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I don’t believe oil trains ever stopped running as our local refineries on the coast keep getting them. The oil loading facilities I saw today were doing gang buster business loading several 7,000 foot unit oil trains.

Union station food court in Chicago is wide open. Jersey Mike’s was awesome.

1:50- Just finished my 1:30 sitting in the diner for lunch. Chicken Fettuccini. Brought my own Parmesan cheese. The secret with flex meals is to cover it with cheese until you can no longer see it.

1:03- Noshua, MT Rolling pass with an eastbound oil train. Us on the siding but never stopped moving. Good dispatching!

I was unaware such a person existed on this trip.

12:07 Intermodal stack train in the siding waiting for us. Sweet! That’s how to run a railroad.

12:15 The Missouri River west of Williston. Lewis and Clark country. 11:25 Officially in Montana and Mountain time.

11:45 Local BNSF track inspector and surfacing crew foreman need to take turns riding the head end of Amtrak and make notes of the location of switches, crossing and bridge ends, and mud spots needing to be surfaced between east of Stanley and Williston. Conductor had warned us to use a “wide...

10:08 Just west of Minot. North Dakota high! BNSF structures crew with old panels removed from same bridge.

10:01 Just west of Minot ties are marked for the upcoming tie gang. (And from the look of some of the ties, none too soon)

9:00 Minot, ND Crew change, fuel the locomotives, water the cars, remove the trash, 1000 mile inspection, smoke break, stretch the legs 9:56 All aboard! Now running about 50 minutes behind schedule. Been making good time today and not going in the hole to wait for any freights.

8:44- Cow!

Had the omelet for breakfast. I was taught if you have nothing good to say about something don’t say anything at all. The blueberry muffin was delicious. BTW, someone did not get the memo to throw away the old menus dated 0720 and replace them with those dated 0221. Quite the mix in different...

4/27 6:09 Awoke to the faces of commuters stopped at Demers Ave crossing where according to my rv camping app is the location of the Grand Forks, North Dakota station. According to my accuweather app it is 40 degrees. I did not know it was capable of reading my roomette temp. Just opened the...

Today 4/26- Having just been there a few hours ago the answer is no. Seating yes. Food snacks and such no.

Musings after dark- Had a big smear on my roomette window on the inside. Informed my attendant and asked if he had any windex. He handed me the bottle. Good thing I carry my own paper towels with me. Masks. Masks! Dammit, wear your masks! (Not an exact announcement quote) Lounge snack bar...

According google earth there are two parallel sand fences to protect the siding where we went off. 66 feet and 87 feet from center of track respectively.

6:48 Back to track speed. 79 MPH. 6:52 Columbus station with a double spot. Will be dark soon and have yet to see any of those Wisconsin cows. Sad

Ending my Grand Tour back in Seattle where I started last Monday. 4/19/2021 Keep losing my Verizon WiFi. Did not realize Wisconsin was so remote.

Empire Builder #7 CHI-SEA 4/26/2021 2:14:45 CDT- Left Chicago 15 seconds early today. Off to a great start! Prior owner of my roomette even left a printed Empire Builder timetable for me. Great idea! Straight run to Milwaukee pretty much 79 mph the whole way. 4:15 Come to a stop just west of...