# one less hereford in Montana



## frank (Mar 29, 2003)

Hello all,

I just returned yesterday from another jaunt out to the left coast via the Empire Builder from Minneapolis to Everett, my third in the last year.

Great trip. Only a couple of things went wrong. Somewhere in Eastern Montana the air hose directly under my sleeper went "PING!" I heard it loud and clear, and felt the train start to slow. FYI, if an air hose is blown, it automatically sets the air brakes. We drifted to a halt in the middle of antelope country. After a 30 minute stop we started back up only to get another 30 miles down the beige Montana countryside before smacking headlong (utterlong?) into a cow, which seperated the same air hose again. I won't bother mentioning what it seperated from the cow....

I actually have digital pics of the front of the Amtrak engine taken from Havre showing a montage of red and green (blood and grass) that I've decided not to post, so as to save the squeemish from a case of the dry heaves.

Besides that, the only altercation was the *****/School Marm dining car commandant coming down to our sleeper convinced that my wife and I had had two wines. We had not, and finally convinced her that we had initially ordered two wines, but changed the order to a larger split bottle. But from her demeanor, I was convinced that she was going to call security and have us thrown off the train into the Glacier Park wilderness if we didn't prove our innocence.

Ps. Didn't sleep a wink, as I was over the wheels down under both coming and going. Read my trip report from last year to avoid this. It's entitled Empire Builder, or something like that, posted on this board.

Happy trails,

Frank


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## AlanB (Mar 29, 2003)

Thanks for the trip report Frank. 

I'm glad that overall you had a good trip, even if you did have a few interesting moments. :blink:


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## frank (Mar 30, 2003)

I would like to add that anyone devoted to railways and in this case the Empire Builder will find the following link enlightening. The goodol' days!

http://www.gnrhs.org/empire_builder.htm

Frank


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## Bill Haithcoat (Mar 30, 2003)

The Empire Builder was and is one of America's finest trains. Thanks for providing this. Good to see those old colors again. I liked them much better than the "Sky blue" of later years. Blue is great on trains which have always been blue( some B&O, some L&N, some Wabash,etc) but it did not work on a train which had been green and orange through the years.


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## frank (Apr 9, 2003)

Bill and all,

At the risk of wearing out my welcome here as a visitor, I would like to share one more thought about the Empire Builder.

This route and service is truly an American journey. A piece of Americana frozen in time. I know....the same can be said about the more southern transcontinental route, the actual first transC route. But.....if you read about Lewis and Clark, and study the trials of seeking a northern/western route post Lewis and Clark, you can't help but be in awe of the fortitude not only of the people who labored to build this route, but the settlers who came in shortly after, thanks to James J. Hill, the Empire Builder himself. Those settlers' ideals are seen for hundreds of miles, and are a testament of early American sinew.

As I sit in my easy chair on Amtrak, looking out over the vast, empty Sweetgrass plains, with a view of a lone volcanic looking peak to the North, I'm constantly reminded of the fact that I'm witnessing something that Americans have had the pleasure of viewing for a century or more. Although the consist has changed a little over the years, everything else is just as it was, more or less.

To experience this route more from a more historical point of view, read both of the following documentaries from the Great Northern Railway page, a truly wonderful site.

http://www.gngoat.org/route_guides.htm

Let's hope that in the next century, our children's children will still be talking about traveling over the prairie on the Empire Builder. Some things in modern life need changing. Some things should remain the same. Rail travel is of the latter.

Frank


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## Steve4031 (Apr 9, 2003)

Maybe it was the school marm's/***** agent dining car person's sister that got run over. Thus she was depressed.


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## Bill Haithcoat (Apr 9, 2003)

Really, all of the long distance western routes are steeped in history, just in the building of them, if nothing else.

As to the Empire Builder, I remember a good article in TRAINS many years ago,probably late 50's or very early 60's, calling it the "Clean Window Train'. Meaning it was so perfect there were even no spots on the windows!!

Its historical competitor, the North Coast Limited, was a great train also.


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## amtrakadirondack (Jun 22, 2003)

frank said:


> I won't bother mentioning what it seperated from the cow....


Please don’t!


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## AMTRAK-P42 (Jun 30, 2003)

Sounds like an interesting trip! I did that same one just over a year ago, except in my case we didnt hit any cows.


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