Current Empire Builder Crew Schedules in WA/ID/MT/ND?

[metaline]

A forum member, EB_OBS, posted this crew schedule for Shelby, MT a decade and a half ago:


“For a little bit more detail here's an example of the Shelby, MT T&E crew's schedule

Day 1- Train 7/27 departs SBY at 5:22pm, engineer swap at Whitefish, arrive into SPK around 1:30am, layover in SPK

Day 2- Engineer picks up train #8, departs WFH at 7:46am and returns to Shelby, Conductors layover all day in SPK

Day 3- Train 8/28 departs SPK at 1:15am, arrives into SBY at 11:30am, they go home overnight.

Day 4- Train 8/28 departs SBY at 11:30am, arrives into Minot, ND around 9:00pm, layover in MOT overnight

Day 5- Train 7/27 departs MOT at 8:30am, arrives into Shelby, MT around 5:00pm, conductors then have two days off”

I’m curious if the schedule is still accurate, and if it’d be reasonable to live in Spokane while working as a Conductor out of the Shelby crew base, (also curious if it would be possible to work out of the Seattle base). This is of course a matter of opinion, but I really wish they had Conductors based in Spokane - maybe that will change in the next few years?

 

[trimetbusfan]

A forum member, EB_OBS, posted this crew schedule for Shelby, MT a decade and a half ago:


“For a little bit more detail here's an example of the Shelby, MT T&E crew's schedule

Day 1- Train 7/27 departs SBY at 5:22pm, engineer swap at Whitefish, arrive into SPK around 1:30am, layover in SPK

Day 2- Engineer picks up train #8, departs WFH at 7:46am and returns to Shelby, Conductors layover all day in SPK

Day 3- Train 8/28 departs SPK at 1:15am, arrives into SBY at 11:30am, they go home overnight.

Day 4- Train 8/28 departs SBY at 11:30am, arrives into Minot, ND around 9:00pm, layover in MOT overnight

Day 5- Train 7/27 departs MOT at 8:30am, arrives into Shelby, MT around 5:00pm, conductors then have two days off”

I’m curious if the schedule is still accurate, and if it’d be reasonable to live in Spokane while working as a Conductor out of the Shelby crew base, (also curious if it would be possible to work out of the Seattle base). This is of course a matter of opinion, but I really wish they had Conductors based in Spokane - maybe that will change in the next few years?

I have no clue regarding the validity of that Shelby T&E schedule, but I can say that I really doubt that conductors will be based out of Spokane anytime soon.

To answer your other question, yes, Seattle and Portland Condcutors work the Builder to Spokane.
Day 1 - 8 or 28 from SEA/PDX to SPK
Day 2 - Layover in SPK
Day 3 - 7 or 27 from SPK to SEA/PDX

Because SEA and PDX bases have a lot of train options, some of the crews work a second round to SPK (and get one full day off at their home crew base), while others will work Cascade or Coast Starlight trains for the rest of the week and get one or two full days off.

Note that all conductor crewbases with layovers in Spokane (Shelby, Seattle, and Portland) have not-so-ideal layovers there. They get in at around 1:30 am in the morning (if on time) and then have to sign in at around 3 am the next morning. (In other words they work very late hours of the night going one way, then the very early morning hours going the other way).