Ispolkom
Engineer
My wife and I took the Empire Builder from St. Paul to Minot on 11/21, returning on Saturday 11/24. As we always do on this itinerary, we traveled coach. We're experienced, with eye shades, earplugs, and polar fleece blanket.
The trains were on time (early, actually) in both directions, and the coach attendents did yeoman service seating the singletons together to allow groups to sit together. On this trip it was necessary, as we were crowded heading west, and sold-out (oversold, I heard) going east.
Seeing a crowded train like this shows me how important the Empire Builder is for people living on the Hi Line -- there were 75 passengers going from St. Paul to Minot on 11/21, and at least that many got on in Minot heading east on Saturday. It's not surprising, since air fares are in the $400-$600 range, and driving is expensive, time-consuming, and iffy in the winter. The Empire Builder, on the other hand, is quite reliable (especially going west), and cost $112 round-trip.
And it gave me a glow to wake up, look out on bleak stubble fields and snow and emptiness to the horizon, and think, as I have dozens of times on the Empire Builder, "Oh, good, I'm almost home."
The trains were on time (early, actually) in both directions, and the coach attendents did yeoman service seating the singletons together to allow groups to sit together. On this trip it was necessary, as we were crowded heading west, and sold-out (oversold, I heard) going east.
Seeing a crowded train like this shows me how important the Empire Builder is for people living on the Hi Line -- there were 75 passengers going from St. Paul to Minot on 11/21, and at least that many got on in Minot heading east on Saturday. It's not surprising, since air fares are in the $400-$600 range, and driving is expensive, time-consuming, and iffy in the winter. The Empire Builder, on the other hand, is quite reliable (especially going west), and cost $112 round-trip.
And it gave me a glow to wake up, look out on bleak stubble fields and snow and emptiness to the horizon, and think, as I have dozens of times on the Empire Builder, "Oh, good, I'm almost home."