Amtrak Empire Builder | Taking a Train Through Glacier National Park

[Applause] [Music] hi everyone and welcome to a brand new trainer awesome video i'm tom and together with my brother bear we're riding amtrak's empire builder from portland oregon to chicago illinois in our last video we arrived at portland union station boarded the empire builder traveled along the columbia river and at spokane washington our train combined with the seattle section of the empire builder today we're going to take you through glacier national park and endless plains if you love train travel hit that subscribe button we upload at least once a week and this way you won't miss any of our content you can also join our community on patreon your support gives you access to cool features such as early video releases and finally follow us on our social media instagram and tick tock on the second day aboard the empire builder we woke up in total darkness no it wasn't still night outside we were traveling through the flat head tunnel the second longest railroad tunnel in america this tunnel is 7 miles or 11 kilometers long and is in the northwestern corner of montana once we popped out we realized we were in winter wonderland [Music] this video was recorded on march 2nd 2022 and so to see so much snow felt a little bit unusual especially as we had just been in portland the day before we are currently traveling over the bnsf kootenay subdivision this subdivision is one of the lines that make up bnsf's northern transcontinental railroad so how did we sleep well if you remember from last week you'll know that we're traveling in coach for this trip meaning that our accommodation is just our coach seat but these amtrak seats are very cushiony and comfortable and have an excellent recline so all in all i think i made a good six or seven hour night i find train travel to be very restful and relaxing so overall even if it wasn't a full bed i felt more rested and more ready to greet the new day than i would if i had flown here we are nearing glacier national park one of america's most beautiful national parks and little rivers and creeks accompany us on our journey east this river is the stillwater river our first stop of the day is whitefish montana and as i checked the clock i realized that our train was running almost two and a half hours late that is part of the deal with amtrak it's not right and it's not good but it's not always preventable and so keep that in mind if you have any connections welcome to montana cute station building whitefish montana currently has a population of around eight thousand it is a popular stop on the empire builder and many people use this to access the big mountain ski resort this area has been inhabited by native american peoples such as the kootenai for thousands of years the first european settler arrived in 1883. soon whitefish was the center of a booming logging industry it's time to head down and show you all the cafe segment of this train the cafe is located in the lounge car below the observation deck the cafe attendant accompanies the train for the entire duration of the trip which of course is a very exhausting and stressful job generally the cafe car attendants are incredibly cheerful and friendly people although i wasn't too impressed with the service of our attendant on this particular trip this station building may say belton but the official station name is west glacier west glacier is a tiny montana town with a population of around 220 it is the west gate of glacier national park and houses the headquarters for the national park once we've left the station we're officially in the park glacier national park is in the rocky mountains it spans over 1 million acres and the empire builder goes straight through it so i'm just going to warn you this video is going to have a lot of clips of scenery out the window the park was established in 1910 although i do think it's important to note that this was land inhabited by native americans until 1895 when the u s government basically forced them out our next stop is the small town of essex montana this is the only flag stop on the empire builder route and basically serves the isaac walton inn the isaac walton was built in 1939 as a place where railroad workers could get some hot food and get some rest today it's a hotel you can stay in one of the 33 rooms or in this old locomotive that has been converted into a room i would love to stay in the locomotive that sounds like a lot of fun a little shuttle will bring you from the platform to the inn even though it is only a short walk after essex our train will climb the mariah's pass which is also the continental divide our next stop will be browning montana and here's where there's a little bit of a switcheroo depending on the season you see from november through march the empire builder stops at browning from april through october it stops at east glacier instead because this video was recorded in march we will be stopping at browning on this trip so it's time to kick back relax and enjoy the glacier national park views the train goes very slow through this section because we're winding along with the mountains and the creeks but occasionally we do pass through one of these avalanche shelters we just passed over the continental divide any drop of water that falls on this side of the continental divide will eventually end up in the atlantic ocean so foreign right now we're passing that east glacier station which is only served in the summer months after spending the entire morning and a good chunk of the afternoon in glacier national park we're approaching browning and here's where something weird happens with the landscape the park stops it just stops like you can still see the mountains but from here on out it is just rolling prairie i thought the contrast was so stark and it took me a little bit by surprise browning station is on the blackfoot indian