Trip Report: Amtrak Empire Builder in COACH (Again)

after two weeks of non-stop traveling sleeping in Amtrak coach seats and exploring different cities it's time to head home in May of 2023 we Tom and Lindsay used a USA rail pass to take Amtrak across the country for $300 each we could take 10 trips in coach on any Amtrak train over the past weeks we' taken the California Zephyr Coast Starlight and the Cascades seeing parts of the country we'd never seen before now it's time to head back to Chicago but that doesn't mean the journey is over in this video we're taking the Empire Builder a colossal 45 hour rail journey across the northern United States we'll be spending two nights on this train climbing up mountains Crossing prairies and getting lost in the Smoky [Music] [Applause] [Music] Haze hey everyone welcome to a brand new trains are awesome video I'm Tom and we have had quite the journey so far Lindsay and I we bought Amtrak rail passes when they were on sale for only $300 and in the month of May we've been traveling all over the country we've taken amra's California Zephyr the coast Starlight the Cascades now we're in Seattle Washington and after spending a few days really getting to know this city and enjoying our time here it's time to head back to Chicago so that's why in today's video we are going to be writing the Empire Builder now you may be thinking Tom didn't you already do an Empire Builder video last year I did but in that video I rode the train from Portland Oregon to Chicago now the Empire Builder has two sections one from Portland and one from Seattle they join together in Spokane Washington and then travel together all the way back to Chicago I've never done the Seattle section of the Empire Builder before so we're going to see what that's like today but first let's take a look look at the beautiful King Street Station here in Seattle Seattle's King Street Station is located on the southern side of downtown Seattle with connections to Sounder commuter rail the Light Rail and the street car it opened in 1906 the grand appearance and ornate decorations of the main hall are no surprise the station was designed by an architectural firm known as Reed and stem other famous stations designed by Reed and stem include Grand Central terminal in New York and the Michigan Central Station in Detroit for many years King Street stations serve trains at the Great Northern Railroad and the Northern Pacific railroad other Railways used the nearby Seattle Union Station but today only King Street [Music] remains our Empire Builder just pulled in and it's being led by one of the brand new Seaman Chargers one of the alc4 2's in the phase 7 Livery it's number 321 and that is the first time for me to be on a train pulled by a phase 7 charger right on time they call us to board the Empire [Music] Builder bigger bags down below let's take can bit up top two to Chicago two to Chicago uh let me see you are up in seats 207 and 28 2 all right this is our last amtr train out of many but it's two nights are are the seats they're exactly the ones I want the seats on this train are some of the most comfortable seats you will find anywhere in the world with a royal amount of leg room foot rests and leg rests a table and power sockets by the window we will be just fine for the next 45 hours I've spent many nights on amtr Coach if you're young and wondering if it's worth the cost savings I would definitely say it is from your conductors folks welcome number eight the Empire Builder we are eastbound today with st Edmonds Everett leworth wachi arrus fan and All Points East now's a good time to familiarize yourselves of the emergency evacuation card in the seat back in front of you or in your room for the unlike the event of an emergency couple of quick safety tips use three points of contact or moving about the Train by grabbing a seat back or hand rail to stabilize yourselves when moving between cars use the red and white stripe grab rails and step over the middle each car does move independently folks shoes must be worn at all times when moving about the train also this is important there's absolutely no that is none no smoking or vaping of any kind allowed on the train the first opportunity to step off the train will be when also do not drink alcohol that you brought on board you got a seat beside you this is a sold out train so you're going to make a new best friend keep that seat open and welcoming that being said thank you for choosing amra sit back after traveling under downtown Seattle through the Great Northern tunnel we pop out and Puget Sound comes into view our tracks from here all the way to Everett will closely hug the sound this line is owned by freight company BNSF and we share it with the Amtrak Cascade Service as well as the Sounder and line commuter rail Amtrak trains stop at Edmunds on Route while The Tragically infrequent Sounder trains make an additional stop at mleo if you're riding eastbound on the Seattle section like we are today I cannot stress this enough find a seat on the left side the Marine views are amazing we even saw several porpuses jump out of the water what a way to start this journey that being said if you find yourself on the