# Trip Home for Christmas



## EmpireBuilderFan (Dec 15, 2002)

Greetings, all,

I'm posting this from my parents house in Williston, ND, after a great trip on the Empire Builder from Portland, OR. Once I get back to my computer in Oregon, I'll post some of the pictures that I took on this trip.

Getting to the station in Portland was interesting. My friend who drove me to the station knew "roughly" where it was, but he didn't know exactly where it was. Fortunately, we didn't get too lost, since I did know where to find the station, and I was able to be at Portland's Union Station at about 4:00 PM for a 4:45 departure. (P.S.: Try *that* at an airport!)

It was my first time riding in a sleeper car, so I was looking forward to the trip. Normally, I can't afford a sleeper berth, so I end up riding in coach the whole way. This time, however, I had some extra money that I was able to use for the sleeper fare.

The entrance to Portland's Metropolitan Lounge is located in a vestibule between two sets of doors that head to the boarding platforms. The lounge is actually quite nice, with comfortable seats and couches, unlike the main waiting area which have the old style wooden benches. There are complementary sodas and water available in a cooler and a pot of coffee available with real coffee cups. In one corner are a couple of cubicles for people who want to work while waiting for their train. Near the exit to the trains are a couple of restrooms, so the first class passengers won't have to leave the lounge.

About 4:20 PM, the lounge attendant gave those of us who were in the lounge permission to get our luggage from the luggage room and head to the train. The car attendant, Paul, was at the sleeper car door waiting for us to arrive. When I arrived, he checked my name off of his list and explained how to get to my room. A few minutes later, after I got settled into the room, he came by to introduce himself and to let me know that he would be back shortly to explain how everything worked. Inside the room, Paul had set up a couple of bottles of water and a couple of pillows (real pillows, unlike the tiny things given to coach passengers).

Sitting on a track next to the Empire Builder was Dash-8 engine, a private car named "Montana", a Phase III baggage car, and a Sightseer Lounge. Before the Empire Builder left, I was able to get a couple of pictures of the engine and private car.

We left Portland right on time, at 4:45 PM. I was really glad to be on the train and not on Interstate 405, as the Fremont Bridge, which the tracks from Union Station go under, was completely jammed full of cars.

Supper was quite good. Since the Portland section doesn't have a dining car until it joins with the Seattle section, Amtrak provides some cold suppers that are actually pretty good. The choices were beef tenderloin or grilled chicken breast, and they include cole slaw, potato salad, a dinner roll, crackers and cheese, fruit salad, and a desert bar. As an interesting side note, the label still had the "pointless arrow" logo, so Amtrak hasn't completely done away with it yet. Along with the dinner was a complementary bottle of wine. I expected the smaller bottle that holds only one glass of wine, but it was actually twice that size.

That evening, the lounge attendant showed the new version of "E.T." It was fun watching that movie, as I hadn't seen it in over 15 years. Of course, it's always fun to see any movie on the train, if for no other reason than just being on the train!

When I got back to my room, Paul had already converted the seats into a bed. Since I do normally take the coach section when travelling, it was nice to sleep in a real bed, as little sleep as I got.

The Portland section arrived in Spokane about on time, but the Seattle section was late by over an hour. The whole time that we were in Spokane was quite the event. First, the engines from Portland detached from the consist and moved behind it. Then, the westbound Empire Builder arrived and passed through the station. It stopped shortly after it had cleared the station and backed into a spur, where it dropped off some of its express boxcars. Then it backed into the station to offload passengers. After all this, the Seattle section finally showed up. It went past on a side track so it could back into the Portland section. Before it did that, it had to drop off a couple of boxcars on the side track. After the two sections were joined and all passengers were on the train, we pulled out of the station, past a switch, backed up and picked up the boxcars that were left earlier, and finally got under way. We didn't get out of Spokane until 2:15 AM, which is about an hour late.