reserve once we've left browning our speed picks up dramatically as we pass through ranches farms and very small communities the line is a lot straighter and the climbs are less steep if you look at a map you'll notice that we've only traveled a relatively short section of montana despite the fact that it is already well into the afternoon the speed will pick up because we will make it to north dakota by the night although we're still carrying our two and a half hour delay from earlier in the morning the next stop is cut bank montana cup bank has a population of about 3 000 and was founded in 1891 when the great northern railroad arrived here it actually made me happy to see these windmills out kind of reminded me of when i lived in the netherlands our next stop is shelby this is another one of those fresh air stops where you can get off the train and stretch your legs just a really short stop at shelby montana it's pretty chilly here but it's above freezing so it's not too bad um we're still about two and a half hours delayed so we're out of the mountains now we're deep deep into the plains so we'll see if we can catch any up with any of that delay been having some interesting conversations with people in the lounge car solicited and unsolicited but you know that's how it goes when you travel with each other let's just say i learned a new theological theory about my ethnic background from somebody it's about here where our train travels over the site of the fatal derailment that happened on september 25th 2021 unfortunately three people lost their lives on that tragic day i bring this accident up to pay tribute to them and not to discourage anybody from taking the train the train is still one of the safest ways to travel even in america there's a fog that's beginning to set over the montana landscape we're slowing down on a sighting to let the westbound empire builder pass us this is haver montana pretty chilly but you gotta get off here because of this giant great northern steam locomotive that's parked right next to the platform the great northern railroad eventually became burlington northern which ultimately became bnsf it's cold here it's too cold out here haver montana has a population of around 9 000 and is the largest city for at least 100 miles it has a large underground complex known as haver beneath the surface today it's a mall and a tourist attraction but in the past all sorts of legal and illegal businesses have operated here haver is also famous for a buffalo jump basically a cliff that people use to get buffalo to fall to their deaths nice after haver our train goes on to the milk river subdivision of bnsf [Music] so i've never seen so many bnsf engines in one place now we're going on a little european tour stopping at malta and glasgow we just left glasgow montana one more stop in montana wolf point and then it's on to north dakota and the central time zone uh it's dark out night has fallen over the prairie i'm going to see if these bathrooms are still clean after a little bit over 24 hours of use huh not too bad like a coat hook with reinforcements there's also changing tables here so you can change your babies and uh yeah in these regular toilets the flush button is right there and it always takes like five seconds or so after pressing it before it flushes now obviously i wasn't going to show you anything if it was dirty if you are into that kind of stuff i'm sure there's resources for that but trains are awesome is not it the water in the amtrak toilets is not drinkable but they do offer tiny little drinking fountains with small cups how's your second day on amtrak think about it elaborate um but the scenery has been made especially this morning a little bumpy right around here is also the point where we reach the 1000 mile mark since portland stopping at our first stop in north dakota i'm going to stay up until the city of minot it gets so dark out here and riding in the observation car in the middle of the dark maybe it's cheesy but it almost feels like i'm in some sort of spaceship but less stars and more gravity do you know how when you look at nighttime satellite images there's areas that are completely dark well this is one of those areas our train is just cruising through the night and the atmosphere aboard the lounge car is very cozy people are minding their own business or chatting or playing games with each other what a way to travel [Music] thank you i just checked the weather up it's about six degrees fahrenheit here [Music] so here in minot they refuel the engines as well as do several technical checks [Music] so far the empire builder has been a great experience although i do have to say maybe it's the season but it's a lot quieter especially in the lounge car there's not a lot of foot traffic not a lot of conversation just kind of people running their own business and enjoying the views um it is almost midnight central time so we're gonna go to bed sleep through the rest of north dakota a little bit of minnesota this might not be the best place to end the video that might not be the first time people have might not have heard a joke and you might not even think that's funny i thought it was pronouncing milk but it's i stay out here much longer my hands might not be able to survive frostbite so good night everyone time for a second night aboard the empire builder next week the third and final installment of our empire builder series we're going to wake up to a glorious sunrise in minnesota travel through the twin cities as well as milwaukee parallel the mississippi river and finally arrive in chicago illinois you won't want to miss this so subscribe to trades are awesome and we'll see you next time [Music] bye [Music]

Channel: Trains Are Awesome

Views: 8,318

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Id: PyrPnqWeMK4

Length: 20min 57sec (1257 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 16 2022