# Empire Builder PDX-CHI; 4/22/10 - 4/24/10



## NativeSon5859 (Apr 26, 2010)

Hi all,

I just got back from a great ride on #28 PDX-CHI. I've included a link to the full trip report which includes well over 100 pictures. I hope you enjoy it.

Building An Empire: ATL-DEN-PDX-ORD on Frontier / Amtrak

Here's a summary of my trip on #28....

4/22/10

Amtrak train #28 “Empire Builder”

PDX-CHI

Dep: 1645

Arr: 1555 (+2)

Superliner Sleeping car (Roomette)

All of the Sleeping car passengers on train #28 were preboarded at 4:20pm. I had room #9 on the upper level. I was pretty happy because I’d be in the last car the entire way, which meant easy access to great views from the rear of the train. Of course, the last car is also the bumpiest, but I’ve been on so many trains I barely even notice anymore. Anyway, we departed on-time. After we left Vancouver the car attendant came around with our dinner choices. Since there’s no true dining car until after we leave Spokane, they offer free cold meal service to sleeper passengers, plus a complimentary bottle of champagne. I had the chicken option, and it was very good, overall. After I finished dinner I made my way to the Sightseer lounge as we began our trek through the Columbia River Gorge. The beauty of it I can’t really put into words, so I’ll let the pics do it for me.

I left the Lounge car about :30 before our stop in Pasco, and had the car attendant turn down my bed for the night. I was dog tired, and I figured I’d be ready for sleep after the fresh air break in Pasco. Indeed, once we departed Pasco, I lied down, and was probably sleeping within five minutes. It was nice and cool in my room and the bed was comfortable. I set my alarm for 6:00am, which would give me time to shower and eat breakfast before we reached Glacier National Park.

I woke up at 6 like I had planned after a very restful sleep and hit the shower. It’s always a fun experience showering on a train. Then, at 6:30, I hit the Dining car for breakfast. I had the breakfast special…”sausage biscuits with gravy”. It was stick-to-your-ribs delicious….along with coffee and some juice. Then, it was back to my room, as we were approaching Whitefish, which was a fresh air stop. I detrained here and took a few pics. That Montana air was cool and crisp. My lungs thanked me. Back in my room after that for our journey into Glacier National Park. It takes about 2 and ½ to 3 hours to cross the park, and every second offers something really spectacular to look at. After the train leaves the East Glacier stop (which is a summer seasonal stop) and crosses the Two Medicine bridge, the landscape changes rapidly into high rolling plains…and remain that way for most of the day. To be honest, it’s not much to look at, but it’s sort of relaxing and its beauty understated. Lunch was served at noon , followed by an afternoon wine tasting for sleeper passengers at 3:00pm. I had a 6:00pm seating for dinner where I had some spicy Bison meatloaf. It was very good.Eventually Montana turned into North Dakota, and we arrived Minot at 8:55pm. This was another fresh air break so I hopped out. After that, I had the bed turned down, listened to music for another hour or so, and called it a day.

I woke up at 6:00am again to find us on-time. Following my usual routine of shower and breakfast, I hopped out at St.Paul-Minneapolis during our 45 minute stop there. And then…the rains came. And it didn’t really stop raining until we left the state of Minnesota, but picked up again in Milwaukee. The ride between St.Paul and, say, La Crosse WI is very nice, since you basically hug the Mississippi River the entire time. You cross the river once in St.Paul and again just before arriving LaCrossse. Between LaCrosse and Milwaukee it’s mostly farmland. Lunch was served at 11:30 just as we were passing through Wisconsin Dells. We made it to MKE by 2:00pm, and to CHI, our final stop, by 3:30pm.

After saying goodbye to the Empire Builder, I spent an hour lounging around the Metropolitan Lounge in CHI, before making my way to the CTA blue line train to ORD, and catching my United flight back home to ATL (UA373, A320), later that evening. There’s not much to say about the UA flight except that it was only about ½ full, I had the distinct honor of having a very weird dude as a seatmate (thankfully there was a seat open in between us), and the flight was like a roller coaster in the sky thanks to the storms all around.

