A Tale of Two Trains: Empire Builder/Capitol Limited

[egurbi]

My son and I took the Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago last week, and the Capitol Limited from Chicago to DC this past Sunday. Wanted to post a quick trip report on each, hitting a few points.

Empire Builder:

1. Seattle King Street Station: We left on time from Seattle. Station staff could not have been nicer, checked bags with efficiency and a smile. There is no news stand or store of any kind in the station. A few vending machines. If there are things you have to pick up for your ride, do it before getting to the station.

2. Area surrounding the Station: The immediate area does have what seemed to be a fairly large homeless population, but I never felt threatened. The nearby Pioneer Square area has plenty of restaurants, shops, and a few 7-11s for any needs you might have before boarding. Pike Place Market is a 20 minute walk from the station and is filled with vendors selling foods, gifts, etc. The station is quite close to the professional baseball and football fields in Seattle (alas the Mariners were out of town for our stay).

3. The consist: Out of Seattle was 2 sleepers, the dining and lounge car, a baggage car, and one coach. In Spokane, we added the Portland consist which had the observation lounge, 2 sleepers, and one coach. We ate in the dining car with a passenger from Portland who was sore about "flexible" in room dining the first day because there was no dining car in the Portland consist until we joined in Spokane after midnight.

4. Guides: There were 2 volunteers on the train from Seattle to Wenatchee who provided a delightful description of the scenery between the two cities. When one was speaking, the other was making his way through the cars to see if there were any questions. Learned a lot about the Cascades, wished there had been the same service as we went through Glacier National Park the next morning.

5. Dining: Overall, I thought the dining was well served and the quality reasonably good. Since we had two breakfasts, two lunches, and two dinners on the train, we basically got to try a variety of things. They ran out of the coconut shrimp appetizer for dinner the second night. They were quite good! The other standout was the cheeseburger for lunch and the chocolate cake for dinner dessert. Entrees for dinner were fine, just nothing special.

6. Service in Sleeping Car: We enjoyed our time with Michael. We had 2 roomettes and he attended to our needs flawlessly. You'll know you are riding with him because he describes nearly every city you stop at for a smoke break as the "jewel of the midwest."

7. Public Bathrooms: Generally, fine and clean. These bathrooms were much more spacious than the ones on the Capitol Limited, which had no room to maneuver in regardless of your size. Can someone answer for me -- is this because the bathroom sizes are different in Superliner I versus Superliner II sleepers? It was just very odd.

8. Timeliness of Train: We made it into MSP/STP 10 minutes early. Feeling good. Then the delays set in. About 2 hours 35 minutes late into Chicago. Freight interference was mostly blamed by the crew, but I do think we had a maintenance issue in MSP as we left 30 minutes late.

9. All in all, a wonderful trip on the Empire Builder -- would do it again.

Capitol Limited:

1. Chicago Union Station: We boarded 40 minutes late. Our train had no empty track to pull into as there were a series of trains delayed (including the west bound SW chief, which was 4 hours and counting late when we got called). Since we left on a Sunday, there wasn't a whole lot open around the station, but I assume that would be different during the week as we saw some restaurants, bars, and a few CVS/convenience stores in the surrounding blocks.

2. Metropolitan Lounge: Very nice. My comparison points are Boston, Philly, and the old now defunct New York lounge in Penn Station. This was by far the nicest. Took advantage of the individual showers which made the next 18 hours far more pleasant. Snacks in the lounge were chips and candy. Nothing healthy at all.

3. "Flexible Dining": Now I can appreciate why that Portland customer was complaining about the lack of a dining car. We tried the pasta with meatballs and the salmon. Far cry from the dining car on the Empire Builder.

4. Service Onboard: Good service but we had our flexible dinner in our room and our sleeping car attendant never asked or offered to serve us our breakfast in our room. In fact, he never told us a thing about breakfast Odd. In addition, our roomettes were excessively hot, and there was nothing he could do about it of course, but it was one of the reasons it was difficult to sleep. Here's the other....

5. Gabriel (Don't!) Blow Your Horn: The train horn literally was blowing all night. From Leaving Chicago to 7 AM. As in, ALL NIGHT. How could anyone possibly sleep with that noise? Trust me, I sleep with ear plugs and it was still impossible to sleep. Is this always the case on the Capitol Limited?

6. Observation Car: Non-existent. Why? Why not add one?

7. Timeliness: We were 2 hours late. People missed connections. Freight interference and construction were the culprits. Fortunately our final destination was DC. The crew did everything they could to advise people who had connections but it was a mess.

8. Bathrooms: See comments above about Empire Builder. These bathrooms were TIGHT! Does this mean it was a superliner I car?

9. DC Union Station: Needs a complete renovation. I understand Amtrak is taking steps to do so. The hall leading out to the street is quite nice, the boarding area is, to be honest, gross.

Anyway, hope there is some useful information in here for some folks. And if anyone can answer that bathroom question and horn question for me, I would be most obliged.

 

[Dakota 400]

Thank you for your report. Well written. As to the "whiner" from Portland, he/she should have known what kind of meal service to expect on that section of the Empire Builder. The SSL is not set up to offer dining car style meals.

 

[zephyr17]

Thanks for the report.

One note about the bathrooms on Superliner Is and IIs. They are actually physically the same size! When the Superliner Is were refurbished their bathrooms were reconfigured to make better use of the space and allow more free space. The Superliner IIs are still in the original, as-built, configuration, but the dimensions are the same.

