# Seattle to Dallas 3/16-3/20



## panamaclipper (Mar 18, 2004)

Seattle departure March 16, 2004:

I ended up with plenty of spare time Tuesday before leaving Seattle. On Monday I had taken the ferry and driven to the Olympic Peninsula and the Victorian seaport of Port Townsend. It's about an hour away from Seattle and well worth the visit. It reminds me of New England seaport villages with its big gingerbread houses and brick and stone Victorian buildings along the waterfront. They have several good restaurants there so I ate lunch at a diner overlooking the harbor. It seemed to mainly be for locals.

The town is also full of bed and breakfasts and I've stayed there in the past. Well worth a visit if you only have time for one trip out of Seattle.

On Tuesday morning I checked out of the hotel in downtown Seattle and went to Pike Market to buy some goodies for the train ride and eat breakfast. There are tons of bakeries and produce shops and ethnic food stores down there and it's easy to fill a bag with stuff. I ended up with some pastry and two small bottles of Washington State wine to take on my trip.

I had rented a car from Thrifty because their downtown location is only about four blocks from the King Street Station. I got the car back about 3:30 and they gave me a free lift with my bags to the station. I would have walked but I didn't want to drag my wheeled case and stuff through the center of town.

The old train station - which I think opened in 09 - has definitely seen much better days. At some point in the late 50s and early 60s they "modernized" the old classical architecture building with acres of laminate, ceiling tiles and butt ugly furniture. Both the outside and inside give a whole new meaning to Seattle's "grunge" movement.

Fortunately, they are in the early stage of a multi million redo of the station. They are ripping out a lot of the old additions and exposing the original heavily decorated plaster walls and ceilings. Above that acoustical tile drop ceiling in the main lobby is a huge 45-foot tall chamber with balconies and such overlooking the waiting area. When the updated the station in 1963 they just walled all that off. They are working to restore the original look both inside and outside, but it will be done in phases over the next few years. But at least they have started. The second phase of redevelopment is supposed to contain a Metropolitan Lounge for first-class Amtrak passengers.

Outside on the platforms there were two of the Cascades train sets and a double-deck commuter train.

Number 8 the Empire Builder pulled up about 4:10 with two p42s, a baggage car, transition dorm, sleeper, diner and two coaches. We pick up the observation lounge, another sleeper and at least one more coach late tonight in Spokane. We left Seattle spot on at 4:45.

The sleeping car was almost full and I was not able to upgrade to a deluxe. But since I was traveling alone I really didn't need the room. I was in room three of the SL2 sleeper. The seat covers, curtains and carpet looked "newer" and the room was in overall good repair. Unlike some compartments I've ridden in, everything worked.

Sleeping car attendant Doris McCarthy runs a tight ship and seems to have thought of everything. She had water in all the rooms along with an explainer handout that covered most FAQs. Since I'm pretty low maintenance, I left her to deal with the newbies. The toilets and shower room were all tarted up with flowers and deodorizers and were spotless. She had non-stop coffee and juice and ice and twice on stops she bought local newspapers and put them in our cabins.

There were a lot of high school kids on spring break who were acting like they had never gone anywhere before. Sure, I get excited by train rides, but they were giddy and kept running from one end of the train to the other to check everything out. I'm betting the new will wear off pretty quick.

I signed up for a 7 p.m. dinner and spent the next hour our so watching the coastline north of Seattle unfold outside the window. This was quite a treat - I had expected the route to just head east from Seattle. But we followed right along the high tide mark to Edmonds and Everett before taking a right toward the mountains.

As it was getting dark about 6:30 I could see the mountains topped with low clouds outside the window as we pass through a town the sign said was Gold Bar.

It's a shame this part of the trip through the mountains is at night. The light from the car windows was enough to see lots of snow still on the ground once we got higher.

I see from my route guide that we are going through the town of Leavenworth, but it will be dark by then. Leavenworth bills itself as the little Switzerland of the Northwest and the entire town is created to look like a Swiss ski village. It's smack in the middle of the mountains and is a great place to spend a night while sightseeing.

