| Amtrak engineer D. Embler Jr. gets logged into his PTC screens during the station stop of Amtrak’s eastbound Capitol Limited, train #30, in Toledo, Ohio just after 11:45pm on Tuesday January 7, 2020. During this stop, the conductor and engineer swap with a fresh crew, and now it is Embler’s responsibility to advance the train from Toledo to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as safely and efficiently as possible. Freshly repainted AMTK #837 (P40DC) and not so fresh AMTK #58 (P42DC), along with their eight cars, are showing on time in Toledo, despite leaving Chicago Union Station roughly 30 minutes behind due to a cab signal failure and having to spin the locomotives at the last minute. Embler is one of Amtrak’s most qualified engineers (and one of the best, in my opinion). Hired as a fireman with Penn Central June 19, 1974, Embler was promoted to engineer in Conrail’s very first class of engineers on June 30, 1976. He switched over to Amtrak, starting in Boston, Massachusetts on August 18, 1984. |