·12 Jul: Cascades Train #506
·12-14 Jul: #8 The Empire Builder 1|2|3
·17-18 Jul: #48 The Late Shore Limited: 1|2
·21 Jul: Empire Service Train #208
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·Introduction ·12 Jul: Cascades Train #506 ·12-14 Jul: #8 The Empire Builder 1|2|3 ·17-18 Jul: #48 The Late Shore Limited: 1|2 ·21 Jul: Empire Service Train #208 |
| 12-14 July-Train #8-The On Time Empire Builder-Going across Endless Montana | |
I due sleep again a bit, but not all that well, and its not because of comfort in my coach seat, more the excitement of being on my first cross-country Amtrak journey. The two long stops in the middle of the night definitely didn't help either. I wake up again at about dawn. The area is still quite lush and green, we slowly come to a brief stop at Libby, MT at 5:41A MT, with the sun slowly rising. I try and sleep but again, but can't, so I just sit listening to my iPod, the sun slowly rising.
We arrive On Time in Whitefish, MT at 7:26A, I step off the train and do the good old walk up and down the platform, with my camera getting photos of the station. The station has a quite large station house. And of historical interest there is an old Great Northern Railway bus parked in the parking lot of the station. There is a lawn with some large trees in it that separate the station platform from the parking lot. We depart on time at 7:46A.
I make my into the dining car for what my intension was to put my name on the waiting list, and get a number for breakfast (they've been announcing waiting list numbers for quite a while). But when I enter the dining car there is an extra seat at a booth with a party of 3 so I am asked to sit down immediately with them. Its another mother and her children, she's from Shelby and going home (someone else, for this common theme of people I've met on the train) to her parents, their current. Her children I recon look like about the age of forth and six grade. I decide to order the good old over-easy eggs with a biscut (another odd thing on Amtrak, no toast in the dining car) and hash browns. Which is good like eggs should be. Something I know I will not be getting with Diner-Lite if I have breakfast on the Lakeshore. None of them have ever been east. Most of conversation is the six-grade-ish boy asking me questions about New York, and me telling him that New York is not just what you see on T.V. Something I have had to do many times. During breakfast we stop at West Glacier. We are basically asked to leave by the dining car Stewart at about 8:45A, since as she says "I have many tables to serve." So I leave the diner and head back to my coach, and then its on to my first time in a Sightseer Lounge Car.
| When I walk into the Sightseer Lounge I immediately realize that this is the place to be (and not just because its quite crowded already). I am only able to find a seat directly across from the staircase on the lower level, on the right side of the train from where most of the scenery is. I also meet the trails and rails person who is standing right behind me, making quite informative announcements about the route. We stop in West Glacier, MT and I emprace for the beauty of Glacier National Park, which definitely did live up to expectations, though we saw no wildlife. We speed through Essex, MT, and go by the Izaak Walton Inn, with all the guests waving at us, there is no need to stop, no one wants to get on or off, it's the only flag stop on the entire route. There is still some snow visible in the upper reaches of the mountains. At 9:37A we cross the Continental divide, at Marias Pass (5,213 feet, quite low) there is a small obelisk that commemorates this. The guide informs us that we are in fact now in the watershed that goes north up to Hudson Bay, not the Atlantic or the Pacific. We continue through glacier, slowing going down. |
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We arrive East Glacier Park, MT at 9:58A. It is a very short fresh-air stop, so I detrain, and get off to take my pictures at this stop, that is right at the entrance to Glacier Park. The most notable thing is the very old-log cabin station house that looks quite interesting, unfortunately there is no time enter and look around. All Aboard is at 10:02A, as I am re-boarding, there is a lady who's English is poor, and asks me to take her picture under the log-cabin station house, the conductor comes and yells at her, telling her that it's time to re-board the train. An announcement is then made, asking us all to re-board the train immediately at all boarding calls, and that these extra fresh air stops are simply made as a courtesy and that their technically not supposed to make them.