The dining car was only about a third full for the 7 p.m. seating. The waitress couldn't have been nicer. She had a great personality and was friendly and helpful to everyone. She said she previously had been a train supervisor but was now working in the Empire Builder diner and on the Coast Starlight sometimes. The other three people at my table - a young 20s couple and a middle aged businessman - weren't the talking types. So we had a polite and quiet dinner.

They did a great job with the steak, baked potato and salad. And she nuked the apple pie and put a dollop of whipped cream on it. A very good meal with first-class service.

The car was outfitted in the brown, beige and orange décor. Looked like parts of the diner seat covers had recently been replaced. I was sitting against the bulkhead under the ventilation grill, and I could hear what sounded like a bad bearing on some air handler. It wasn't loud, but I wouldn't want to listen to that all day.

By the time we got to Wenatchee we were about 10 minutes late. Then they added to the time off the schedule with a bunch of backing up and waiting that burned up about 45 minutes. Most of the time we spent sitting next to a freight. So we both must have been waiting for the tracks to clear.

I watched a DVD and worked on this trip report a bit before knocking off for the nite.

When I woke up once in Spokane, we were running about 45.

By the next morning in Montana it had stretched to an hour. I got up early showered and was in the diner by 5:30 to get an early view of what is supposed to be the prettiest part of the trip. I had French Toast for breakfast and chatted with a couple from Milwaukee. The diner was pretty empty at that time of the morning but the scenery was nice as the sun came up. And we had to wait on a siding for two freights which put us further behind. We were going through the 7-mile Flathead Tunnel about the time I got back to my bedroom.

By the time we got to Whitefish the train was still about 45 min late. I got off and walked along the platform and into the station. There was a large group of spring breakers boarding the train in Whitefish, so there was a big mob around the entrance to the coaches.

The train had grown in Spokane to include the baggage car, transition dorm, my sleeper, the diner, two coaches, the lounge obs, a coach, a coach-baggage, a sleeper and an express freight car.

I went to the obs car for the ride through the Glacier Park area. It was wonderful, with periods of sun followed by snow showers. We took on another group of students on break in Essex, and crossed the divide about 10:15. It was amazing the way the landscape changes then from mountains and evergreens to plateaus of dry grass. And much less snow. Back in Glacier there had been three to four feet on the ground but here there was just a trace.

The little towns like Cutbank and Shelby and Browning looked pretty bleak. I've read that this area got its legs from oil and gas business back before World War 2. But these days it looks like mostly farm and ranch.

I had a hamburger for lunch in the diner. The same waitress plus some more friendly tablemates - a lady from Milwaukee I'd met in the obs car taking photos, a nice woman from Pennsylvania out of coach and a railfan also from Pennsylvania wearing a BNSF T shirt. We had a good chat and our friendly waitress from last night kept everyone in a good mood. The crew on this train is the best I've every seen on rail - and I'm including rides I took in the mid-70s right after Amtrak took over. They are great and if every train had a crew like this Amtrak would be knee deep in passengers.

We rolled into Havre and I got off to take some photos of the train and the big Great Northern steam engine on display next to the station. My sleeping car attendant, Doris, went into the station to visit with the folks there, so I was pretty comfortable that I wouldn't be left behind as long as she was inside. I was surprised to see so many border patrol - about a half dozen. When we pulled out of Havre we were only 30 min. behind. We seem to be making up time out here on the flatlands.

And I've never seen so much snow. Snow, snow, snow. I'm from Texas, and the only snow I see is on the TV screen. In MT and ND all there was to see was snow feet deep and frozen lakes and streams. And in the middle of it all were dozens and dozens of forlorn looking Canada geese walking around looking for a bite to eat.

Between Williston and Minot we passed the site of the recent derail and wreck. What I didn't know from reading the paper was that many of the units wrecked were auto carriers. They had scraped an area along the track to park rows and rows of BMWs, Volvos, and other high-dollar cars they were salvaging. Most had some damage but some looked okay. Then at one end of the site was an actual PILE of autos I guess they were trying to sort out. Most of them looked totaled.

I had chicken for dinner, visited with a man from Minnesota who was taking his son and son's friend home after skiing in Montana and then went back to my compartment to watch a DVD. I got about half way through the movie before I fell asleep.

The next morning on Thursday I woke up near St. Cloud, MN. It has snowed heavy in the night and all the trees and landscape were weighed down. It was pretty but I was glad I wasn't out trying to get around in it.