Portland section get a seat on the right side and make sure to watch my video about that train by clicking the link above our second stop is Everett Washington the county seat of Snohomish County this area was home to the SN homish people until 1855 when after years of conflict they signed a treaty with what was then Washington territory they were forced to give up the land and relocate to a reservation the next settlement of the area began in the 1860s when homesteaders from Massachusetts came over and began working in the lumber business for years Everett was a struggling Lumber settlement until 1891 when the railroad reached the town the Great Northern Railroad helped Everett begin to grow and flourish attention passengers this important announcement coming to you from your conductors folks we're about 5 minutes away from our next station stop of ever Washington if ever your stop now's a good time to gather your personal belongings make sure you get everything you brought on board after Everett we turn East and begin to climb up into the Cascade Range we will continue climbing up until tomorrow morning but we will be traveling East for the next 2 days and 2,000 mil the Empire Builder is a 2200 mile Amtrak route between Seattle Washington and Chicago that's 3550 km there's also a branch that originates in Portland Oregon like I mentioned before the first time I rode the Empire Builder back in 2022 I took the Portland section that one travels through a very Scenic part of Washington as well but I'm excited to see what other beautiful views we'll see this time around the Empire Builder uses Amtrak super liner cars in fact back in 1979 this was the first long-distance route to use the super liners these are double- deck cars with the majority of seats being on the top level walking from car to car also happens on the Upper Floor the Seattle section only has one coach car at the back of the train up front closer to the locomotive are the sleeper cars for the first day on this train we are pretty much confined to our seats why because there's no observation car yet in my opinion the best part of any Amtrak train with super liner cars is the sightseer Lounge however like I said we won't be able to enjoy the lounge today not on the first day that's because the sightseer Lounge is on the Portland section of the train right now in Spokan Washington they will combine both sections into one train and once the trains join together we'll have access to the lounge [Music] car if you forget to bring your own food on board the Seattle section does have a dining car meals in the dining car are free for sleeper passengers but for us and Coach you have to pay for a meal dinner will set you back $45 a person we actually ate in the dining car when we traveled on the coast Starlight so make sure to watch that video to see how that experience went one advantage of being the back car at least for now is that we can look out the back window so where does the name Empire Builder come from sounds like it's time for a history lesson many of the names of Amtrak trains come from the companies that used to run them remember Amtrak started in 1971 before that dozens of private companies operated passenger train all over the United States the creation of Amtrak was essentially the federal government taking over passenger services from these companies the Empire Builder was the flagship train of a company known as the Great Northern Railway back in the 1870s an entrepreneur known as James J Hill began buying up struggling railroads around Minnesota he made the railroads profitable by encouraging people to settle near the railroads and by propping up Industries along the line businesses kept growing and by the 1890s his Great Northern Railroad had reached the Pacific Northwest the Great northern's Main Line stretched from St Paul Minnesota to Seattle Washington its main competitor was the Northern Pacific railroad which took a more southern route the key to this success of the Great Northern was the relatively flat easy route it took to cross the Rocky Mountains James Hill had picked it out himself often scouting Out Construction locations on Horseback by 1901 he owned the Northern Pacific as well well and having built such a massive business Empire he began to be known by his nickname James J Hill the Empire Builder though Mr Hill died in 1916 in 1929 the great northern's Flagship train was named after him the original Empire Builder ran between Chicago Illinois and both Seattle Washington and Portland Oregon just like the train does today of course back then the trains were steam hauled from 1909 to 1956 there was also a short election electric section in the Cascade Range but more about that later from St Paul Minnesota down to Chicago trains use the tracks of the Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad what that means is that trains traveled through Aurora Illinois and then used the racetrack to get into Chicago for decades not much changed to this route traction eventually switched to diesel powered and there was a steady change in Rolling Stock and train liveries but other than that not much but in 1970 the Great Northern Northern Pacific and the Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad merged to form Burlington Northern who took over operations of the train not for long however by the next year amtr took over longdistance passenger operations on the Burlington Northern as well as all over the country and on this route they instituted quite a few changes and I'll talk about those after we pass through the Cascade Tunnel crossing the Stevens path this is the longest tunnel in the United States at 7.8 Mi or 12 12 km it opened back in 1929 the original tunnel was much shorter but after a tragic Avalanche wiped out two trains and took the lives of 96 people it was decided a longer tunnel would need to be built this new tunnel would avoid more of the Avalanche prone areas while we are traveling through the Cascade tunnel the crew asked us not to travel between cars this would let stinky fumes into the cabin which of course would be very unpleasant in fact during the steam ERA this tunnel was electrified and electric locomotives hauled train through the tunnel sadly that operation ended in 1956 when our train entered the tunnel a large door on the opposite side closed and fans began to blow air shortly before we leave the doors will open obviously and once we're out they'll close again to clear the lingering fumes this complicated operation means only 28 trains a day can actually use the tunnel so about those changes amtr made to the Empire Builder most obviously they ax the Portland section furthermore they switched the route east of St Paul from 1971 this train began to take the Milwaukee Road into Chicago this route served Milwaukee which would generate more Riders though those tracks are now owned by cpkc and Metra the train continues to take this route in Minnesota Amtrak closed the station in St Paul and shifted operations to Minneapolis they chose to re-root the Empire Builder over the Northern Pacific tracks up to Fargo and in 1978 the Midway Station in St Paul opened and trains began stopping there instead By 1979 service had been restored over the original Great Northern route and here in Washington when amtr took over they shifted service over to the former Northern Pacific route through Pasco and Yakama trains took that route until 1981 when service was restored on the Great Northern route and those are the tracks that we are on right now at the same time the Portland Branch was revived and since then there have been no significant changes to how The Empire Builder runs except for a service reduction during the height of the covid-19 pandemic this is wachi Washington our first fresh air stop there's a crew change here which is almost unfortunate cuz this conductor has been really fun I'm probably going to stop filming for the night soon it's about 9:30 p.m. right now and at Spokan our train is going to combine with the train from Portland but with this being the Seattle section we're not going to catch a lot of that action it's going to be at 1:00 a.m. and I already have a video showing you exactly how the combining of the trains works so the link is up there if you're curious if you haven't seen the video yet make sure to watch that now as for the question which section is better the Portland section or the Seattle section I don't know the Portland section was great because you're just traveling past the Columbia River the entire time but the Puget Sound views the mountain views the farm views I actually really really like the Seattle section so I can't make up my mind just yet time to brush our teeth downstairs and change into our pajamas for our first night on the Empire Builder while we were fast asleep the train arrived in Spokane Washington I thought I'd quickly use some footage from the last time I Rod the Empire Builder to explain what happens here the section from Portland arrives here about an hour before us and this section has some sleeper cars a coach car and the sightseer Lounge the locomotive has detached and is waiting up front the Seattle section then comes in and backs into the Portland section forming one long train finally the Portland locomotive attaches to the Seattle locomotive and leads us all the way to Chicago it's the morning of day two aboard the Empire Builder and we are in the very west of Montana it's hazy out Wildfire smoke from Canada has blown South into the United States for much of our ride today it will contribute to a surreal gray Horizon it's so relaxing to wake up to the clickey Clack and the gentle sway of the train to open your eyes and find yourself in a national park nothing you have to do except sit back and take in their Landscapes rolling past your window last time time I rode the Empire Builder we were several hours delayed and because of that I woke up even farther west than today and I got to take in more scenery that's the thing about Amtrak delays sometimes they allow you to see views you would otherwise sleep through I was once 7 hours delayed on the Southwest Chief and it let me see Mojave Desert sites that are not included in any punctual itinerary today however we were right on time so some of the rugged Wilderness of northern Idaho and Western Montana had passed by in the dark of the night but this morning we would still get to