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  • GN Empire Builder frequency of service?

  • Discussion relating to the Burlington Northern and its predecessors Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Chicago Burlington & Quincy, Seattle Portland & Seattle, St. Louis - San Francisco, and their subsidiaries. Visit the Friends of the Burlington Northern for more information.
Discussion relating to the Burlington Northern and its predecessors Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Chicago Burlington & Quincy, Seattle Portland & Seattle, St. Louis - San Francisco, and their subsidiaries. Visit the Friends of the Burlington Northern for more information.
 #664854  by John Laubenheimer
 
Things varied from year to year. (Source ... July 1953 Official Guide.)

Westbound, the BUILDER left Chicago at 1:00 PM on CB&Q rails. Arrival at St. Paul was 7:45 PM; departure was 8:15 PM. Departure from Minneapolis was 8:45 PM. Spokane was reached by 11:30 PM the next evening. Arrival in Seattle and/or Portland was at 7:30 AM.

Eastbound, the BUILDER departed Seattle and/or Portland at 3:00 PM. Spokane was reached at 11:15 PM. Arrival in Minneapolis was at 6:30 AM; St. Paul at 7:00 AM. Departure from St. Paul (on the CB&Q) was at 7:15 AM, with a 2:00 PM arrival time in Chicago.

Between Chicago and Minneapolis, the EMPIRE BUILDER, NORTH COAST LIMITED and the MORNING/AFTERNOON ZEPHYRs were all listed as separate trains.

The BUILDER was just receiving it's new post-war equipment around this time, and it's old(er) post-war trainsets moved over to the WESTERN STAR.

You didn't ask, but, at this date, the westbound WESTERN STAR departed Chicago (on the CB&Q) at 10:50 PM. St. Paul was reached at 8:00 AM the next morning; Minneapolis at 8:30 AM. Spokane was reached at 9:30 PM the next evening. Seattle and/or Portland arrival 7:00 AM.

Eastbound, the STAR left Portland at 9:30 PM and/or Seattle at 10:15 PM. Spokane was reached by 7:20 AM the next morning. Arrival in Minneapolis was at 9:55 PM the next evening; St. Paul at 10:30 PM. Chicago was reached by 7:30 AM the next morning via the CB&Q.

At this time, the WESTERN STAR was listed as a separate train from CB&Q's BLACK HAWK, although NP's MAINSTREETER was combined with the BLACK HAWK.

I don't have an earlier guide; but, I hope this helps, and give you some idea of timings.
 #861568  by wjstix
 
At any one time, there would be several sets of "Builders" running but they'd be a day apart - that is, only one left Chicago going west and only one arrived from the west each day. So for St.Paul, one would come thru St.Paul westbound in the evening. The next day another train would come thru at the same time, and the one from yesterday would be out in Montana perhaps.