I think one of the best parts of the sleeper cars is the shower. Showering while travelling at almost 80 MPH is an interesting experience, but it's a great thing to be able to get cleaned up and ready for the day. Before I had returned from the shower and breakfast, Paul had already set the seats back up in the room. Then, after we left Whitefish, MT, he came by with copies of the Kalispell, MT, newspaper. An interesting tidbit I found in the paper in a section about news from 100 years ago: on December 12, 1902, the Great Northern Railway announced that they were to begin steam heating the passenger trains. The previous method of heat wasn't very effective in extreme cold. It was quite ironic that I read this as I was riding on the modern descendant of the Great Northern's showcase train.

One thing that Amtrak should work on is the lunch menu. While the bacon cheeseburger I had was quite tasty, I'm glad that I didn't have to pay for it. For what you get, the paying over $9 for lunch seems a bit high. Personally, I'd really like to see the train-specific menus come back, especially since the new menu doesn't have the great biscuits and gravy that the old Empire Builder menu had.

When the train stopped at Havre, MT, for its service stop, I wandered down the platform and wrote down the consist. In case anyone is interested, here's what was on Trains 8(13) and 28(13):

P-42 #95 -- Phase V paint

P-42 #142 -- Phase V paint

Baggage #1002 -- Phase III paint

Transition Dorm #39007

Sleeper #32049

Sleeper #32066

Diner #38028

Coach #34065

Coach/Smoking #31508

Sightseer Lounge #33018

Coach #34092 -- Superliner II interior upgrade

Coach/Baggage #31026

Sleeper #32005 -- Superliner II interior upgrade

Express Boxcar #1461 -- Phase III paint

Express Boxcar #71117

Express Boxcar #74104

Express Boxcar #74061

An interesting side note as I was getting everything back into my luggage before we arrived in Williston: someone had goofed up when putting emergency exit labels in the cars. The label in my room showed 2 Deluxe rooms, a Handicapped room, and 12 regular rooms on a single level car. There's no place for a center stairwell (which Superliners have), and it shows a vestibule at one end of the car. Perhaps it should have been in a Viewliner?

We never made up the time that was lost at Spokane, since we arrived into Williston, ND, about 45 minutes behind scheduled time. Of course, this does seem to be the usual time for the Empire Builder to arrive, although it can and does arrive on time or early.

My return trip is January 4-5, so I'll post part 2 after I get back to Oregon.


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## Amfleet (Dec 15, 2002)

> An interesting side note as I was getting everything back into my luggage before we arrived in Williston: someone had goofed up when putting emergency exit labels in the cars. The label in my room showed 2 Deluxe rooms, a Handicapped room, and 12 regular rooms on a single level car. There's no place for a center stairwell (which Superliners have), and it shows a vestibule at one end of the car. Perhaps it should have been in a Viewliner?


Yes, that would be a Viewliner. Either someone goofed up at Beech Grove or it was part of Warrington's plans to rebuild Superliners into Viewliners. :blink:


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## EmpireBuilderFan (Dec 15, 2002)

Amfleet said:


> > An interesting side note as I was getting everything back into my luggage before we arrived in Williston: someone had goofed up when putting emergency exit labels in the cars. The label in my room showed 2 Deluxe rooms, a Handicapped room, and 12 regular rooms on a single level car. There's no place for a center stairwell (which Superliners have), and it shows a vestibule at one end of the car. Perhaps it should have been in a Viewliner?
> 
> 
> Yes, that would be a Viewliner. Either someone goofed up at Beech Grove or it was part of Warrington's plans to rebuild Superliners into Viewliners. :blink:


Boy, couldn't you see this conversation at Beech Grove:

"Well, since we have to make the Superliners into Viewliners, we'll have to cut them down to the size of the Viewliners. You get to cut the top level off of the Superliners and then weld the roof back on. Don't forget to cut holes for the second set of windows."