I cleaned up and went to breakfast before we pulled into St. Paul. I say "St. Paul" but of course it's out in an industrial district between the two cities. I agree that it would be better to move the stop to the old station in downtown St. Paul. We had about 30 min while they serviced the train but there isn't much to see here. I walked the length of the train until it got to misting heavily and I decided to get back aboard. I was fascinated by all the snow and ice that had accumulated on the train during the night. Now that we were stopped, big chunks were falling off.

We took on what had to be 50 or 60 people in St. Paul - almost all of them in coach. We were running about 30 min late when we pulled into the station and left at about 7:50 a.m., only about 10 min behind schedule. In pseudo St. Paul we picked up two more express cars and three semi trailers on the back.

For miles and miles outside of St. Paul we ran along the river which still had large sections of ice. I was happy to see many bald eagles. About four or five that I caught sight of either flying or sitting in the trees along the bank.

We lost more time outside of Wisconsin Dells because a disabled CP freight on the tracks. We had to wait for another track to clear so we could go around. The crew on this leg is much more forthcoming about status, making public announcements explaining every delay and giving estimates of how long. Back in Montana when we were sitting around waiting on freights no one said a word. I enjoy hearing the status reports but I'm sure some crews think it's too much info for the passengers.

We were about an hour off schedule pulling into Wisconsin Dells where I had a chicken sandwich for lunch. It was the last seating in the diner so things were pretty empty. The crew was looking forward to spending the night in Chicago before heading back to Seattle.

By the time we got to Milwaukee it was threatening to snow. We were about 35 minutes behind at that point. A lot of passengers got off there, as there is only one more stop - Glenview - before Chicago.

I jumped off for a quick walk along the platform. I thought the station in Milwaukee looked pretty grim - what I saw from the platform, anyway. All gloomy concrete architecture from the 1960s. It was so dark in the platform area that I didn't even try to take a photo.

Leaving town we went though an entire district of half demolished and falling down industrial buildings that looked like they were from the 1800s and early 1900s. It was really depressing what with the gray skies and snow on everything. While snow can dress up mountains and rivers it can't do much to improve the looks of urban decay. I try and imagine what the place must have looked like in say the 1920s when it was alive with activity.

The closer we get to Chicago, the worse the weather looks. It's only mid afternoon but very gray and foggy with visibility of may be quarter to half mile. I can feel the cold through the compartment window.

We passed the westbound Empire Builder at 3:14 west of Glenview. Both trains were really hauling so there wasn't a lot of see. There have been so many red CP freights on the run today that it was surprising to see the blue nose of the P42 engine roaring toward my window and then gone.

Most of my train trips into Chicago I have approached from the north. But this time we came in on that side track that goes under the station next to the lower level lounge area.

We stopped first to unhook the express cars, and we ground to a halt on the platform at 4:10 on March 18.

I went into the station which was of course mobbed around rush hour. Getting to the street there was a long line of cabs and it only took about 10 minutes to get to the hotel. I had picked a hotel on Adams Street about half way between the station and Michigan Avenue.

When I stepped out of the cab at the hotel a sign in the next block said it was 44 degrees. While it isn't snowing yet, "snow showers" - a chance anyway - are in the forecast.

I grabbed a deep dish pizza at a bar I've been to many times a few blocks away from the hotel.

My plan tomorrow is to go to the Art Institute and maybe do some shopping before catching the Texas Eagle in the afternoon.

I'll file a second report about that overnight trip when I get to Dallas.


----------



## Steve4031 (Mar 18, 2004)

I enjoyed the first part of the trip report. I hope the Eagle is as enjoyable for you. Keep an eye out for the "high speed" tracks between Dwitght Illinois and Springfield. Some day passenger trains will operate at 110 mph on this route.


----------



## AlanB (Mar 18, 2004)

Panama,

Thanks for that trip report.  I'm glad that you had a good crew for your trip. It always makes things nicer. 

By the way, that station in Milwaukee has started undergoing renovations. That won't however help the platform area to my knowledge, other than perhaps adding better lights.


----------



## EmpireBuilderFan (Mar 18, 2004)

It sounds like you had a great trip. Thanks for posting it for us to read. I'm looking forward to part two of your trip.


