Private waiting area available in St. Paul-Minneapolis

shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
R

RickIronton

Train Attendant
Joined
May 2, 2013
Messages
92
Any info on private waiting area available in St. Paul-Minneapolis for Sleeping car passengers as shown in the latest Empire Builder schedule?

I'll be traveling r/t from Chicago to Minneapolis this week in a sleeper.
 
Just curious: Why Chicago to Minneapolis in a sleeper? It's a 7 (or so) hour ride that arrives at 10:00 or thereabouts?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
There was a private waiting room @ the Midway Station for Sleeping Car passengers, and the remodeled Union Intermodel Station has a Small Lounge for First Class passengers similar to the Magnolia Room in New Orleans Union Station!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The sleeping car passenger lounge at the new/old station in St. Paul is nicer than the old one at Midway station, but is fairly small and glass enclosed towards the interior of the station. Rather fish bowlesque and not private at all. It is pretty basic, but nice.
 
After a 5 hour trip from St Louis to Chicago, in coach, I rewarded myself with 7+ hours in the coziness of a a private room.

I'm a big aficionado of train travel and sleeper advantage is a big plus.

I know, I know, that it cost much more for sleeper, but that's my true splurge when it comes to travel.
 
RickIronton said:
After a 5 hour trip from St Louis to Chicago, in coach, I rewarded myself with 7+ hours in the coziness of a a private room.

I'm a big aficionado of train travel and sleeper advantage is a big plus.

I know, I know, that it cost much more for sleeper, but that's my true splurge when it comes to travel.
Click to expand...
Good for you! I get it. I looked at the fares and from CHI to MSP was not *that* much more for roomette. When you factor in the meal, the difference, as stated above, becomes less.
 
There is a sleeping car lounge on the west side of the main lobby. It's fairly small and does have some windows, but typically it's fairly hard to see inside of it with any detail and it's not in a particularly prominent location (so people shouldn't naturally draw their eye there a lot.) I've never been in it when it's been in service for passengers, but there's a sink and coffee maker. Not sure if they typically put snacks there or not.
 
George K said:
Just curious: Why Chicago to Minneapolis in a sleeper? It's a 7 (or so) hour ride that arrives at 10:00 or thereabouts?
Click to expand...
A train-traveling work acquaintance of mine books a roomette for he and his wife on the Coast Starlight instead of the Pacific Surfliner. They travel from Simi Valley (N of LA) to San Luis Obispo which is a 4:30 trip by the schedule. They enjoy the "sleeper" service and the meal!

I'm of the type to spend the extra $$ and do that myself as well.
 
As you may know, I'm new to train travel, having taken only 5 long distance trips* (but all in 6 months! Does that count???). The thought of a long trip in coach has no appeal to me, and I'll never, ever do it. But, yeah, I can see how even seven hours becomes "too long", and the ability to snooze, stretch and relax can really be worth it. We returned from New Orleans Friday PM, and I had to drive 100 miles yesterday (each way) to pick up our pets who were being babysat by our daughter. Four hours in the car, and when I got home, I was beat. More beat than I was after a 19 hour ride in a bedroom.

I wonder what my threshold would be for wanting a sleeper - even if I didn't sleep!

*excluding the 1955 NYC trip that was in a wreck, killing the engineer.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
St. Paul is my home station, and I've waited for #7 heading west at least half a dozen times since the Empire Builder started stopping at SPUD. I always travel in sleeper class and have never spent any time in the lounge. Whenever I've gone in there it's been crowded and surprisingly loud. I'd rather stay in the cavernous main waiting room and play ping pong on the cool table, or, if there's more time, go to Bedlam Theatre to wait. ]

The best case scenario was last October, when I had to make an sudden trip from St. Paul to Minot, ND. I was still able to have dinner at Bedlam (love their braised kale), see Anderson and Roe perform there, and still catch my night train.

If Bedlam's cultural choices aren't too your taste, I've found Kelly's Depot Bar to be a friendly dive if you have time to kill before a late train. If you're hungry I'd suggest the hot Italian sausage sandwich, which they still unfortunately refer to by the traditional St. Paul name.
 
I've done sleeper upgrade from CHI to WIN/RDW. If I get it at the right time, it's worth it for both of us for dinner.

Also few times before I started the upgrade, the waiting room in CHI has become sooo packed, and there's been time we were sitting on the floor or out in the hall way to wait to get on the train.

I haven't done up upgrade for our trip in a few weeks, I may not do it as it's a "slower" time of year out of CHI.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top