# On-time Trip to Minneapolis and Back to the Northwest



## oregon pioneer (Dec 17, 2019)

Our train trips these days often start with a visit to our friend Gladys. She lives close enough to the Empire Builder’s Wishram station (WIH) that we can park our car at her house, take her out to dinner in The Dalles, and then get dropped off at the station. Dinner was at the Canton Wok, always a good bet, and the train was right on time (though Gladys is also an Amtrak fan, and understands when it is not).




Our sleeper car attendant, Larry, was very friendly but no dinner was offered to us, even though it was only 6:55 when we boarded. He also did not offer to put down the bed, so when we were ready, I pushed the call button. Larry was right there with a smile, ready to do the task.

There was never a timetable in our roomette, just a photocopy of an old one taped to the post at the top of the stairs in the lounge car. They were not available in any of the stations I checked, either. Have they stopped printing timetables altogether?

We got breakfast when the diner opened at 6:30am, and were joined by Jake from Pendleton. I had the Continental with oatmeal. Server Pete was proud to offer us BOTH raisins and nuts for the oatmeal, but the yogurt was strawberry instead of the vanilla promised on Amtrak’s food facts page. Enjoyed the conversation so much we agreed to meet Jake again for lunch. Pete was a friendly jokester who liked people who appreciate Amtrak.

On returning to our roomette, I decided to plug in my devices. No juice in the outlet, and no Larry. I tried an empty roomette with the same results, then pushed the call button. Larry was there in a minute, but he couldn't fix it, and others began to ask about the same issue.

I went to the SSL to read and recharge. When I returned an hour later, the outlet in the roomette was working again. Larry was quite surprised to hear this, as he had not been able to fix it, and nothing more was going to be tried till they could put on a technician at Minot. The outlet continued to work for the rest of our trip.

Hubby and I took walks on the platform during the station stops at both Shelby and Havre. The weather was uncharacteristically sunny and pleasant at Shelby, which Larry called "Shelberia." He came off the train suited-up for frigid weather, and appeared quite pleased to find that the extra clothing was unnecessary.

We had local friends in Minneapolis who picked us up, and then took us back to the station at the end of our visit. As is our custom, we took them out to dinner on the way to the station. They chose their favorite restaurant, Saigon Uptown, where the food was great and the prices amazingly low ($60 for four including appetizers, dinner and beer – you must go there if you are in MSP)! Then they dropped us off at the newly renovated St. Paul Union Station. This was the first trip we went through St. Paul since the old classic station was restored and re-opened. We obtained entry to the first class waiting room, which was merely a glass enclosure with comfy chairs and a coffee maker (not in use at 9 pm). I saw that the water cooler had a red spigot as well as a blue one, so I pulled out my travel mug and an herb tea bag.




I had almost finished my tea when the station attendant came to lead us to the train. This was a simple matter of walking to the end of the station hall, and into a modern room where we waited at the top of the stairs/elevator/escalator till train arrival was imminent. Got on our car and found our old friend Larry making up our room, which some arriving passengers had just vacated. He didn't get a chance to give us bottled water or empty the trash, so I took the empty bottles and Dorito bags to the main trash bin in the center of the car.

The train was 45 minutes late at MSP, and we had lost our place in the dispatching queue. Even after we pulled out of the station, we sat in the yards while freight trains shuffled and passed. By morning, we were an hour and a half late. We woke up at 6:30, dressed and went to the diner for breakfast. Again we had the Continental with oatmeal.

I spent a lot of the day reading a library book I had downloaded to my iPad. After learning about a small hot water kettle in a different thread on AU, I had bought one of the little 0.5 liter Bonavita units, so I made myself a cup of tea morning and afternoon. The 600 Watt power draw of the Bonavita is not enough to flip any breakers, so it’s a good one-cup tea or coffee maker for the train. I had made a little cloth bag to pack the kettle and teabags in. This was the first trip I ever took on Amtrak where I had good tea, any time I wanted it.





I love taking walks at the longer stops, and watching the snowy prairies roll by as I sit in the SSL:






Larry hadn't given us bottled water when we got on. We brought water bottles with us, and mostly used our own water, but we used it up, and by then there was no bottled water left. The spigots in our car just gave off an empty sounding gurgle, and no water. I got a little out of one of the coach cars, and eventually ended up in the lounge where the attendant only offered to sell me a bottle. Luckily, the conductor was there and showed me the spigot on the mini bar counter upstairs, which worked. I got enough water to last till we got off.

