Amtrak Empire Builder: Train Across America!

[Music] I'm here at spoken in eastern Washington State right in the northwest of the United States and today I'm going to be taking one of the great train journeys of the world I'm taking a Amtrak's Empire Builder train which is a train that takes over two days to go from hearing right the way across to Chicago in Illinois we're looking forward to seeing the real scenery of America on this tool a train line so let's head inside ahead to Chicago the Empire Builder leaf Spokane heading east and passes almost immediately into northern Idaho only wake up in the morning we're in Montana crossing the glassy and National Park the ground gets flatter as we head towards the plains of eastern Montana we arrived to Minot North Dakota just before bedtime and when we wait with crushed into Minnesota and down some Minneapolis but last day spent following the Mississippi down into Wisconsin before heading across to Milwaukee and south into Illinois where we arrived into Chicago late in the afternoon after a journey time of 40 hours Amtrak trains candolyn several hours late this evening was no exception with the Seattle section of the train running around two hours late I'd recommend keeping an eye on Amtrak's tracking map and staying in your hotel or accommodation until around an hour before your train is due Amtrak stations aren't often well equipped with facilities and we opted to send the kids to bed early before getting them up and grabbing an uber which got us there around 20 minutes before the train arrived in the middle of the night hello thank you thanks you too we arrived at the station just after midnight and checked in our backs to Chicago it's a pretty manual process so you can check in right up into the ground 20 minutes before you train leaves fortunately our room tonight was in the Portland section of the train had already arrived so we could get in some more rooms and get the kids to sleep within a few minutes of arriving at the station they said what something we are there were only nine and ten nine and ten are you gonna make it right yeah go to the topless dubs make another right maybe the last two moons Valentina lovely thank you very much are you let me get fast then yeah thank you we headed on board and up to our rooms it's really late at night we are in the section that's coming from Portland that sections on time thankfully the other section is the section that comes from Seattle and that section is delayed so we have to wait here Spokane is a point at which the Empire Builder either splits into two trains or merges from two trains into one at Spokane there are two lines one heading across to Seattle on one heading Southwest down to Portland Oregon we're in a little room at on this train or we have two roommates actually me and Sam are in this one say hi so Rach and Anna are across the horse in another room just over there they were overridden being ten the room is pretty compact it's really small but it's still pretty comfortable we have a double bunk bed here I will show more around this in the morning we have a bit of daylight hopefully and Sammy is strapped in up there with his netting to stop him from falling out and suffering and ungraceful wake up in the morning which you don't really want to do you I'm going to try and get some sleep we're gonna fall asleep here in Spokane and see where we wake up in the morning as we settled down in bed the Seattle section of the train arrived I'd fallen asleep by the time we left Spokane [Music] we've woken up it's a beautiful day here in Montana now we've traveled quite some distance overnight ends now what bust 9:00 in the morning local time it was just a few moments ago left the station at West glassy and it is absolutely stunning out there was more than beautiful news we're not gonna head down for breakfast Justin she had I mean we've probably missed breakfast for today now the dining car is kind of six cars that way with Rach having damaged her foots quite badly their ankle while we're in Washington we're not quite sure how that's going to work [Music] [Music] it's now quarter past 11:00 in the morning and you're just kind of cruising across Montana eliminated apparently the bets down the there is a cabin manager that will come through and do all that for you but is very busy with little things so we've done it ourselves she puts a little football because you can see just falls away like that and these seats here talk shop now you kind of have to lift the back and there's I've got a little lamb press there that you do that puts the seat down into its lifelike position of course it back open source ease so when the bumps away as you can see we've got two little seats here sit facing each other very comfortable seats and you can see down the steps as well that you use up to the bomb when it comes to doing that so let's have a little look around the Mets here on the Amtrak Empire Builder and either end of the having these little lighting plants or things there is their conditioning setting in which I've got septic old and a lot plug sake there that you can charge things with which I am using with my fall back extension as I usually do when I'm abroad it is a little table here that pops