So to sum up, it was a great trip. I’d like to get back to Portland to see more of the city…very nice place. And the train ride was, as usual, excellent. Also, it was great getting back on Frontier Airlines again after all these years. It brought back a lot of memories.


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## Bob Dylan (Apr 26, 2010)

Fantastic!  Thanks for the trip report and the pics, it seemed so real we could have been riding along!  You are correct about PDX, end of April is the best time for the roses but except for winter it's a great town! I used to feel like you do about flying (I am a private pilot) but it's such an unpleasant experience now I try to save my money and travel time for trains! Have you been on the Cal Zephyr yet, perhaps next trip ride from CHI-SAC, then the CS to PDX,Talgo to SEA

and Vancouver, B.C. (woth it if you havent been!  )


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## NativeSon5859 (Apr 26, 2010)

jimhudson said:


> Fantastic!  Thanks for the trip report and the pics, it seemed so real we could have been riding along!  You are correct about PDX, end of April is the best time for the roses but except for winter it's a great town! I used to feel like you do about flying (I am a private pilot) but it's such an unpleasant experience now I try to save my money and travel time for trains! Have you been on the Cal Zephyr yet, perhaps next trip ride from CHI-SAC, then the CS to PDX,Talgo to SEAand Vancouver, B.C. (woth it if you havent been!  )


Thanks Jim!

Oh yes, I've been on the Zephyr and the Starlight and the Talgo. Never made it up to Vancouver though on the train ...flew there once just to check out Air Canada's new 777's lol. I have a few more short haul regional routes to do as well as a gap in the Silver Star line I need to do and after that I'll have the entire Amtrak system under my belt.


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## hello (Apr 26, 2010)

Thank you, I enjoyed your trip report and photo's! We are also looking forward to trying both Voodoo Donuts in PDX and Giordano's in CHI ... glad you were able to fit them both in!!


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## Guest_gercohen_* (Apr 27, 2010)

NativeSon5859 said:


> Hi all,
> I just got back from a great ride on #28 PDX-CHI. I've included a link to the full trip report which includes well over 100 pictures. I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Building An Empire: ATL-DEN-PDX-ORD on Frontier / Amtrak
> ...


I was also on #28 PDX-CHI April 22-24, same car as you, Bedroom E.

I rode CS #14 LA-PDX, #28 PDX-CHI, #30 Capitol Limited CHI-WAS, and #97 WAS-RMT arriving RMT 11:56 pm on the 25th. Will post a travelogue also and comment on your in this thread.


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## fredevad (Apr 27, 2010)

This is indeed a great ride. I took this trip in 2008 and quickly learned when I got home that you just can't capture the awe-inspiring depth through Glacier National Park with pictures or video. Thanks for sharing your experience though words and pictures.

... and thanks for taking pictures in Milwaukee.


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## gercohen (Apr 28, 2010)

NativeSon5859 said:


> Hi all,
> I just got back from a great ride on #28 PDX-CHI. I've included a link to the full trip report which includes well over 100 pictures. I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Here's a summary of my trip on #28....
> ...


Our whole photo album is online here, covering the Coast Starlight, Empire Builder, Capital Limited and Silver Metor, LAX-RMT 4461 miles over 4.5 days http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/al...46964&ref=d

The cover photo was sunrise in the snow on the Coast Starlight NB in Shasta National Park in northern CA http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/ph...&id=2715315

Great concidence we were in the same car, four doors down on the same trip as you! We were in bedroom E,

We got off #14 CS from LAX and hung around the PDX Metropolitan for 20 munutes (the connection was an hour and we boarded about 30 minutes before departure of #28).