----------



## coachseats (Mar 19, 2004)

Great report! Thanks for sharing. I will be taking this train this spring and it sounds great.


----------



## panamaclipper (Mar 21, 2004)

The rest of the story.

Chicago departure March 19, 2004.

I ended up sleeping until after eight at the Chicago hotel. I guess after two nights on the train being in a quiet, stationary bed knocked me out. The hotel room had a free coffee pot and I had bought some pastry for breakfast the night before at a shop up the street.

It was a gorgeous day in Chicago - about 50 degrees, sun shining and not a cloud in the sky. After checking my email and talking on the cell phone a bit, I walked the four blocks or so from the hotel up to Michigan Avenue.

The art institute didn't open until 10:30 so I used the chance to get a long walk down the avenue across the river and all the way to Watertower Place.

I went in a couple of shops but it was mainly just for a break from walking. Didn't buy anything.

The nite before I had hit the book store and bought a copy of Devil in the White City which is about the Chicago world's fair. Good train reading I thought.

By the time I retraced my steps back to the art museum it was open and I spent more than an hour wandering around, sitting on benches and chatting with some of the other tourists.

When I had seen enough old pictures and such it was past time for lunch so I went a few blocks east to Berghoff's, a Chicago dining legend.

While the restaurant can be pricey they have a new casual café in the basement that you enter from Adams St. I had a soda, giant Reuben sandwich and a salad which ran about 8 bucks. I had my first ever Reuben at Berghoff's when I was just a kid. After the deep dish pizza the nite before, it was a perfect Chicago lunch. Probably knocked a couple of years off my life.

I made it back to the hotel about 2 p.m., checked my email again then checked out. The hotel let me have a later checkout which was great. Again I paid $4 bucks to have a cab haul me back to the station, rather than drag my bags four or five blocks. As pretty as the weather was, I'm sure I wasted my money.

I went down stairs to the Metro Lounge, checked in at the desk and grabbed a free soda.

At about 3 p.m. they called for boarding and I made my way to the tracks. I tried to walk the train before I got on but was told to go back to my sleeper. A coach was on the end, my sleeper and I made it past two more coaches before I was turned back. Must be part of the new security.

Getting into my Standard bedroom I found it was a little rougher than the one I had on the Empire Builder. It was still an SL2 car, but the seat cushions had lost ALL of their bounce and it was generally more worn. Also, neither of my bags would fit under the seats while they had slid right under in the other car.

We pulled out of the station right on time. We hadn't gone about five minutes when our car attendant Tony said he would be tied up for a minute. Apparently a big group had gotten split up and some of them were left behind in Chicago. Granny and the kids made it, but mom and dad were left at the terminal. Not sure how that happened, but Tony showed up in a few minutes and said he had calmed them down.

The dining car announcement was made to say that reservations would be for 5:30 and 7:45. I thought that was a bit odd since it had been 5:30, 6:30 and 7 on the Empire Builder. I thought about upgrading to the deluxe room but decided I would just save my money since it was only overnight to Dallas. I was tempted. There were some little kids in the room across form me that squealed every time we passed a cow or a lamppost. But I figured they would wear out pretty quick.

My sister in law would always give her two kids a teaspoon of Benadryl before they took a car or plane ride. She told them it was to keep them from getting "sneezy" on the trip. But we all knew it was just to knock them out.

When we stopped in Joliet the grandma and kids down in the big lower bedroom decided to get off and take a commuter back to Chicago to reunite with the rest of the family. They would all go out together tomorrow, Tony said, if they managed not to miss that train, too.

After our stop in Joliet we made good time flashing through the Illinois countryside. No sign of spring up here. The siding salesmen have really worked these little towns over good. Not much of a real clapboard or gingerbread trim left. But after having had my antique house striped and repainted two summers ago, I can understand why some folks prefer vinyl or metal siding.

At one point I see us zipping past trucks on the adjacent highway, so I guess we were making good time out here.

The dining car rep came by and I told him 7:45 for dinner. Looks like I get the same menu - No. 4 - I had on the Empire Builder. That's my bad luck. Guess I'll try the lamb tonite. I've already had the T bone and the chicken.

