| Holding Track 2 (of three mainlines) as it awaits an opening at Los Angeles Hobart Yard, and also awaiting a fresh crew as permission to proceed its final 16 miles, is BNSF Guaranteed Service Intermodal train Q-ATGLAC6-28L, which originated in Atlanta, Georgia. "Guaranteed Service" these days, however, likely doesn’t mean what it should, as crew shortages have dozens of westbound trains backed up for hundreds of miles on the BNSFs San Bernardino Sub, Cajon Sub and Needles Sub, creating delays of not just hours, but days. There is another westbound stopped two miles behind this train, and most likely another two miles ahead of it as well. Higher priority trains dont wait as long but a Q-train, the hottest on the BNSF, sitting without a crew would have never happened a few years ago. This train, with Norfolk Southern ES44AC 8118, BNSF ES44DC 7849 and BNSF Dash 9-44CW 4366 for power, was still sitting in the same location the next morning, and when I checked last was 99 hours 3 minutes behind schedule! (Buena Park, California – August 11, 2022) |