| I go back to the Sightseer Lounge, and sit down again, as we exit fallowing Glacier National park, and watch as it fades into the distance. We bypass the Browning, MT Station (Which is only open during the winter when the East Glacier Park is closed.) which is on the Blackfoot Indian Reservation, on the high plains. Glacier National park is gone, and now its just the endless dry, grassy plains of Montana that seem to be endless. I go back to my seat to read. |
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| At 10:50A we make a quick stop at Cut Bank, MT which is just a small high plains town, and then continue through this seemingly endless area. |
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At 11:21A we arrive in Shelby, MT which is not supposed to be a long stop, but the Empire Builder is early again, thank you BNSF for actually knowing how to properly dispatch Amtrak. It's another small prairie town, with a very white station house. I take my usual walk up and down the platform, we leave of course on time at 11:43A.
| I now go back to my seat and decide its time for a little nap to get me through the rest of the day. We are fallowing U.S. Route 2, which we have been fallowing for almost the entire route, and I am struck to see that the speed limit is 70 mph (in the Northeast, the highest speed limit, ever on a rural interstate is 65), I mention this out loud to my seat mate, who tells me "It used to just be Reasonable and Prudent, with no speed limit at all." We continue on through the great plains I doze off for a little while. Full service lunch is served in the dining car we are told, but I decide to skip that and go to the lounge car to buy one of those pizzas for lunch, that are adequate for a light lunch. It's alright, not amazing, tastes the same as those in the café cars in the east. I also have some of the snacks I've brought. |
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We arrive in Havre, MT at 1:13P, I step into the station to buy some M&Ms at the many vending machines they have, and pick up a copy of the national timetable. I then do my walk up and down the platform. Their is a histroic Great Northern Railway Steam Locomotive on display at the station. We depart on time at 1:32P.
| Just after we leave Harve we go by a pretty big UP Rail Yard. Just a little while later we have to stop to wait for a train going the other way, it's the Westbound Builder. (This is the first time we've really stopped not in a station.) I go and sit in the Lounge Car again, with my book, reading a bit, and looking out to the endless dry prairie of the American Hartland. We make uneventful stops in Malta, Wolf Point, and Glasgow, MT. We fallow the Missouri River in some places and goes in and out of view. The dining car Stewart comes through with reservations for dinner, I add my name but unfortunately all the seatings are full, I'm told it will be at some time between 5 and 8PM, and to listen for my name. The area becomes slightly greener |
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| At 5:45P MT, we go by the Fort Union Trading Post, which is a historic Indian trading post, and also marks the border between Montana and North Dakota. It also where we loose another hour as we enter Central Time. An announcement is made about this, but that for those dining in the diner you are still on Mountain Time. Just after we make are station stop in Williston, ND, its now 7:09P CT, the heartland here is much greener then back in western Montana just after glacier national park. We fallow the Missori River again. Some of the Badlands are viewable way off in the distance. The sun is still high in the sky, I am getting hungrier and hungirier, but they seem to be calling no one's name from the waiting list. So I sit and wait chatting a little with people here and their. I go back to my seat and find out I have a seat mate again, who I believe is slightly retarded judging from the fact he is just sitting their, moving when I wish to get in and out. He also calls some one on his cell phone, his speech seems quite slurry. |
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We arrive in Minot, ND early at 9:03P I get off, run up and down the platform, and then re board hoping to hear the call for dinner. The odd guy sitting next to me decides to move to a double seat that has opened up behind. I think maybe I'll have no seat mate tonight, but know I'll get one soon enough. It finally comes a few minutes later, It's the Last Call, for anyone who hasn't been seated. I go up to the dining car and am seated with a couple who are going to his family in St. Cloud, MN from Seattle, and an elderly lady going to Devils Lake. All are retired, I decide to treat myself to an Amtrak Steak, which is quite good and rare as I asked for it, but way too small, the mashed potatoes it is served with are definitely fake. Dinner is eaten mostly as were stopped in Minot, their definitely giving us speedy service, but the conversation seems to be going nowhere, so I'm fine with it being quick, we leave Minot at 9:57P. I am amazed that since were so far north and west that it is still fairly light out, and there is an impressive sunset. I leave the dining car around 10:15P, and wonder back through my coach (still have a single seat), and into the lounge car, where a movie has been put on that I think I recognize as a version of King Kong, I decide I'm not in the mood for a movie and go back to my coach to read a little and sleep.
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·Introduction ·12 Jul: Cascades Train #506 ·12-14 Jul: #8 The Empire Builder 1|2|3 ·17-18 Jul: #48 The Late Shore Limited: 1|2 ·21 Jul: Empire Service Train #208 |
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