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## tp49 (Dec 16, 2002)

> "Well, since we have to make the Superliners into Viewliners, we'll have to cut them down to the size of the Viewliners. You get to cut the top level off of the Superliners and then weld the roof back on. Don't forget to cut holes for the second set of windows."


The conversation continued...

"...and if you guys don't wanna do it, we'll just run 'em backwards through the Hudson River tubes. That should do the trick."


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## seajay (Dec 16, 2002)

EmpireBuilderFan said:


> Supper was quite good.  Since the Portland section doesn't have a dining car until it joins with the Seattle section, Amtrak provides some cold suppers that are actually pretty good.  The choices were beef tenderloin or grilled chicken breast, and they include cole slaw, potato salad, a dinner roll, crackers and cheese, fruit salad, and a desert bar.  As an interesting side note, the label still had the "pointless arrow" logo, so Amtrak hasn't completely done away with it yet.


I just hope the meal itself wasn't left over from "pre-three-sheets-logo" days! :lol:

seajay


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## EmpireBuilderFan (Dec 16, 2002)

seajay said:


> I just hope the meal itself wasn't left over from "pre-three-sheets-logo" days!   :lol:
> seajay


There was this funky furry green stuff on the meat, but I assumed it was just seasoning and ate it anyways.  (Just kidding!) Amtrak must have gotten a great deal on those labels a few years ago and bought way too many -- or could this be a sign that Gunn is going to restore the "pointless arrow" logo? B)


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## seajay (Dec 16, 2002)

EmpireBuilderFan said:


> There was this funky furry green stuff on the meat, but I assumed it was just seasoning and ate it anyways.


Hmmm, that could have been either parsely, sage, rosemary, or thyme.


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## Viewliner (Dec 16, 2002)

Amfleet said:


> > An interesting side note as I was getting everything back into my luggage before we arrived in Williston: someone had goofed up when putting emergency exit labels in the cars. The label in my room showed 2 Deluxe rooms, a Handicapped room, and 12 regular rooms on a single level car. There's no place for a center stairwell (which Superliners have), and it shows a vestibule at one end of the car. Perhaps it should have been in a Viewliner?
> 
> 
> Yes, that would be a Viewliner. Either someone goofed up at Beech Grove or it was part of Warrington's plans to rebuild Superliners into Viewliners. :blink:


Oh yeah! The Superviewliner's the ones in phase V with the "lava lamp look" I hear Warrington was going to make the prototype on his own (with a little help from his good friends at Bombardier and NJT), in fact I hear its in NJT's MMC now. Warrington also intested in some new "DECELA" (aka NJTCENA [NJT Customers Expect No Arrivals])" traiin sets which has a top speed of 150 mph, then it falls apart.


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## Amfleet (Dec 16, 2002)

I can just see it. Some homeless guy standing out side Newark Penn Station as a NJTCENA passes through "Get your train, $5 for a window, I got $10 for a seat, how bour $50 for this beautiful restroom...!


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## Superliner Diner (Dec 17, 2002)

Amfleet said:


> how bour $50 for this beautiful restroom...!


..with doors that get stuck closed trapping you inside.


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## Bill Haithcoat (Dec 18, 2002)

Empire Builder fan--I am glad you enjoyed your first sleeper trip. I remember my first--I was so excited I did not sleep.

I have taken that same trip out of Portland you described, and really enjoyed it. Even the food was good, not even being from a diner. ALso, the Columbia River scenery was magnificent.

Also, on that trip I encountered a sleeping car attendant who just may have been my best Amtrak attendant ever. He had a "go getter" work ethic and still found time to chat with us passengers. I had a deluxe bedroom, traveling alone, and he had time to come in several times and listen to my endless babble about trains. You can be sure he got a generous tip from me and a letter of commendation.

I have only visited Portland, Oregon, twice and there was a big gap between visits. I liked it much better the second time around...it had cleaned up its image, etc, in various ways, was more cosmopolitan, etc.


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