For breakfast on the Portland section, you go to the lounge car. Apparently you are supposed to get a paper chit from your attendant, but we did not know that till we went to the café (and Larry had not offered). The attendant did not make us go back and get the chit, just wrote down the info off my e-ticket. Breakfast is now a choice of items from the regular cafe menu, one of each cereal, muffin, yogurt and breakfast bar. He was out of the breakfast sandwich. No beverage or fruit, just the coffee in your car. I wonder about the dinner on this section (which we had not gotten). Is it the same as breakfast, just a selection of whatever is available from their regular café items?

One of the other passengers in our sleeper car described Larry as “hands-off.” I’d have to agree. He came quickly when called, and always did anything we asked, but he was not forthcoming about the services. If you had traveled before, he assumed you knew all that was needed and let you take care of yourself unless you needed him enough to call.

They always say "trains can make up time", but I never had it happen until this trip. The westbound train was late out of MSP, but right on-time by the next evening and stayed that way till we disembarked at Wishram. A few other people got off with us, mostly just to smoke and get back on. It was a beautiful crisp morning in the Gorge. Gladys got there a few minutes after us, and said she had been driving carefully because the road was frosty and slick. As she drove up the Maryhill Grade from the Biggs bridge, she looked down and saw our train passing under Highway 97, headed for WIH.


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## Asher (Dec 17, 2019)

Do I have it correctly, your husband yourself and Larry traveled to Minnesota and back. Anyway, I enjoyed the trip. I like your apparatus for making tea, looks like you were pretty comfortable.


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## Bob Dylan (Dec 17, 2019)

Nicetrip,thanks for sharing.

Sorry to hear that the Sleeping Car Pax on the Portland Section now only get to choose from items in the Cafe, I used to really enjoy the Box Dinners out of PDX, but the Breakfast from Spokane was so so!

Sounds like Larry could use a refresher course in Customer Service, and yall should have gotten Dinner in the Diner upon boarding. Think I'd let Customer service know about these glitches!


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## oregon pioneer (Dec 17, 2019)

anumberone said:


> Do I have it correctly, your husband yourself and Larry traveled to Minnesota and back. Anyway, I enjoyed the trip. I like your apparatus for making tea, looks like you were pretty comfortable.



Well, technically, we did travel with Larry, since he was our sleeper car attendant in BOTH directions! 



Bob Dylan said:


> Sorry to hear that the Sleeping Car Pax on the Portland Section now only get to choose from items in the Cafe, I used to really enjoy the Box Dinners out of PDX, but the Breakfast from Spokane was so so!
> 
> Sounds like Larry could use a refresher course in Customer Service, and yall should have gotten Dinner in the Diner upon boarding. Think I'd let Customer service know about these glitches!



I was extremely disappointed with the breakfast. Every selection they offered was full of sugar. We each took a yogurt and a breakfast bar. 

And I rather thought we should have been offered the usual boxed dinner for the Portland section when we boarded at Wishram at 6:55. That is what happened the other time I boarded at WIH.


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## Sauve850 (Dec 23, 2019)

Haven't seen timetables in a long time. I print mine out before my trips.


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## oregon pioneer (Dec 24, 2019)

Sauve850 said:


> Haven't seen timetables in a long time. I print mine out before my trips.



I will be doing that. For this trip, I settled on photographing their copy with my iPad. That way I could look at it any time I wanted to know the next stop, or whether we were on-time..


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## MARC Rider (Dec 25, 2019)

Sauve850 said:


> Haven't seen timetables in a long time. I print mine out before my trips.


If you have a smartphone or tablet and access to Wifi or 4G, you can download a timetable pdf directly from amtrak.com. This can be stored directly on the device and accessed even if there's no wifi or 4G. Beats having to carry around a lot of paper timetables, killing trees and filling landfills.


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## oregon pioneer (Dec 26, 2019)

MARC Rider said:


> If you have a smartphone or tablet and access to Wifi or 4G, you can download a timetable pdf directly from amtrak.com. This can be stored directly on the device and accessed even if there's no wifi or 4G. Beats having to carry around a lot of paper timetables, killing trees and filling landfills.



I agree. I quite liked having it on my iPad, and will download it before I board next time (since I don't have a data plan for the iPad, but instead rely on wi-fi).


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## Maglev (Dec 26, 2019)

Thanks for the trip report and photos!

I like having a paper timetable, so I blew up in size the timetable available online and printed it at home before the trip.


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## Sauve850 (Dec 26, 2019)

I like the paper timetable also. I also print it so I can leave it right in the table area where it used to be and maybe next person in the room gets it?


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