We picked the Salmon Cold plate, http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4573...mp;l=fcda69a599

which was delivered to our bedroom by the SCA.

Likewise the Columbia River Gorge was stupendous, I especially liked the wind farms which stretched for miles in the highlands above the gorge http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4569...mp;l=fcda69a599



> I left the Lounge car about :30 before our stop in Pasco, and had the car attendant turn down my bed for the night. I was dog tired, and I figured I’d be ready for sleep after the fresh air break in Pasco. Indeed, once we departed Pasco, I lied down, and was probably sleeping within five minutes. It was nice and cool in my room and the bed was comfortable. I set my alarm for 6:00am, which would give me time to shower and eat breakfast before we reached Glacier National Park.


I stayed awake until Spokane where the #8 from Seattle was attached to our #28 from PDX. #28 came in 58 minutes early, #8 was 20 minutes early. The schedule allowed an hour layover at Sokena (at 1 am) so we were at the station for 2 hours, but I did not get out.



> I woke up at 6 like I had planned after a very restful sleep and hit the shower. It’s always a fun experience showering on a train. Then, at 6:30, I hit the Dining car for breakfast. I had the breakfast special…”sausage biscuits with gravy”. It was stick-to-your-ribs delicious….along with coffee and some juice. Then, it was back to my room, as we were approaching Whitefish, which was a fresh air stop. I detrained here and took a few pics. That Montana air was cool and crisp. My lungs thanked me. Back in my room after that for our journey into Glacier National Park. It takes about 2 and ½ to 3 hours to cross the park, and every second offers something really spectacular to look at. After the train leaves the East Glacier stop (which is a summer seasonal stop) and crosses the Two Medicine bridge, the landscape changes rapidly into high rolling plains…and remain that way for most of the day. To be honest, it’s not much to look at, but it’s sort of relaxing and its beauty understated. Lunch was served at noon , followed by an afternoon wine tasting for sleeper passengers at 3:00pm. I had a 6:00pm seating for dinner where I had some spicy Bison meatloaf. It was very good.Eventually Montana turned into North Dakota, and we arrived Minot at 8:55pm. This was another fresh air break so I hopped out. After that, I had the bed turned down, listened to music for another hour or so, and called it a day.


One problem we had on the trip was that there was no hot water in our bedroom shower, but the downstairs community shower was much better anyway. Amtrak sent a repair person onboard at Minot ND to try to fix it but no luck.

I also had the Bison Meatloaf. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4568...mp;l=fcda69a599

It was VERY spicy, I recommend it highly.

My wife had the steak. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4574...mp;l=fcda69a599

Glacier was beuatiful.

Here's the flag stop at Essex for the Izaak Walton Inn

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4567...mp;l=fcda69a599



> I woke up at 6:00am again to find us on-time. Following my usual routine of shower and breakfast, I hopped out at St.Paul-Minneapolis during our 45 minute stop there. And then…the rains came. And it didn’t really stop raining until we left the state of Minnesota, but picked up again in Milwaukee. The ride between St.Paul and, say, La Crosse WI is very nice, since you basically hug the Mississippi River the entire time. You cross the river once in St.Paul and again just before arriving LaCrossse. Between LaCrosse and Milwaukee it’s mostly farmland. Lunch was served at 11:30 just as we were passing through Wisconsin Dells. We made it to MKE by 2:00pm, and to CHI, our final stop, by 3:30pm.


Likewise hopped out at St.Paul, the thunderstorm hit as I was outside so I scurried back onboard. Crosssing the Mississippi was fun.



> After saying goodbye to the Empire Builder, I spent an hour lounging around the Metropolitan Lounge in CHI, before making my way to the CTA blue line train to ORD, and catching my United flight back home to ATL (UA373, A320), later that evening.


We hung around the Metropolitan Lounge in CHI three hours awaiting #30 to WAS, a Chicago friend visited with us in the lounge! The EB trip was fantastic!!


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