In my cabin there's an explainer sheet that talks about the lack of dining car service after Fort Worth. I was surprised to see the old Texas & Pacific/MoPac RR Eagle logo on the top.

I decided to walk to the obs car before we got to Normal, Ill. I found that the train was laid out with the baggage car, dorm trans, diner, obs-lounge, three coaches, my sleeper and the last coach that was getting dropped in St. Louis.

In Normal we took on a couple dozen people. The conductor made an announcement that the train is "full" and that everyone should clear room in their seats for new passengers. The sleeper also appeared to only have a couple of empty units.

I sat in the obs car for about an hour. Outside of Normal we ran along the interstate (55?) and were passing both the trucks and the cars with great haste. Had to be well over 75 mph.

We were spot on time in Springfield. There's a great view of the state capitol building which I didn't know was so grand. It was all lit up and fantastic to see about two blocks from the track.

I went to dinner and it was an entirely different experience than on the Empire Builder. On that train, the diner was run like a friendly little neighborhood café. This crew ran things like a military camp. As soon as everyone was seated for the 7:45 setting, on waiter came by and gave EVERYONE a salad and a roll. Then another guy came with trays full of little cups of salad dressing - take your choice. Finally after a bit - and it was a bit - another waiter showed up with trays of drinks.

I asked for iced tea and was told to take two glasses. No refills. Then the second waiter took everyone's orders. A few minutes later and he was back with all of it for the four of us. I had the lamb and a baked potato.

I was the only sleeper passenger at my table. There was a military wife heading for San Antonio and a retired couple going to see family near Dallas. We had a nice chat.

The tracks out here between Alton and St. Louis were just dreadful. It was all you could do to eat.

The food was just as good as on the Empire Builder and the crew if not real friendly were cordial. But it felt much more like an assembly line. I'll have to see how breakfast goes.

About the time I got back to my cabin we were crossing the river and the gateway arch was all lit up along with downtown St. Louis. Very pretty. I got out on the platform at St. Louis and chatted with Tony the sleeper attendant - a very nice guy - and some other passengers. We pulled out exactly on sked at 9 p.m.

Of course we dropped that extra coach in St. Louis and about a third of the people in the other coaches departed. That was fortunate, because the train was so full that many families had been split up and they were grumbling. The conductor had tried to get some folks traveling alone to move but they hadn't been in a cooperating mood. So about three families of people had ridden in the obs car until the coaches thinned out.

I watched another movie in my compartment and finally went to sleep about 11. I woke up around 5 and we were in Little Rock.

There was to be only one breakfast seating at 6:30 so I made sure I was dressed and waiting in the obs car before hand.

The drill team in the diner were a little less regimented this a.m. But things still ran like an assembly line. I had a nice chat with two ladies going to San Antonio and a young man getting off in Longview. They were staggered to hear I had got on the train in Seattle four days ago.

The dining car steward Mr. Long was very friendly to everyone and made sure we were taken care of. He seemed to have the personality for the entire diner.

By the time we got to Arkadelphia the train was about an hour behind. But the conductor said there was enough padding in the schedule that we should make up some time before Dallas.

Not. By Texarkana we were almost two hours late. And then we sat southwest of there for more than 15 min waiting on freights.

And before we got to Marshall the conductor announced we would have to sit and wait for FOUR freight trains to pass before we could proceed. Sounds like the UP is up to its usual.

We sat on the siding outside of Marshall for more than an hour waiting for the four UP freights to pass.

More waiting in Terrell and Forney.

We finally ended up in Dallas at about 10 min until 4 p.m. - well off our 1:30 arrival time.

We had lost most of the time in Texas.

While the Eagle wasn't nearly as "homey" as the Empire Builder, service was still what I would expect. If not for the delays, it would have been a great run. And truth is I'm not too worked up on being late. When you are sitting in your bedroom reading there's not much hardship there.

My next trip - probably in the fall - will tentatively be on the Chief. I want to do all these east-west trains. Although reading about the Sunset, I may opt out of that one for the trans Canada instead.

It's a pricey trip for me because I need oneway air tickets to two Canada cities to accommodate the ride. That's expensive from Texas.


----------



## teekster (Mar 22, 2004)

Thanks for the info on the Texas Eagle. We will be traveling that route the last week in March. Hopefully we'll be on time.


----------