Note the newer Superliner IIs appear older because they have not been refurbished.

 

[JayPea]

Great report! I live near Spokane and consider the Empire Builder my "home" train. As for the whiner about the flex meal in the Portland section, it has only been that way, to my knowledge, since the Empire Builder has been doing their split/combine in Spokane---41 years ago, in 1981. I once saw someone try to blame Anderson for the lack of dining car on the Portland section of the Builder on a Facebook page, and that person was not so gently corrected. I've had the in-room dinner several times and I thought it was pretty good. The breakfast, not so much. I haven't been on a long distance train east of Chicago for several years so haven't had the flex meals there.

 

[zephyr17]

Also, horns blow all night on all trains, per Federal regulation. Horns must be sounded at every grade crossing, as well under some other conditions. You were just closer to the horn on the Capitol. If you were in the 830 car you were two cars back from the engines on the Builder. I think the Capitol doesn't run with a baggage car, so you might have been right next to the engine. Be assured the horn was being sounded day and night on the Builder, too. You were just further away from it.

 

[PaTrainFan]

Also, horns blow all night on all trains, per Federal regulation. Horns must be sounded at every grade crossing, as well under some other conditions. You were just closer to the horn on the Capitol. If you were in the 830 car you were two cars back from the engines on the Builder. I think the Capitol doesn't run with a baggage car, so you might have been right next to the engine. Be assured the horn was being sounded day and night on the Builder, too. You were just further away from it.

I was on the Capitol last week and there was a baggage car. I think. Anyway, I was in the first sleeper (a regular one, not a Dorm sleeper) for the first time. With this experience, I can now say that there is a BIG difference in horn noise between that first and second sleeper. I didn't sleep well at all.

 

[GAT]

Also, horns blow all night on all trains, per Federal regulation. Horns must be sounded at every grade crossing, as well under some other conditions. You were just closer to the horn on the Capitol. If you were in the 830 car you were two cars back from the engines on the Builder. I think the Capitol doesn't run with a baggage car, so you might have been right next to the engine. Be assured the horn was being sounded day and night on the Builder, too. You were just further away from it.

I don't have numbers, but I suspect there are many more level crossings (therefore more blasts) on the CL than on the western portions of the EB.

 

[zephyr17]

I don't have numbers, but I suspect there are many more level crossings (therefore more blasts) on the CL than on the western portions of the EB.

May be, but they certainly are not rare. Every damn dirt road gets it grade crossing two longs, one short, one long.

 

[egurbi]

Thanks for all the helpful responses. As to the differences in the sleepers, the only other thing besides the bathrooms I noticed was that the Empire Builder sleeper I was on had a closet in the roomette, whereas the Capitol limited roomette had a tuck space for a thin bag, no closet. So I am assuming that the removal of the closets was part of the Superliner II redesign? For me, that was a much more useful space than the closet.

I was indeed in the 830 car on the Empire Builder so that was likely the reason for less noise. It just seemed far less frequent, but thankfully I was sleeping for most of the night on the EB.

 

[Dakota 400]

I've had the in-room dinner several times and I thought it was pretty good. The breakfast, not so much.

I haven't had the dinner on the Portland section, but have had breakfast and, for a cold breakfast, I thought it was satisfactory. A breakfast of Railroad French Toast with Bacon would have been much better, but, I knew that was not possible.

 

[zephyr17]

Thanks for all the helpful responses. As to the differences in the sleepers, the only other thing besides the bathrooms I noticed was that the Empire Builder sleeper I was on had a closet in the roomette, whereas the Capitol limited roomette had a tuck space for a thin bag, no closet. So I am assuming that the removal of the closets was part of the Superliner II redesign? For me, that was a much more useful space than the closet.

I was indeed in the 830 car on the Empire Builder so that was likely the reason for less noise. It just seemed far less frequent, but thankfully I was sleeping for most of the night on the EB.

Yep, Superliner IIs have the nook, Superliner Is the narrow closet. I think the nook is better, too.

 

[zephyr17]

I haven't had the dinner on the Portland section, but have had breakfast and, for a cold breakfast, I thought it was satisfactory. A breakfast of Railroad French Toast with Bacon would have been much better, but, I knew that was not possible.

The dinner is a cold plate dinner, typically a salad with meat. There were like 3 options when I rode it it. It was fine and better than flex.

 

[PaTrainFan]

The dinner is a cold plate dinner, typically a salad with meat. There were like 3 options when I rode it it. It was fine and better than flex.

I rode it a couple of years ago and agree with this. Better than flex. Going to do it again in a few months. Debated which leg to take: Scenery vs. diner food. Ended up opting for the scenery, again.

 

[zephyr17]

I rode it a couple of years ago and agree with this. Better than flex. Going to do it again in a few months. Debated which leg to take: Scenery vs. diner food. Ended up opting for the scenery, again.

Yeah, I am a regular rider on the Seattle section since I live 20 minutes from the Everett station, and I agree. I like the Columbia Gorge with the Sightseer better than Stevens Pass with the diner. A lot of Stevens is a "tree tunnel" so you don't get the kind of expansive views you get through the Gorge. I have to go out of my way to take the Portland section, and I have done it, but just a couple of times.

 

[danasgoodstuff]

I took the Builder out of Portland recently, chicken sandwich and fancy cole slaw - not bad at all.