Amtrak Empire Builder Trip Report | Portland to Chicago for $70 | Part 1

[Applause] [Music] hi everyone and welcome to a brand new trains or awesome video today's trip report starts in portland oregon and we're about to ride one of amtrak's most legendary trains the empire builder to chicago we've got a coach ticket and this trip report was filmed from march 1st through march 3rd 2022 when amtrak had a buy one bring one sale the normal coach fare is and forty dollars but because of the sale we only spent seventy dollars each to travel from portland to chicago join us as we cross glacier national park and endless prairies towards chicago 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 portland union station was opened in 1896 the initial plans for the station had it becoming the world's largest station but the plans were scaled down a little bit before construction i still think it's one of the most beautiful station buildings in america [Music] this is very pretty on its interior portland union station has a large waiting area this waiting area has wooden benches more comfortable seats are found in the metropolitan lounge which is reserved for passengers with sleeping car tickets not us today other than that there is a railroad cafe which has a select menu of snacks and drinks as well as a large collection of railroad memorabilia i ended up buying an amtrak t-shirt i'm sure you've seen me wear it in other videos the empire builder is an amtrak route that connects either seattle or portland to chicago the distance is about two thousand two hundred miles or three thousand five hundred kilometers and it's a two night train now we have a coach ticket today but because we're on the portland section going to chicago we get amtrak's observation car like the car with the panoramic windows and the seats facing outside so i'm really thrilled about that and that's completely accessible to coach passengers so in spokane washington around midnight today the portland section and the seattle section will combine and travel towards chicago as one long train [Music] a few minutes before departure passengers for the empire builder were called to board the train we lined up headed into kind of a secondary waiting room almost like a gate area where our tickets were scanned and then we were welcomed onto the platform here bears pointing out the metropolitan lounge i mentioned earlier on our left are the amtrak super liner cars that'll bring us all the way to chicago illinois amtrak deploys these double deck super liner cars on all their western long distance routes in my experience these super liner cars are the most comfortable trains that amtrak has they were built in the 1970s and a coach car is made up of a two by two configuration in airline style forward facing seats the seats are much wider and more cushioned than most trained seats around the world which will be good because we will be spending two nights in them they come with power sockets an excellent recline space to load your baggage in the baggage racks above and a lot of leg room besides having an amazing recline these super liner seats also feature a leg wrist so you can put your feet up so we picked some pretty great seats if i do say so myself we're at the very front of our coach car and right next to us is the lounge car that's the big observation car right on time we depart portland union station this is the beginning of a 45 hour train journey to chicago the first train we notice out of the window is this funny looking talgo train set this is used by the amtrak cascade service a state-supported service that runs between eugene oregon and vancouver canada via portland and seattle i hope to be able to come back to portland or seattle in time to try out one of these talgo trains before they're taken out of service talgo is a spanish train manufacturer that specializes in these unique looking trains made up of very short rail cars that have two cars balancing on one axle with the north american loading gauge they're so much smaller than the locomotive and the cab car that they're attached to it looks kind of funny our journey today will mostly be on railroad tracks of freight company bnsf and immediately after leaving portland union station we run on bnsf tracks towards washington state so obviously these coach seats are great but the highlight of any western amtrak route is the sightseer lounge and bear over here has never been in one so do you want to go check it out i guess nobody else is feeling inspired to be in here yet this this is what makes amtrak such an amazing experience so the observation car basically has two types of seats you've got these like leathery boots and then you've got the fabric window facing seats in my experience these boots are slightly more comfortable but both of them provide this unique panoramic viewing experience you can plug your phone in just like at your seat uh the cafe is down there would still open in a little bit but because this is a super liner car you're also allowed to bring your own food into the lounge car while the lounge car has many of the same amenities as the coach seats in my experience the purpose is very different amtrak lounge cars foster community there's of course the sharing of food in this car but there are also seats that while they face the windows also kind of face towards each other allowing people to engage in conversation and marvel about the sights they see out the window together i remember summer nights aboard the southwest chief where i got to know so many new people right now the lounge car is the front most car on our train directly next to the locomotive but in spokane washington a whole other consist coming from seattle will be attached to the front of our train the cafe car is below the lounge car and passengers can easily get the food from the cafe and bring it up to one of the seats in the lounge car within the first few minutes of our 45 hour journey our train crosses the columbia river the columbia river is an over 1200 mile long river that originates in british columbia a canadian province and flows through washington eventually forming the border between the u.s states of washington and oregon crossing the columbia means we've headed into vancouver washington often confused with vancouver not too far away in canada vancouver washington is basically a northern suburb of portland that lies in the state of washington immediately before vancouver station our line splits from the line headed north to seattle and so the platform is in a v shape much like clybourne station on metro's union pacific