All Things Empire Builder

We were carrying a laptop computer or two for work (these days, they're never "pure" vacations!)--and we definitely used it to play DVD's.

On a different subject, we also find that it's good to have luggage that's train trip-friendly--you need to be able to either roll it or carry it over your shoulder. Our kids each pulled child-sized rolling suitcases and carried a backpack, with the backpack being stuffed with toys for that kid.

Good luck!

Here's a favorable article I learned of that appears in the Billings (MT) Gazette.

Also, if you have a system that supports video, you are in luck as there are some presently featured at that newspapers home page.

If you are "time challenged", here's a "brief passage":

• GLASGOW - Two or three times a week, Mary Sugg takes up a spot on the platform at the Glasgow train station and gives a big wave to the engineer as Amtrak's Empire Builder pulls into town.
  
  Sugg says it's important to get the engineer's attention, so he'll know that she's ready to pick up her delivery of fresh-cut flowers.
  
  After the train came to a halt during the noon hour March 3, Sugg jogged over to the baggage car and reached for a half-dozen boxes of flowers that she had ordered the day before from her wholesaler in Minneapolis

metrarider wrote:Also, as far as Eastbound and Westbound, it does appear from the schedule that Eastbound would allow greater sighseeing of the Cascades and Rockies, but it taking it Westbound would is logistically preferable to us at this stage. So my question is, if we take the builder Westbound in early March, would we miss all or most of the good scenery?

Maybe it's because I live in Portland, but I would have to agree with the earlier posters that an eastbound trip on the Empire Builder would be better in terms of the scenery over the Rocky Mountains and through Glacier Park. You'll get to see the western edge of the Columbia Gorge in daylight...but if you have a spare day or even a few hours, why not take a day trip by car into the Gorge? You could take the Historic Columbia River Highway out of Troutdale (17 miles east of downtown Portland), stopping at the Vista House and Multnomah Falls (if you're early enough, have breakfast or lunch at the Multnomah Falls Lodge) and stop at the other numerous waterfalls... Take a side trip to Bonneville Dam and check out the fish ladder. Go to Cascade Locks (about 45 miles east of downtown Portland)and see Oregon's oldest steam locomotive, the Oregon Pony, on display, then cross the Bridge of the Gods to Stevenson, where you can see a restored F-9 painted in the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway colors, then drive back west on SR 14. Or, go to Hood River (about 65 miles east of downtown Portland) and ride the Mt. Hood Railway. At The Dalles (85 miles east of downtown Portland), you can check out the other Columbia Gorge museum and The Dalles Dam, where you ride a train from the visitor's center along I-84 to the dam itself (ever ride on an industrial railroad?) And, of course do some railfanning on both sides of the river along the way.

And, if it's raining in the valley, it's probably a nice day in Hood River and The Dalles.

You have to pity someone like Mineta who's so blinded with ideology he overlooks the success of one of Amtrak's best-performing LD trains.
--

http://www.narprail.org/nr05_09.pdf

Exerpt:

Asked to back up his previous comment that Amtrak runs routes that
"nobody" wants to ride, he said, "the problem is if the Empire
Builder is going from Seattle to Chicago and it's going through lets say
Montana, but there are only 53 people a day using that train service, can I
really justify pouring that kind of subsidy into the Empire Builder for a
segment of that service?"

Fact: In fiscal 2004, the Empire Builder handled 437,200 passengers, an average
1,195 per day (597 per trip, since there is one eastbound and one westbound
train per day). This was 5% above the fiscal 2003 level, and 19% above that of
fiscal 2002. In fiscal 2004, boardings and alightings within the state of
Montana totaled 129,044 or an average of 353 per day. At the same time, about
100,000 passengers (average 275 per day) traveled all the way across Montana en
route between Idaho-west and North Dakota-east points.

This guy makes me laugh!!!

He is just so ideological and Stupid!!

Jon Parker

It is truly troubling how many politicos on both sides of the aisle seem either divorced from reality, or assume us to be so stupid that we won't fact check anything they say.

Minetta is a great example: A Democrat and former representative from California. Right there, it should suggest that he would know something about Amtrak, if for no other reason than the hugely successful Amtrak California program. But yet he is blithely spewing out nonsense. If he were a bit more careful and concientious I might look more favorably at his scheme for privitization, but he's playing us for fools.

Trouble is, with so much noise out there, and the media so cowed or complacent, that a lot of these "facts" ever get widely disputed.

Mr. Mineta needs to actually ride Amtrak for a couple of weeks.

Even just by looking at the numbers alone...and just the numbers...the Sunset Limited has a ridership problem. The Empire Builder is probably the SHINING example of the long distance service Amtrak has to offer.

While I disagree that the Empire Builder is "essential" to the residents of Montana and North Dakota, it is very important, and those communities do support Amtrak much greater than most Amtrak served communities. The train is usually very busy, and it does carry a lot of long distance travellers (read: higher revenue per rider). And there is a friendly host railroad to keep the trains on time more often.

What I find most amusing, is that Mr. Mineta is more than just some neocon functionary, tool or mouthpiece -- he sits on Amtrak's board of directors. So he has direct access to acurate information.

Meanwhile, he is engaged in disseminating misleading information about the organization for which he owes a fiduciary duty.

AmtrakFan wrote:I would put him in Coach and make him ride it for 3 Months WITHOUT GETTING OFF

lol , love it .

Yes. I think Mr. Amtrakfan has fashioned a most appropriate punishment .

Quite seriously, I believe Sec. Mineta should be challenged to produce his travel intineraries, and prove "whereof he speaks" in terms of any first hand Amtrak knowledge from the rider's perspective.

He is a pernicious campaigner against Amtrak, and it's time for the advocates to "take it to the mat" with him.

>Meanwhile, he is engaged in disseminating misleading information about the organization for which he owes a fiduciary duty.<

This second part of the statement is misplaced. In the ordinary corporate setting, a board member owes a fiduciary duty not to the corporation as such, but to its shareholder owners and debt security holders. In the case of Amtrak, the owners are the US taxpayers are the owners, and accordingly Mr. Minetta owes that fiduciary duty to the taxpayers. I think a better argument is that the Department of Transportation's duty is to maximise the value of the taxpayers dollar, and that well may mean increasing support for Amtrak with a commensurate decrease in highway funding.

Rhinecliff wrote:What I find most amusing, is that Mr. Mineta is more than just some neocon functionary, tool or mouthpiece -- he sits on Amtrak's board of directors. So he has direct access to acurate information.

Meanwhile, he is engaged in disseminating misleading information about the organization for which he owes a fiduciary duty.

He has never attendented a Board Meeting.

I saw him on Fox News yesterday shooting his mouth off on how "unprofitable routes" should be cut. Well let's see everythign else was axed in the early-mid 70s with Amtrak's creation so what else should be taken out? The CZ? Empire builder? or wait his favorite The Sunset Limited. When will they learn. You know if a miracle happened and the Canadian Government and VIA took over US Rail routes and made it part of the VIA system no routes would've been cut in the 70s and train travel in the US would be a 1000 times better then it is today.

Here's an idea. Let's kindly stay on topic and not turn this thread into a political witch hunt.

-otto-