absorb the ever Snowy Mountains of Glacier National Park perhaps the highlight of the entire Journey every so it's about 11: in the morning right now we're in the Mountain Time Zone and we're having a quick stop here at Shelby Montana our train is completely on time which is really interesting to me cuz last time I rode the Empire Builder we were about 3 hours late so we saw a lot more Glacier National Park this morning I woke up and I checked the map so this morning when I woke up and I checked the map I was like wao we're already halfway through the park so it feels a little bit different this time I do think that I slept the best that I've slept on a train so far this trip which is good I guess just tired from all the traveling Butana our next station stop in hour now we finally have access to the sightseer Lounge the sightseer Lounge has ceiling windows and a mix of table seating and window facing seats that allow passengers to better take in the views outside it is by far the best thing about the Western Amtrak longdistance routes you'll find me in here for hours another fresh air stop here in Montana this is H now H is definitely worth stepping outside and stretching your legs a little bit because there is a giant Great Northern steam locomotive on display right by the platform definitely worth checking out with a population of 9,000 H may not strike you as a significant stop but a fresh air braake is always nice it's hard to show in the video but there are often multiple hours between station stops H is also home to a large locomotive Depot for the BNSF Railway whose tracks we are still on H was founded by several settlers with French heritage in 1893 though originally called bull hook bottoms ass soon the population felt a different name would suit it better the first vote to change a name ended quite dramatically in a full-fledged fist fight round two went better it was decided that only five original Founders would get to vote and sharing French ancestry they agreed on H her the name of course is derived from the French city of La avra in Normandy if you're looking for a snack or a cheaper meal there is a cafe located on the bottom floor of the lounge except today the card reading machine was broken so all purchases had to be made in cash something that after 2 weeks of walking around in cities and staying in hosts we were not caring much of and the smoke is back for most of the afternoon we Barrel across eastern Montana pretty much consistently we can travel at a top speed of 79 mph or 130 kmph like I said the Great Northern chose the flattest fastest way to cross the US and while we're still in Montana let's take another Peak into our history books you may wonder why the Empire Builder serves all these smaller towns in northern Montana most of Montana's major population centers are all aligned on a corridor south of us those cities were served by the Northern Pacific their Flagship train was the North Coast limited which served the same destinations as the Empire Builder but it took a more southern route when Amtrak took over in 1971 they introduced the North Coast hawaa as a sister train to the Empire Builder just a reminder that this map is not 100% geographically accurate it just serves to illustrate the significant roote differences unfortunately the North Coast hawaa was not as lucky as the Empire Builder and By 1979 it too was history but and no that's not a pun on a certain city in Montana there is a good chance that we'll see the North Coast hawaa come back someday in Montana 12 counties joined together to create the Big Sky passenger rail Authority an official body that advocates for the restoration of train service along this Corridor now there are 20 counties and several Tri trial Nations participating and the group has just received Federal funding from the corridor ID program to research the feasibility of this connection it's so exciting to see so many local politicians working together to bring back passenger rail together we can prove people like this guy wrong as the red Evening Sun Burns through the haze we have crossed into the state of North Dakota so we're going to have about half an hour in my nut do you know if you're going to step outside I might not I'm just saying might not be the worst idea if you unsubscribe after that I don't even blame you but I might not forgive you so this is the stop in Min not North Dakota last time I was on the Empire Builder was March of 2022 and it was way colder here it was like -4 I think today it's it's a nice spring night they're doing some technical checks here some refueling so we got plenty of time I was looking for an ATM because of the whole Cafe car situation and it looks like I'd have to go into town to do that and I'm not sure that's something I'm willing to do I don't know when we'll get moving again Jokes Aside the station at Min not is very Charming the 1905 building was given a traditional 197 makeover back in 1975 but thankfully thanks to efforts of local preservationists the station today has been restored to its former glory the waiting room is small but cozy time for Night 2 on board the EB tomorrow we'll be in Chicago we woke up in St Paul capital city of the