EB Detours

[user 1215]

Has anyone enjoyed the rare mileage reroute between Fargo and Minot? How is the scenery? The speed? Compared to the regular route?

 

[jebr]

I'll be going on Saturday (assuming the detour is still in effect.) Hopefully someone answers before then, otherwise I'll let you know what I find out on Saturday.

 

[Ispolkom]

Unless you're a real connoisseur of North Dakota landscapes, like me, there isn't much difference in the scenery. While you quickly move out of the billiard table flatness of the Red River valley into more rolling country, about the only striking difference is that you go over a high trestle over the Sheyenne River. It's not as dramatic as the trestle over Gassmann Coulee west of Minot, but it's something.

The track condition is certainly better than the bouncy jointed track on the Hillsboro sub between Fargo and Grand Forks (is that being replaced this year?), but speed is completely dependent on traffic. One trip we sat for hours at a siding waiting for oncoming freights. Another eastbound trip the conductor announced that the freight in front of us that was slowing us down was taking a siding, and we had clear track to Fargo.

 

[user 1215]

After posting the OP, I did some street viewing on Google and did a search on Railpictures.net to see if I could get any ideas. Came up with this pic that is incredible.

Anyway, I understand what you mean by not much difference in scenery. When I was on a TE detour between St. Louis and Chicago, the track was straight, there was no traffic, and we were maxed out at 60 MPH which was dreadful. Someone didn't take that into consideration with the schedule and we arrived an hour late - no stops, just that slow and steady trod through Illinois...

 

[Bob Dylan]

Aren't you glad you don't have to live there in Nowhereville? I felt the same way when I saw Nebraska in the Daylight on a 8 hour late CZ between McCook and Omaha!

I did notice on my TE Reroutes that the Amish Farms in that part of Illinois are huge and flourishing so perhaps it's a matter of to each his own!

 

[NW cannonball]

high trestle over the Sheyenne River. It's not as dramatic as the trestle over Gassmann Coulee west of Minot, but it's something.

Good photo

The track condition is certainly better than the bouncy jointed track on the Hillsboro sub between Fargo and Grand Forks (is that being replaced this year?),

Oh, Ispolkom, NO. Somebody posted a link here a few months ago - to the BNSF upgrade plan. Anyhow, the plan to put a passing siding on the Hillsboro sub Fargo-GFK may have already happened.

But the frost-heaved jointed track won't go away soon.

One of my recurring rail-travel nightmares is that stretch from Fargo to Grand Forks.

Bouncy jointed track -- naah - it's worse - it (was) un-maintained frost-heaved slow-ordered 90 miles from hell.

In a Superliner sleeper - upper bunk - after finally falling asleep out of MSP -- I always dreaded that the train totally tipped over and fell off the tracks somewhere between Fargo and Grand forks. Recurrenet nightmare. Only Spokane-Pasco was scarier. Because of the bad track and the (is it Hanford? -- didn't glow in the dark for me)

 

[NW cannonball]

The photo of the trestle over the Sheyenne is way cool. Thanks Venture-dude.

I go MSP-SEA once or twice a year the last 40 years. The EB is a rarely used, but essential service for me.

None of my X's live in Texas -- but I've got a dozen cousins in NODAK.

Lotsa people rely on the EB, -- the detour is a minor annoyance to my cousins.

LOVE THAT EB TRAIN!

 

[NW cannonball]

The Empire Builder detour that only happens every decade or two --

Is when they run on the east bank of the Mississippi from Hastings to Aurora. Non-stop. But slow, cause the signals only programmed for freight.

It was the route of the twice-daily Burlington Zephyrs. When I was knee-high to a grasshopper.

Burned into my memory. And re-inforced by how much I now love the South-West corner of Wisconsin (and MN, and Dubuque nearby)

The EB route is the only train here in MN -- but we could, and can, connect in CHI or SEA, to the whole wonderful world.

 

[neroden]

The Empire Builder detour that only happens every decade or two --

Is when they run on the east bank of the Mississippi from Hastings to Aurora. Non-stop. But slow, cause the signals only programmed for freight.

Done that. During the floods of 2008. It's actually pretty fast, except for stopping dead for an hour at LaCrosse to get across CP. :-(