THAT 'S A H--L OF A WAY TO RUN A RAILROAD.

Years ago, when the Boston and Maine Railroad was a respected Yankee institution, their public relations people could offer an explanation of the disruptions to Boston suburban service during a nor'easter.

They'd have to cogitate some to offer anything other than profoundest apologies and resignation letters on behalf of Amtrak's Michigan service.  "Amtrak Wolverine to Chicago delayed more than 13 hours."

I'm not sure whether Amtrak has restored the three frequencies, with the morning departure out of Chicago turning on a wheel at Pontiac and returning to Chicago as the evening train.  By the time the carrier got the broken-down morning train sorted, the combined train was almost on the schedule of that evening departure.

Some details have emerged from an ill-fated Friday, Oct. 7, trip of Amtrak Wolverine No. 351, the morning departure from Pontiac, Mich., which arrived in Chicago more than 13 hours late.

The trip, scheduled for a trip of 5 hours, 49 minutes with a 10:32 a.m. arrival finally reached Chicago Union station at 12:02 a.m. Saturday, after stranding travelers on board for several lengthy periods without heat, ventilation, lighting, food, or operating toilets.

The train’s Siemens Charger SC44 locomotive became disabled 19 miles west of Ann Arbor, Mich. The operating crew was unable to restart it or put it on standby to provide head-end power. Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari tells Trains News Wire, “Mechanical issues are under investigation.”

A decision was made to have the following westbound Wolverine, No. 353, couple to No. 351 and bring both trains to Chicago, but crews encountered difficulties in combining the two trains. Although 353 left Ann Arbor at 10:32 a.m., three hours behind 351, the combined trains didn’t arrive at Jackson, Mich., 38 miles away, until 3:30 p.m.

It got worse from there.

Employees were never able to get No. 353’s locomotive to operate the electrical system on No. 351’s passenger cars. The train stopped at Battle Creek, Mich., for a half-hour bathroom break, but travelers were then told to go back aboard to their original seats. There apparently wasn’t enough space to accommodate everyone on 353’s equipment.

Ann Arbor-based MLive was among media outlets reporting messages from stranded travelers.

Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams told MLive that a medical emergency, sticking brakes, and battery problems contributed to cascading delays along the way, followed by a lengthy stop on Norfolk Southern’s busy, multi-track main line, waiting for an Amtrak relief crew to take the combined trains into Chicago.

It was at this point several passengers took it upon themselves to open the vestibule doors and leave the train to hail rideshare services into Chicago.

That Mlive report makes for interesting reading.

“There was just delay after delay,” said Michael Bambery, 48, who boarded the train in Ann Arbor around 7:15 a.m., jumped off the stopped train near Gary, Indiana, paid $200 for an Uber and got to his hotel 16 hours later.

The train first stopped about 19 miles west of Ann Arbor due to a power issue with the engine, according to Amtrak Senior Public Relations Manager Jason Abrams. It was then coupled with Wolverine 353, another train that left Pontiac around 8:50 a.m., to be pulled to Chicago.

Katie Kobiljak, 23, boarded in Dearborn and woke up two hours later when the train was at a “complete dead stop.” For seven hours, Kobiljak said there was a lot of “starting and stopping” as engineers tried to connect the two trains.

“Right off the bat when our engine went out, that also killed our electricity. So, we didn’t have charge and the bathrooms didn’t flush. You could use the bathroom, but it was like using a porta potty and that’s not great,” she said.

Just east of the Jackson stop, the train hit the brakes again for a medical emergency. Passengers said it smelled like burnt rubber while the train sat for another two hours without power.

“That was everybody’s breaking point,” Kobiljak said.

Abrams said the passenger who called for medical help stayed on board and the train continued west.

Once getting to Jackson, Kobiljak deboarded.

“I didn’t get off the train until 3:30 p.m. and I got off in Jackson. So, I was on the train for nine hours and only made it like halfway through the state,” she said.

Kobiljak’s family picked her up and drove her to Kalamazoo for the night. They planned to drive the rest of the way Saturday so Kobiljak could run the Chicago Marathon on Sunday.

Once the train got moving, it lost its path into Chicago, putting it at the mercy of Norfolk Southern and their nightly game of too many trains and not enough track on the old Penn Central, as well as subject to the Hours of Service Law, and it becomes a guessing game with a late and malfunctioning passenger train where best to send the dogcatch crew.

The Bamberys finally got to their hotel at 11 p.m., ate food and went to bed.

Saturday, Bambery’s wife and daughter planned to go the Harry Styles concert while Bambery was going to take his son to the Northwestern-Wisconsin football game. He said they’re feeling “not good” about taking Amtrak back to Michigan on Sunday.

Both trains eventually arrived at Chicago Union Station just after midnight Saturday. According to Abrams, this was nearly a seven-hour delay for Wolverine 351 and less than a four-hour delay for Wolverine 353. He said power was only out on the train for six to eight hours.

That's nowhere near good enough, and it's worse than the most serious delays I encountered on that line. Once was in 1987, when there still was a Toronto - Chicago service, and that was stuck at 21st Street in Chicago, when the Chicago River lift bridge stuck in the raised position account high heat.  The power stayed on for the duration of that delay, which was not six hours, but it was long enough to break connections with the last suburban trains of the night.  More recently, brush fires along the line near Jackson disrupted the train service, which was already disrupted for other reasons, leading to a three hour delay, but the power stayed on, and again the arrival was late enough to break connections with the last suburban trains.

On other occasions, the service has run well enough, although I have heard enough horror stories about delayed trains that even rail-friendly non-ferroequinologists in Michigan will avoid using Amtrak.  If a six-to-eight-hour power failure is something to take pride in, there's something wrong.