out the safety part the table pops out like so fun the other side here we have opted options so that portable button that pulls the chain manager and then we have these lights here so we can go to the ceiling light to the night light flicker on to ceiling lights it turns out lights on on on nightline mode it will see as a blue light which is really nice in the evening when it's dark out I think you might feel thin like this it is here as well do the controls for the music music control but actually what it does is the announcements that come through and I recommend that if you get onboard a tree like this you the first thing you do if you want to get the sleep is turn all of those volumes down to zero because in the ceiling there was a speaker otherwise your networking up that sticks I look in the morning well the announcements for breakfast and the next stations and things so first thing to do when you come on the train turn the volume down closet here on this side that opens very small not much storage high any complaints really there isn't much storage in these little rooms lacks kind of go under the seats but it's difficult to get hold of things you can see we've got like scattered all around the room is pretty difficult to find space to put everything I've been up here as well we've got the other lighting controls for the other bomb that say like ting and everything air-conditioning comes through here the door on these units the slides across so we have sliding do you see that register door slid across and it just slides across latches and then we have here is the college cross so that we get a little bit of privacy in the evening if that's what we want to do in this wall generally what we've been doing is keeping the door shut and the cans across I finally gets a little bit stuffy in the daytime as well or even in the evening with that door shuts because the air-conditioning is good but it's not that great so we get a nice draft coming out that corridor so it's nice to get the draft coming through with the door holding on it's not a bad-looking room here it's pretty decent isn't it looks very compact but it is and does have everything you need we booked a table for lunch at 11:30 a.m. lunch is served from 11:30 on woods and finishes at about 2:00 p.m. tables are in high demand though and by the time the dining staff had come to our room to take the reservation we only had 11 and he left the dining car was six cars away and Inbetweeners were several coach cars I wouldn't recommend taking a coach ticket on this train at all the seats didn't look a comfortable place to spend two days and nights in and it was really noisy and hot to the observation car is an incredible space with floor-to-ceiling windows and comfy seats you can spend hours here watching the world go by how are you guys enjoying the train so far we are with lunch time on day two I'm going to need your inviter in a drawing contest in the dining and this is pretty cool I mean as amazing you can draw on the table constantly my okay so we're gonna have some food the kids were given some point di my trains to build passages in the sleeper cars get three meals a day included in their ticket breakfast lunch and dinner on each day you also get non-alcoholic drinks included or you can pay for a glass of wine if you fancy it Rach adopted to stay back in the room and ordered room service which is also an option the food and Amtrak was pretty good indeed I'll cover dinner later on but for lunch today I took the natural Angus burger which was really tasty as we ate lunch we passed through Shelby Montana like many towns in this part of the world he has an old Wild West feel to it and even has a saloon after lunch we headed back through the Train to the sleeper station as we're pretty close to the back of the Train it was really easy to get to the back window and see the railroad disappearing behind us what I enjoyed watching the view the kids were quite content playing games on their phone just after lunch we hit the first fresh air stop of this trip hava Montana all right so we're here at have a Montana in northern Montana it's named after la Jara in France and it's home to the world's biggest tractor so there is your piece of trivia for the hub of Montana it's also really hot it's up in the 30s today so quick fresh air break here outside of the Train in the heat and then we're gonna get back inside and get on our way Havva is a crew change spot and the crew that remained on board had KFC waiting for them when they got off as we left Havre we saw this cool-looking old steam engine at the side of the platform east of Havre we passed into a passing point to let our sister train the westbound Empire Builder go past we passed through some seemingly deserted towns in northern Montana in dispersed with miles of nothingness the tracks in Montana and North Dakota are very bumpy indeed and it was difficult to even stand up at times the tracks are operated by a BNSF and are primarily freight lines but it's Amtrak of an agreement to operate the Empire Builder once a day in each direction it really is fascinating stopping in tiny towns that you've never heard of before with seemingly barely anyone living in them downstairs in the observation car