyuch it. The shop is small, but they have snacks, a microwave to heat sandwiches, a few cool sundries like fossils and some handmade jewelry. It is a quick stop though, so the happiest travelers are those who have a good idea what they want before they get there.

Chicago, being a hub, has a LOT to offer.

I’ve frequently rode the Amtrak between Chicago and Carbondale. Never seen fossils or jewelry offered, but yeah, the food is pretty much pre-packaged, microwave heated foods. Hot dogs, burgers, personal-sized pizzas, sandwiches, etc. Soft drinks, coffee, water, juices, etc. What surprised me, first time I rode, was that they served alcoholic drinks.

Generally speaking they were usually well stocked enough for the trip, but any kind of significant delay and that could go out the window. I remember once we were stopped on the track and couldn’t move because a mile or so ahead was a freight train that was broke down on the track. It took a few hours to get the freight train cleared. People get bored during delays. Bored people eat. They were pretty much out of food by the time we rolled into Carbondale.

Don’t get the frozen pre-packaged In-n-Out burgers that need to be nuked. They are nasty. I always bring my own food and buy their beer.

The stop where I mention fossils available is not in Illinois, it is Grand Junction, CO, on the Zephyr line, between CA and the Midwest. That does not fall between Chicago and Carbondale.
There are stops in Lincoln and Omaha, NE, but gawd awful hours mostly.
I haven’t traveled the southern route spanning the states in decades, and then only two states. I think I would like traveling that route sometime.

Oh, shit. I never would have guessed that some place in Colorado isn’t between northern Illinois and southern Illinois.

“Oh, shit. I never would have guessed that some place in Colorado isn’t between northern Illinois and southern Illinois.”

I think that is the best things I’ve read in days. Bravo.