state of Minnesota Amtrak trains began serving St Paul's Union Depot in 2014 leading to the closure of the previous Midway station just like in Montana the views before St Paul are actually quite nice and while the ontime performance of our train so far is nothing to complain about my point about the unexpected views you encounter on delayed trains still stands good morning everyone from Winona Minnesota this is our last stop in the state of Minnesota it's also our last opportunity to get some fresh air before Chicago where we should hopefully arrive in about 5 hours how did I sleep I actually slept pretty good just like last night I guess just the whole trip we've taken have really exhausted us so we just spent the whole day kind of just chilling yesterday and then slept good what helps is if there's no big stops in the night like on the coast Starlight at Sacramento or the Empire realer at Spokane there's just these stops around midnight 1:00 a.m. that are really long and really busy and people are not very good at like boarding the train subtly and quietly so that kind of disrupts your sleep if you're asleep already but for the second leg I mean our last big stop was kind of Min not and we were all still up for that so made a good long sleep you know when you think of Minnesota and wiscons you don't really think of the Mississippi River but here it is we are now running alongside the Mississippi River here after well over a th000 miles on BNSF trackage we've switched to tracks owned by cpkc soon after Winona we'll cross the Mississippi River into Wisconsin our first stop will be lacrosse currently the Empire Builder is the only passenger train to connect Chicago with the Twin Cities however that will change this year when one of the hawaa trains between Chicago and Milwaukee is extended to St Paul another very exciting development indeed are you lacrosse no well I know you're not are you lacrosse someone will be joining you here probably slide on all the way over our train makes a stop at Wisconsin Dells perhaps the midwest's number one indoor water park destination this town is named after the Dells of the Wisconsin River a rock formation that you can actually see from the train window the morning is spent crossing the state of Wisconsin and by the time we reach Milwaukee's Intermodal terminal there's only an hour and a half left in our 45-hour journey we're practically in Chicago time to reflect the Empire Builder was the last train we took in our larger trip it was the only train where we spent two consecutive nights in our coach seat as we were tired from so many days of exploring it was the perfect opportunity to relax and just enjoy the simple things of rail travel though we were ready for a good home-cooked meal after living off of snacks for the past two days heading east meant that the view slowly became less extreme helping us ease back into The rhythms of normal life well except just a few weeks later we moved from Chicago to Washington DC where we live now so so much for easing into normal life it's crazy to think about all the miles we've traveled and the places we've seen these past 11 days really fun to do together that super fun stop of Chicago's Union Station Chicago Illinois at this time we're going to ask that everyone please return to your seats or your accommodations the sight Seer Lounge car is now closed uh for the remainder of the trip into Chicago so please return to your seats or your accommodations at this time the sight here Lounge carart is now closed coming into Seattle we do do things a little bit differently as we do go it's a very busy train station there's a lot of train Movement we deal with Amtrak as well as Metro train mov Movement we go through a lot of switches and crossovers so for everyone's safety we ask that you please do not come downstairs please remain in your seats or in your accommodations once we clear all that Havoc we'll make an announcement as we're pulling up to the platform when it is safe for people to begin the process of coming downstairs to DET train who may have checked bags you'll be able to collect those inside the station about 15 20 minutes after our arrival today uh at the luggage carousel inside the station we're back in Chicago it's weird to be in the same place 11 days later it almost feels like like we never left but we did leave we traveled through 10 different states went to Salt Lake City San Francisco Portland Seattle honestly this was one of the best trips I've ever been on and thank you guys so much for coming along if you're on the fence I hope you're convinced book that Amtrak ticket travel by train it's an unforgettable experience one that brings you closer to Nature history and other people thank you so much for following Along on our trip across America do not worry the trains are awesome content that you love is not going anywhere we will be right back with more videos from around the world subscribe to trains are awesome if you feel inspired and we'll see you next time

Channel: Trains Are Awesome

Views: 33,264

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Id: w1AFvJ5Ti6Q

Length: 30min 43sec (1843 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 27 2024