Sure, Penn Station was unpleasant on Thanksgiving Eve, but imagine heading to NYC on Wednesday on a train and suddenly the engine separates from the rest of the cars... and you're stuck. That's what happened last night to passengers on Amtrak Train 68.
The train was heading from Montreal to New York City when passengers suddenly saw a huge hole at the end of one of the train cars. Passenger Chuck Reeves told NY1, "I turned around and looked and the rest of the train was gone."
I'm on an #amtrak train going down to NYC for Thanksgiving. About ten minutes out of Albany, heard a pop smelled electrical burning and felt a rush of cold air. Turned around and looked back and saw the rat of the train is missing pic.twitter.com/6nPhft2qpn
— MANCHUCK (@manchuck) November 22, 2018
@ABC7NY @Amtrak Train 68's engine left its cars behind 10 minutes after leaving the Albany, NY station. Cars and passengers are stranded in the middle of the wilderness without any update or heat!!! #whereistrain68
— Ivan Nelson (@ivannelson) November 22, 2018
@Amtrak Where has train 68's engine gone?! How can an engine leave its cars and passengers stranded in the middle of the tracks?!😠 #wheresyourengine
— Ivan Nelson (@ivannelson) November 22, 2018
@Amtrak My son just sent me this photo of the missing engine car on his train (#68). Basically the engine took off leaving the entire train and passengers behind. Is this how you get college kids home for the holidays? pic.twitter.com/s5hRnjYTgr
— Joanne Ortiz (@Pixie_Rose) November 22, 2018
Another passenger told WTEN, "It was like an air noise. And I turned around and watched the train rip apart and the train—our train—kept going while the rest of the train was stopping in the back. It was crazy. We thought the other train was going to hit us."
According to the AP, "Some crying children were comforted by their parents, Reeves said, but for the most part no one panicked. A state trooper soon boarded to make sure everyone was safe."
They brought us to the detached https://t.co/jPTb6MUL47 we can board another train pic.twitter.com/v4OFyqzXOX
— MANCHUCK (@manchuck) November 22, 2018
Amtrak, which attributed the problem to a "mechanical" issue, dispatched a rescue train and put the passengers on a new train. The agency also said the 287 passengers and crew members were uninjured.
Update: The transfer is now complete. Train 68 is now on the move currently operating about 3hr 15min late. Please check https://t.co/ChMhtMJ1bL or our mobile app for additional status updates.
— Amtrak (@Amtrak) November 22, 2018
Reeves, who was taking the train to spend Thanksgiving at his parents' Long Island home, opted not to take Amtrak to NYC. Instead, he told the AP he'd been driving down with his brother today.