lines in chicago after vancouver our train will make a right and head east towards chicago for the first several hours of the journey our line will be paralleling the columbia river the bnsf tracks are on the north bank of the river in washington state and union pacific has tracks on the opposite bank in oregon so the views on this section of the train will be of oregon but from washington now it is often said that the portland section of the empire builder is the more scenic section and although i haven't been on the seattle section i can certainly vouch for the portland section having the sightseer lounge before anybody else does is already an added bonus but these columbia river views are really something else [Music] my problem on these trains is there's just so much scenery every time i report something something better shows up and i'm like you need to see this some footage is hard to capture like this waterfall and really to experience the train you have to write it yourself so i made sure to focus more on actually looking out the window then capturing video of the things i saw so there's normal people that pack snacks and then there's people that buy rotisserie turkeys i'm usually vegetarian no you're not no way the farther inland we travel the more impressive the columbia river view has become on our left it's mostly cliffs and occasionally a tunnel which turns the entire observation car dark although sometimes glimpses of a national forest are available this national forest includes mount saint helens the famous volcano that erupted in 1980 and lost a large chunk of its mass as night falls over the river the views become even more enchanting as night falls the little oregon towns across the river begin to light up and this makes the views even more enchanting [Music] eventually our train crosses the columbia river as it no longer forms the border and we continue slightly north towards spokane now most stops along the way are just to let people on and off but occasionally there are fresh air stops or smoke stops pasco will be the first one pasco washington the first fresh air stop we're going to be here for about five minutes i think i'm gonna take a nap because the next stop is spokane and that's not for another three hours so it looks like the portland section is two sleeper cars that's our coach car and then the observation car with of course p42 up front it's got to be at least 50 degrees out here it feels really nice even though it's nine in the evening i'm gonna switch with bear real quick so he can have a breath of fresh air too actually before i take a nap let's check out the bathrooms on the super liner always make sure to knock and to lock the door when you're inside i've walked in on plenty of people so this is the accessible toilet as you can see it's very wide i've got a sink that works fully stock soap fully stock toilet paper my face see that's what i mean a lot more toilet paper trash can and to flush the button is right there so i'm going to change now and you are not going to watch coach passengers do not have access to a shower for the entirety of the trip so it's important to freshen up in these bathrooms i brushed my teeth and lindsey my wife who wasn't able to travel with us this time encouraged me to do my skincare routine i happily obeyed because i miss you a lot then it was time to head up plug in my phone and grab my amtrak comfort pack that i had bought on the southwest chief last year i reclined the seat laid back and took a nice nap three hours later we slowed into spokane washington this was going to be a long stop spokane washington seven hours after morning we've made it to the very eastern end of the state and this is where our train will combine with the seattle section in about an hour look at these cute little wooden carts and trick uses to move the bags [Music] because the portland segment of the empire builder makes such a long stop in spokane the station is used as an opportunity to service the train passengers are allowed of course to walk around on the platform catch some fresh air but they're also allowed to leave the station and go into the city if they so desire of course the train will leave with or without its passengers so this is always something you need to be mindful of another thing to remember in spokane is that if you do leave the station you will be required to wait with the boarding passengers until they are allowed to board even though you already have a seat on the train bear actually went into the city and got some food we are going to look at the combining of the portland and seattle sections so the first thing that happens is the cover guarding the observation car from the locomotive is removed then the locomotive detaches from the train [Music] would you look at that a rake of four super liner cars with no engine attached to it all lonely at the platform don't worry your seattle buddies will come soon so with no head and power coming from a locomotive do these super liners have like a battery that allows the essential lights to remain on and yes it was very dark on board all right the section from seattle should be here in about 10 minutes it's supposed to be 48 degrees out here it feels a little bit chillier than that looks like spokane itself is a decently sized city there's an interesting looking building over there [Music] [Music] [Music] so it looks like it's going to back into the station before it lets any of those passengers out our locomotive which pulled the portland segment will be the front locomotive all the way to chicago so it's getting out of the way so that the seattle locomotive can push its cars into ours this goes very slowly and carefully of course all right five portland and seattle sections united now all that's left is for the two p-42s to connect to each other now we have one long empire builder all the way down to chicago time to get back on board i was soon reunited with bear and it was time to go to sleep for real as we left spokane the westbound empire builder actually just pulled in thank you so much for watching today next week we will publish part two of the trip report aboard the empire builder with some of the most breathtaking scenery along the entire route glacier national park in the prairies of montana and north dakota if you haven't already subscribe to trains are awesome so you don't miss it and we'll see you next time [Music] you

Channel: Trains Are Awesome

Views: 16,247

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Length: 21min 43sec (1303 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 09 2022