Thanks, all, for your good wishes. The trip home was very good, possibly one of the better train trips.
The travels started out at 10:45 AM, when I got a ride from a friend to the Libertyville, IL, Metra station. There were quite a few people waiting for the 11:10 train in order to walk down Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago and look at the decorations in the store windows. The train arrived about on time, and about 40 people climbed on board. Since I was carrying my luggage, I found an open seat on the lower level and set everything in place. Due to the crowds, the train lost a little bit of time and arrived in Union Station a little after 12:25 PM, 10 minutes down.
I had a two hour layover, so I put my bags in one of the luggage lockers, grabbed a quick lunch, and watched a little of the NY Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers game. At about 1:15 I grabbed my bags and went to the north waiting room. With the renovation of the Metropolitan Room, the north waiting room has suffered greatly, losing almost half of its area. Due to the shortage, the secondary waiting room, which used to be for people who would be pre-boarding the train, was as full as the main waiting room. I found a corner in the secondary room to put down my luggage and wait.
At about 1:30 PM, pre-boarding started, with Minneapolis-St. Paul passengers following at 1:40 PM. Finally, at 1:45 general boarding was announced and I got in line. Everything went smoothly, except that general boarding was held up for a few minutes for the sleeper passengers. I'm surprised that the sleeper passengers weren't taken out the train at about the same time as the pre-boarding, but it wasn't too much of an inconvenience. I got to the 0712 car, got settled in, and ready for the trip.
Promptly at 2:10 PM (my cell phone actually showed 2:09), the train started to move. We were held up a couple of times between CUS and Milwaukee, but were only 10 minutes behind at that point. One problem I saw with the cars was that announcements from the front of the train weren't being heard in my car, so I was surprised when the dining car attendant came around for supper reservations. I got my 6:30 reservation and started watching The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King extended edition on my laptop.
Since the PA system wasn't working, the attendant told us to come down at 6:30 and not wait for an announcement, so I did just that. I was seated with an older couple and their grandson who were from a small town in SE North Dakota. For supper, I had the NY strip steak blackened, which was quite good, although the special was quite tempting: turkey with all the traditional trimmings. Supper was followed up with cheesecake topped with strawberries and chocolate syrup (on the recommendation of our attendant).
After supper I finished watching the movie (if you haven't seen the extended edition, it's something like 4 1/2 hours long!) and tried to get comfortable in the coach seat. I've never been able to sleep solidly sitting in a reclined position, so I dozed off and on throughout the night. I know I did get some sleep, as I don't remember stopping at a couple of stations during the night. It was quite bitter outside, however, as the guy sitting next to me wanted to get off at Fargo, which the conductor allowed but warned him that the air temperature was -11 outside. Hearing that, I snuggled under my blanket a bit more and wished him the best of luck with his smoke. At this point, we were about 40 minutes down from the advertised.
We would stay there 40 minutes late the rest of the night. At Rugby, which we left at 8:00 AM, I got up and called my parents to let them know where we were. Then I went forward to get some breakfast. I got to the dining car just as they started taking reservations, so I only had to wait about 5-10 minutes before my number was called. This time, I sat with a couple and their 8-10 year old son from SE North Dakota. Their high-school aged son was back in the family room of the Portland sleeper sacked out. They were heading to the Portland area as one of them was originally from the same area that I lived in during my time in that area, so we talked about that. For breakfast, I had my usual dining car breakfast: french toast, bacon and coffee. Shortly after I finished their older son came in, so I left my seat so that they could sit together.
I realized that I hadn't spent any time in the lounge car (rare for me), so I decided to spend my last hour and a half watching the "beige" of North Dakota pass by. Due to schedule padding both coming into and during the stop at Minot, we had completely made up the delay and were now running on time again. Unfortunately, we got behind a freight shortly out of Stanley and ended up a couple minutes down. The Builder showed its usual on-time performance by arriving in Williston at 11:10 AM, 3 minutes below the advertised time.
While the trip went well, the most impressive part was the condition of the equipment. I've ridden Amtrak at least once a year for the past 5 years, and this is the best that I've seen the cars. My coach looked like some of the small things, like tray tables, had been repaired recently. The lounge car was in phenomenal shape with new upholstery and carpeting (a nice blue carpet that I'd not seen before). The only problems I saw was the PA wiring problems between cars and my leg rest that wasn't locking into place. If this is indicative of the state of repair of most of the equipment, Amtrak is finally getting things working properly again.
As I've almost come to expect on the Builder, the crew working the train was professional, friendly and did their jobs well. The attendant that worked the two tables I used during supper and breakfast was one that I'd seen in there before. Again, she did an excellent job with service, and I tried to tip her accordingly. It really makes a train ride enjoyable when the crew members do their jobs well, and I do appreciate it as a passenger.
Now, I'm just sitting in my parents' house in a town that used to have an Amtrak stop until the North Coast Hiawatha was cancelled in 1979. On January 1, 2005, I'll be heading back up to Williston to return to Chicago and back to school.
Merry Christmas and happy New Year to all of you!
) on the westbound Empire Builder heading back to North Dakota to visit my parents during Christmas Break. I can't wait to get on board and once again ride one of the best that Amtrak runs (the best, in my opinion). I'll post a trip report after the trip.