is a cafe in a little shop where you can grab light snacks and drinks to take back to your room it was soon dinnertime and we made our way down the drain to grab our dinner you have to fill in these cards with your room number on and can then order anything on the menu tonight I took the Amtrak signature steak which it's in my experience and nicest item on the menu it really is a delicious steak and much nicer than any of them summin summin green means mashed potatoes [Music] as the Sun got lower in the sky the planes were interrupted by intermittent rocky outcrops we entered North Dakota and stopped at Williston our first stop in the state as we headed to further east a huge storm was brewing on the horizon [Music] we stopped briefly at Stanley North Dakota before the Sun started to set as we headed closer to the city of Minot [Music] the storm was right overhead Minot and as we sat in the station we were treated to an amazing lightning storm with the Thunder rumbling and the rain hitting the roof of the Train it wasn't long before I fell asleep I woke up in Minneapolis where we just left the City Central Station at last morning of the Empire Builder trains woken up in Minneapolis and we're just kind of cruising this beautiful scenery that we have here just to the south of Minneapolis from here we head across to Wisconsin today through Wisconsin Dells and then down into Chicago we're with you to arrive at about 4 o'clock this afternoon but I think we a little bit behind schedule still at the moment although we have made up quite a bit overnight one thing I will say about Amtrak is that the blankets you get for sleeping all really thin and don't keep you particularly warm I was glad to have taken my weighted blanket that ynm very kindly send me it's a really nice blanket this lightweight but still feels like a full duvet and keeps you incredibly comfortable it fits nicely in your hand baggage and on this trip it kept me warm and snug just like at home check out the link to this down below I really do highly recommend it for when you're out traveling we followed the course of the Mississippi River down the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin [Music] so here then in Winona Minnesota is the last fresh air break on this service so I figured I'd have to come outside and at least see some fresh air before we do the last six hour ride down to Chicago most of the people in the sleeper car have got off Eddie to Minneapolis or stop before that so there's O'Neill's in the sleeper car now coach plus however is filling up fast as we get closer to Chicago and they said that by the time we hit Wisconsin Dells later on today the coach carriage will be absolutely around so I'm pretty pleased that we're out here in the quiet sleeper cars at the end of the Train after leaving Wenonah we cross the Mississippi River into Wisconsin where our first stop is lacrosse [Music] [Music] [Music] this will be left [Music] just after 3 p.m. we rolled into the City of Milwaukee [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so we're in the last few hours of the train right now across the country to Chicago Illinois those are people have asked me why would we take a train that takes over 40 hours nearly two days to go across the country when you can get a plane that would do it in a fraction of the time my response to that is and it's the same reason that people take a cruise when they could fly it in just a few hours it's not about how quickly you get there it's about enjoying the journey and having a relaxing time on the way yes it's taken two days to get across the country but also we have seen some of the most incredible scenery we've been through some of the most beautiful parts of America places that we would never dream about visiting in a million years little towns in the middle of Montana and North Dakota step right outside of your window is just incredibly cool we crossed our final state line at the trip and rolled into Illinois [Music] the famous skyline of Chicago appeared on the horizon and welcomed us into our final destination [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] we headed straight to the baggage claim where our bags appeared in around 20 minutes hear them at the beautiful Chicago Union Station in Chicago Illinois after our write over from Spokane Washington on the Empire Builder Amtrak train it was an absolutely incredible journey really enjoyed every minute of that all 40 hours of it across the entire of the USA from Washington State work way across to here it was an incredible way to see a Mary Hetal close and personal right outside the window as well I mean know what you think the Amtrak Empire Builder train down in the comment section below I hope you've enjoyed this video in the meantime take care and I'll see you next time here on in flight video

Channel: Noel Philips

Views: 299,088

Keywords: inflight video, flight review, trip report, empire builder train, empire builder train amtrak, empire builder train review, empire builder train ride, empire builder train roomette, empire builder train tour, empire builder, amtrak empire builder, north dakota

Id: Mn_Oj8w_DQE

Length: 21min 36sec (1296 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 17 2019