# Empire Builder April 5 Trip



## chandj (May 5, 2009)

My husband and I, along with our 8 month old grandson, took the Capital Limited from Pittsburgh to Chicago on April 4, boarding the Empire Builder there on the 5th, and continuing on to Seattle. We spent two nights in Seattle and then retraced our steps back to Pittsburgh. I love to read trip reports, so I will offer this short one from a novice in return for the many that I have read.

The Capital Limited pulled out of Pittsburgh at midnight and arrived about 8 a.m. in the Chicago station. The Pittsburgh station is in a beautiful old building. Services are minimal with clean restrooms, pretty basic seating area and vending machines. We had to park about a block away. We checked 2 bags in Pittsburgh through to Seattle and carried two bags on with us, plus a large diaper bag. We had a bedroom, but sorely wished we had edited those bags down to one! The bunks were already made up, so we climbed right in. I had an Eddie Bauer infant travel bed which I put between me and the wall on the lower, larger bunk for baby. Husband graciously took the top bunk. We were both, as first-time AMTRAK sleepers, very pleased with the comfort of the beds. Next morning, we were off to the diner car for breakfast. I was not feeling well (motion sickness), but the food looked fine and the service was pleasant. Our seat was a half-circle booth and no one was seated with us. I was impressed to find the NY Times Sunday edition in our room when we returned.

We had a bit of a scramble at the Chicago station waiting for a red cap who did not come. We had decided by now that we had WAY too much stuff anyway. We left most of the baggage on the platform beside the train and Husband went in search of a redcap--I was taking the baby and whatever else I could carry on into the station. Husband got some argument for trying to go back out to the train (which makes all kinds of sense), but was able to get help. Finally we all ended up in the Amtrak Lounge, which was spacious, clean and modern. Soft drinks, fruit, coffee, cookies were all abundant. We spent some time repacking so we could check more of the luggage. I needed to buy diapers and wipes (packed too much of the WRONG stuff!), plus something for motion sickness, but found out that most of Chicago around the station was closed because it was Sunday. I finally found a CVS open, but plan ahead if you're arriving on a Sunday. The food court had wide selection, plus there was a bar.

We were boarded through the Lounge in a very orderly fashion with lots of redcaps on hand. We were SO excited! We were on Train 7, Car 730, bedroom E. Our attendant was Rolando, which was cool because we had seen him in a segment of Extreme Trains on television. He was very helpful and pleasant. Joe was our dining car attendant. We enjoyed setting up our little bedroom, which had a small 'closet' with a few hangers, a cosmetics cabinet, and storage space under the seats. The room had some serious rattles and the door would not close. We stuffed paper in some places and Rolando had maintenance right up to address the door situation. It never did close all the way, but it was good enough. Joe came around to take our dinner reservations and we enjoyed the scenery until dinner. We sat with a super couple who ride trains often. They were lots of fun and we arranged to get our next night's reservations at the same time and arrive together. Anyway, first night dinner for Husband was lamb shank--he said it was perfect. I had salmon, which was good. Baby had some of the macaroni and cheese.

We had two significant delays during the trip that caused us to go through Glacier park in the dark. We weren't too upset, though, because we knew we were coming back through in a few days! The first delay was caused by frost heave on the tracks, and the second was for rail maintenance.

We didn't spend much time in the lounge because it was difficult for me to keep my balance carrying the baby. I fell once but didn't hurt him. I'm pretty agile, but he's just big enough to be unweildy and too little to walk on his own. Fortunately, the dining car was right next to our car. A little more about Rolando--he overheard me whining that I was running low on diapers, so he asked me what size and then made an announcement asking if anyone had extras with them. I thought that was really nice and unexpected.

We arrived at Seattle station around 11:30 a.m.--about an hour and a half 'late,' but we were not in a hurry. Seattle was so much fun. We spent Tuesday and Wednesday nights at the Inn at the Market, ate at Broklyn, Etta's, Lowell's, and about every place at the Public Market. We did a lot of fun touritsty things and had great weather. On Thursday, April 9 we returned to the station to catch the Empire Builder back to Chicago. On train 8, we were in bedroom D in car 830. The Seattle train station is being restored. It is already attractive, but there aren't many services other than restrooms, a car rental and vending machines in addition to ticketing and baggage check. I did not see redcaps, but they may have been there. The train was off at 4:45, and this time we were prepared! We had checked through all but one bag, we had duct tape for rattles and enough diapers and wipes to change everyone on the train at least twice.

The bedroom felt the newest of the three we had been in so far--no creaks or significant rattles. Husband did use his duct tape to cut back some of the blow from the vent up by the head of his bunk. Actually, our attendant borrowed our tape to go help someone else with a rattle! By the way, we were disappointed with our attendant, as she was not particularly helpful or friendly. Maybe Rolando was just too good of an act to follow! I won't say her name because maybe she was just having a particularly stressful trip. We asked her to put the beds up at a time when she needed to go down and help some passengers off the train and she came back with a very snippy reply. Our fault--we just weren't paying attention, but a simple "be with you as soon as I can" would have sufficed. Sarcasm doesn't usually inspire a bigger tip. (We are not demanding or rude travelers, and are always happy to wait our turn.)

The scenery through the mountains and the park was breathtaking, and again, the weather was good. I have seen some reviews mentioning how boring the scenery becomes as the train leaves the mountains and heads across the flatlands on toward Chicago. Maybe we are too easily entertained, but we spent all of our time either glued to our window or eating in the diner. We arrived in Chicago with plenty of time to visit the lounge and take a stroll around before boarding the train for the ride to Pittsburgh, where we arrived about 5 a.m.

We both loved the entire trip and can't wait to ride again. We are planning a trip to Dallas as soon as the baby can stand up, so should be July or August, (at least there won't be any frost heave affecting the tracks!) Our trip was sincerely enhanced by all the informative postings in this forum. Everything from packing light, taking a roll of duct tape, tipping, dining and more--we benefited from the kindly shared experiences of others. Thank you.


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## Everydaymatters (May 5, 2009)

That was a nice report. I particularly enjoyed it because you were on two of my favorite trains. I'm happy to hear you're planning your next rail trip.


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## Long Train Runnin' (May 5, 2009)

Nice report. I don't think any scenery is dull as long as your seeing it from an Amtrak train not looking down from a plane or through the windshield on an interstate  I'm yet to take the EB so I can't say for sure do hear the scenery in ND gets a little stale.


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## ALC Rail Writer (May 5, 2009)

I've had Rolando before when he was a Coach Attendant. Promotion? He always complained that he never got to work sleepers... Perhaps I shall have him at the end of this month, I would like to. He is very good at what he does-- can get worked up sometimes. I suppose that's why he likes the sleepers, less noise to deal with than in coach.


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## sunchaser (May 5, 2009)

Great trip report!! Good to hear you all enjoyed it. Do you think your grandson enjoyed it?

Is your grandson too big/old for a baby backpack? Maybe you could check into taking one for your next trip! Amtrak does allow those & strollers too. I know you felt like you overpacked, but one of those items might be helpful.


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## chandj (May 8, 2009)

sunchaser said:


> Great trip report!! Good to hear you all enjoyed it. Do you think your grandson enjoyed it?Is your grandson too big/old for a baby backpack? Maybe you could check into taking one for your next trip! Amtrak does allow those & strollers too. I know you felt like you overpacked, but one of those items might be helpful.


That's a great suggestion! Thank you. I will try him in a back pack and maybe we can do our Texas Amtrak trip sooner if we don't have to wait till he can stand on his own. He seemed to really enjoy the train. I thought the noise and motion would keep him awake, but he slept just fine.


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