Empire Builder next July

[Hanno]

Today I booked a trip on the Empire Builder from SEA to CHI. I've been wanting to take this trip ever since my father (now deceased) made it in the late eighties. Also, I will get to visit North Dakota, which is one of the two states I've never visited (Hawaii being the other).

And to make it even better I used AGR points for a bedroom so it didn't cost me the $1301 it would have. So I'm a happy man and will be even happier come next July!

 

[B&Ofan]

I know what you mean. I'm taking the EB this December on points from Chicago to Seattle. Spending a couple of day with my brother in Seattle and then thaking the CS to Oakland to visit some other frineds (I have more segemts in the trip but they don't involve trains). This will be my longest trip ever. I'm quite excited, I just hope Seattle doesn't turn into a ginat mudslide. I would have to be bustituted.

If I only had some more points I could of gone from coast to coast, but I found a cheap flight to Chicago.

 

[TraneMan]

You'll enjoy this trip!

Are yo doing round trip on it?

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

All right! Have fun on the EB. It's my old favourite and still is!

 

[TraneMan]

If you haven't been on this train before, here is my video.

 

[Peter L. Reid]

I am also travelling on the Empire Builder next year, but in May. I'll blaze the trail for you.

I will be on the Coast Starlight LA to Seattle, and then Seattle to Chicago. From there to

Niagara Falls and return on the Lakeshore Limited, then City of New Orleans to NO and

then NO back to LA on the Sunset.

I wish I was eligible for AGR. I've clocked up a lot of miles over the last 4 years.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

If you haven't been on this train before, here is my video.

That's some interesting vids you have there!

 

[Hanno]

If you haven't been on this train before, here is my video.

Very nice videos. Thanks for posting them. I noticed some footage from Minot, ND. One of my day's army buddies from WWII lived there and that was one of the reasons for his trip on the Empire Builder.

I will not be making a round trip. We will be vacationing in the Seattle area and I just took the opportunity to make the trip from SEA to CHI. We will be flying from Chicago to BWI because of time constraints and we have done the Capital Limited several times!

 

[TraneMan]

Glad you guys liked the videos!

Glad to see you are taking it from SEA since I think you get a better view of everything that way, see Glacier Park in the day light hours.

 

[Peter L. Reid]

Great videos. Whetted the appetite even more, for next year.

 

[Hanno]

Glad you guys liked the videos!

Glad to see you are taking it from SEA since I think you get a better view of everything that way, see Glacier Park in the day light hours.

Do remember the time of day when traveling through Glacier Park?

 

[riverviewer]

Enjoy the eagle-watching between Red WIng & LaCrosse...there are at least a dozen nesting pairs of bald eagles near Red WIng (whose nests I saw on a local boat trip last summer) who can be seen soaring above the Mississippi River.

 

[Ispolkom]

Glad you guys liked the videos!

Glad to see you are taking it from SEA since I think you get a better view of everything that way, see Glacier Park in the day light hours.

Do remember the time of day when traveling through Glacier Park?

It's in the morning. #8 arrives in Whitefish at 7:46 am according to the schedule, and Whitefish is the western end of Marias Pass.

One thing, though. The train skirts the southern boundary of Glacier Park, going through Marias Pass. It doesn't go through the park. Marias Pass is great scenery, no doubt, but it's nothing like the amazing Alpine scenery you see inside the actual park.

Really, if there were ever a reason to get off the train, Glacier Park is it.

 

[tomfuller]

If you can spring for another day on your trip get off in Whitefish and rent a car for 24 hours. Several years ago I rented a car from the Kalispell airport (off season) and drove up as far as the Lake McDonald Lodge on the Going to the Sun Road.

The road should be open all the way through by June 15.

I tried to go up on the east side on June 1 and only got 17 miles up from St. Mary.

My wife and I were the only 2 to get off in Cut Bank MT on May 31. We did enjoy the Museum of the Plains Indian in Browning.

 

[amamba]

If you haven't been on this train before, here is my video.

Last year, the EB ran late for almost the entire month of July. You will have to go back and check, but I am not sure if there was more than one or two days that the EB made it into CHI on time. So just be aware of that when booking your flight from CHI back to BWI. Just to be safe, I would make sure you do an overnight in CHI before flying back. The train was routinely 3, 4, even 5 or 6 hours late during July.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Glad you guys liked the videos!

Glad to see you are taking it from SEA since I think you get a better view of everything that way, see Glacier Park in the day light hours.

Do remember the time of day when traveling through Glacier Park?

It's in the morning. #8 arrives in Whitefish at 7:46 am according to the schedule, and Whitefish is the western end of Marias Pass.

One thing, though. The train skirts the southern boundary of Glacier Park, going through Marias Pass. It doesn't go through the park. Marias Pass is great scenery, no doubt, but it's nothing like the amazing Alpine scenery you see inside the actual park.

Really, if there were ever a reason to get off the train, Glacier Park is it.

This. Glacier Park has always been a great source of pax for the EB. There was still so much pax in the 1960sthat BN even considered keeping the EB private.