# Great ride on The Empire Builder



## sheepdog (Jan 2, 2008)

I could not believe it! The Lake Shore Limited was only 8 minutes late into Elkhart and on time into Chicago's Union Station. The Empire Builder was on time or early into nearly every station along the route and 40 minutes early into Portland, OR.

Great service, good food, beautiful views. Only downside was the roomette should have come equipped with ear plugs, sleeping pills and seat belts for the beds. Thought I was going to be tossed from the rack several times! Squeaks, bangs, squawks, bouncing, rocking and rolling made it tough to sleep.

Thought I'd share this photo I got out the rear of our sleeper car.










Craig


----------



## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

Beautiful photo









I'm glad the Empire Builder treated you well and you had an enjoyable trip. The Empire Builder is among the best Amtrak long distance trains for on time performance. 


I hear ya on the squeaks, bangs, etc... And the bouncing, rocking, and rolling are even worse on the Southwest Chief. That train is unique in that it can run at a maximum of 90 mph over several sections along the route. At this speed it's tough walking between cars let alone trying to sleep. I'm not 100% sure but I think the Empire Builder top speed is 70.


----------



## sheepdog (Jan 2, 2008)

Hey Matt

I had my GPS unit and anytime we were not in a good size town and the track was good, we were hitting 80MPH.


















Craig 


P.S. I should add that they seemed to be limited to 60MPH in the mountains.


----------



## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

Love the Mount Hood photo. Was that taken from the train? Nice clean windows if so. 

I looked into the speed and 80 is right on the money. 79mph is the current limit for the Empire Builder.

Pretty much anything over 75 on a Superliner starts em rocking and rolling


----------



## Al McEvoy (Jan 3, 2008)

Posted By sheepdog on 15 Sep 2009 10:30 AM 
"I could not believe it! The Lake Shore Limited was only 8 minutes late into Elkhart and on time into Chicago's Union Station. The Empire Builder was on time or early into nearly every station along the route and 40 minutes early into Portland, OR.

Great service, good food, beautiful views. Only downside was the roomette should have come equipped with ear plugs, sleeping pills and seat belts for the beds. Thought I was going to be tossed from the rack several times! Squeaks, bangs, squawks, bouncing, rocking and rolling made it tough to sleep."

Sheepdog, I'm glad you were able to enjoy an on-time ride on the EB. I rode that train in August last year to Seattle and we were delayed almost 2 hours by BNSF freight switching in western Dakota and again in eastern Montana. By the time we got to the foot of the grade up into the Rockies, darkness was descending rapidly. One of the main reasons I took that train instead of flying was to see the Rockies and we got screwed by BNSF. I had my wife and mother in law along who had never been on a long distance overnight train. The Cascades were OK the next morning but the view from the train was frequently blocked by thick forest surrounding the tracks. 

I will say that we made up almost 45 minutes overnight in the Rockies due to some real highballin' by our engineer. I was literally bounced out of my lower berth (had a full bedroom) at one point and when I got to my senses I realized the train was tearing down a grade at a very high rate of speed. Since it was pitch black outside, the violent motion of the car combined with the high noise level made it actually a bit scary until the train finally began to slow. My wife asked at one point "Are we going to crash?"

I took the B&O Diplomat overnight between Baltimore and Cincinnati several times in the 1950s and never recall the train jerking and rocking as badly back then. But then the B&O took pride in it's track and ROW maintenance. Nowadays Amtrak runs over freight lines that really don't care. The Capitol Limited to Chicago runs across Norfolk Southern tracks in Ohio that are about the roughest track I've ever ridden over in a passenger train. But hey, inanimate carloads of freight don't complain so what do they care.
AL


----------



## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

Posted By Al McEvoy on 15 Sep 2009 09:17 PM 
But then the B&O took pride in it's track and ROW maintenance. Nowadays Amtrak runs over freight lines that really don't care. The Capitol Limited to Chicago runs across Norfolk Southern tracks in Ohio that are about the roughest track I've ever ridden over in a passenger train. But hey, inanimate carloads of freight don't complain so what do they care. 
Yep, really at the mercy of the freight track condition. But then again, double decker Superliners like to sway a lot more then B&O single level cars. I remember the tracks and ride being almost always super smooth on the Southwest Chief and Desert Wind back when the Santa Fe was still around. Now on the BNSF it is either smooth as glass or rough and bumpy.


----------



## sheepdog (Jan 2, 2008)

I hear ya Al. The reason I was so surprised was the horrible experience I had the first time with them.

Mt. Hood and city of Hood River taken through roomette window. 


Craig


----------



## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Great report and images, Craig. Glad you had a great ride...


----------



## sheepdog (Jan 2, 2008)

After a great 2 weeks on the Oregon Coast & nice visit with Sasquatch, we made the return trip on the Empire Builder. This sleeper was much quieter than the first one. Again, it was on time or early into every station. 30 minutes early into Chicago. The food was really good and met some interesting people. Slept better...... but would not call it a restful sleep. Earplugs and PM pain meds helped. A few more pictures out the roomette window.





























Craig

P.S. Ms. Dawg & I spent all day napping after getting back. Needed to catch up.


----------



## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

That has always been a wonderful trip, Craig. I did the Chicago to Seatle trip twice back in the 70's. Once before Amtrak and the other after. First time with on the Norhtern route, second on the present Amtrak. They were just super trips. Took the kids on the Amtrak trip and they thoroughly enjoyed it. Sat it the dome cars and did their homework..









Thanks for posting the images of the ride and your comments on the equipment.


----------



## Bighurt (Sep 15, 2009)

I've never ridden but have heard good things about both directions.

One of these days I'll get around to it seeing that it stops here in Minot...I really have no excuse...


----------



## sheepdog (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks Stan..... Even tho we both did not sleep well, we are going to do the train ride again each year my Coast Guard son and the little butts are stationed in Coos Bay.









Big Hurt - Minot was a welcome scheduled stop where we could get off and stretch our legs..... even tho we still felt like we were rocking and rolling.










Craig


----------



## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

Posted By sheepdog on 09 Oct 2009 09:54 AM












Oh no. The Sleeping car number got cut off. My guess is it can be any of the following (32062, 32063, 32066, 32067, 32068, 32069). Would be neat if it was 32069. This is the last Superliner I sleeping car number. Guess you were in room 8?

Glad you had a nice trip.


----------



## sheepdog (Jan 2, 2008)

Hey Matt, We cannot remember the car number...... That picture was from the trip out to Portland. That wheel and suspension right below roomette room #8 was the main reason we could not sleep on the way out. Squeaked and squawked the entire 46 hours.









Craig


----------

