Empire Builder Three

[WhoozOn1st]

First of all I'd like to encourage all who read this to consider going to Chicago on the weekend of October 13-14 to join the Forum Gathering for a weekend of fun and enlightenment.

Boarding the Builder at Pasco, WA, I was kinda surprised at how many people were actually getting on the train. Quite a crowd. Waiting around after the bus ride from Klamath Falls, OR, I had been chatting with a few kids who had been on the bus. They had seen me taking pictures, didn't have cameras of their own, and had volunteered e-mail addresses for sharing. Sent them pics when I got to Chicago.

Pretty weary after the lengthy bus ride, I just kinda sat around in my roomette and worked on the day's photos until the Builder arrived at Spokane. I smoke, and although weary was not sleepy, so Spokane was eagerly awaited.

Because I was on the Portland section of the EB there was switching involved when the Seattle section arrived and my section was tacked on the end. Plenty of time to suck down a couple stogies, talk to people (including some crew), see the servicing in progress, and be entertained by some freight action in the yard. T-shirt weather in the middle of the night, and the weather continued warm all the way.

Following a fine night's sleep on the lower level of my Superliner, breakfast in the Rockies was a joy. Good company, good food, great scenery.

Out on the plains of Montana I didn't take many pictures. How many shots can you take of plains which look largely identical?

If you like extended high-speed running - as I do - the Empire Builder is for you. Hours on end over BNSF tracks. I was, and remain, impressed. And Montana really does have a Big Sky.

The sleeper attendant was a guy named Bill. Nice guy, and at one point helped me retrieve a camera battery that had fallen through the cracks during charging.

I know some people gripe about every little thing. But I don't. The Empire Builder was a fine ride that I would recommend to anybody.

The second morning we started running along the Mississippi, and it was fantastic. The EB is a magnificent train ride, and we arrived at Chicago on the advertised.

Patrick

 

[AmtrakWPK]

I'd really like to, but I just can't get away except during the week, and then really only in the summer, when choirs, orchestras, quartets, etc., are in recess for the summer, as otherwise I have rehearsals most days of the week, and as the music director and organist it's REALLY hard to manage to be away on a weekend, and if I do, I have to find, and pay, an acceptable substitute organist, and those are getting harder and harder to find, especially for a pipe organ more than 100 years old, with a pedalboard which is NOT build to AGO standards (since they didn't enact standards until the 1930's)..... So please everybody take, and then post, lots of pix of the event.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

I'd really like to, but I just can't get away except during the week, and then really only in the summer, when choirs, orchestras, quartets, etc., are in recess for the summer, as otherwise I have rehearsals most days of the week, and as the music director and organist it's REALLY hard to manage to be away on a weekend, and if I do, I have to find, and pay, an acceptable substitute organist, and those are getting harder and harder to find, especially for a pipe organ more than 100 years old, with a pedalboard which is NOT build to AGO standards (since they didn't enact standards until the 1930's)..... So please everybody take, and then post, lots of pix of the event.

I don't think you'll have to worry about lack of pictures. If you can't make it to the Gathering, I'm certain many of us will be happy to share pics. But if you know of anybody who might be interested in attending the Gathering at Chicago, by all means put them in touch with us. You could ask them to take certain shots that the rest of us might not think of.

And good luck with the pipe organ action. I think everybody knows they're amazing pieces of musical machinery, and original ones are rare.

Patrick

 

[had8ley]

I'd really like to, but I just can't get away except during the week, and then really only in the summer, when choirs, orchestras, quartets, etc., are in recess for the summer, as otherwise I have rehearsals most days of the week, and as the music director and organist it's REALLY hard to manage to be away on a weekend, and if I do, I have to find, and pay, an acceptable substitute organist, and those are getting harder and harder to find, especially for a pipe organ more than 100 years old, with a pedalboard which is NOT build to AGO standards (since they didn't enact standards until the 1930's)..... So please everybody take, and then post, lots of pix of the event.

AmtrakWPK;

Not only will we send pictures but I might find something for someone who wants to be there real bad. Private post your address and I send a goodie before I get cleaned out in October.