Passenger Trains > Amtrak adventure on the Empire Builder

I completed my first overland passenger trip onboard the Empire Builder from Pasco, WA to Minneapolis-St. Paul and back.
The Eastbound 28 was three hours late to Pasco due to an Emergency Stop and inspection of a freight train just outside Vancouver. The delay ended up increasing overnight and to my delight afforded a daylight passing around Glacier Park and over Marias Pass. After nearly 6-hours behind in ND, we only ended up being about 3-1/2 hours late.

1) Train #8 lead by 195 patiently waited for the second portion from Portland to join at Spokane, WA.

2) Beautiful morning light greeted the passenger and crew at Whitefish, MT.

The return trip looked promising as the #7/27 arrived only 30 min off the schedule, but the westbounds have incurred typical traffic delays on average of 4-7 hours over the previous weeks. This was no different as ours was off by 5 hours.

3) The WB train included three units (and a out of service sleeper on the head-end) which were all separated at Spokane. #123 was left behind as the 191 lead the Seattle bound section and 96 was retained for Portland.

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Love the last shot!