Passenger Trains > Empire Builder Trip Report (28 and 8) - June 8-10, 2016

Awesome.  

My wife, son and I had a fabulous trip from Portland to Chicago on the Empire Builder June 8-10.   There's a short video recap posted in this thread.  

Hats off to our car attendant, Flo.   She was superb.  Dining car staff was excellent.  Food was delicious.  

We arrived in Chicago 15 minutes early.  

It was 90 in Portland the day be fore we left and the heat followed to Chicago (low 90s when we arrived).  But the train was cool and comfortable.  

Finding ourselves on the end of the train was an added bonus for being in the Portland sleeper - made for some great photo opportunities.  

1. 28 waits at Portland Union Station.
2. We had time to walk around before our train left and catch this fright on the Steep Bridge.
3. Another view of 28 waiting from the pedestrian bridge.



 

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4. Yet another view of 28 from the Portland Metropolitan Lounge.
5. A BNSF unit somewhere along the Columbia River Gorge.
6. A UP train across the Columbia.  Traffic had resumed after the oil train derailment and fire.  

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7.  The view in Glacier from out the back of the sleeper.  I spent a lot of time here.
8. ANother view of the stunning scenery from the rear of the sleeper.
9. BNSF units along the line in Montana.  

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10. I have no idea behind this paint job is, but I'd like to think it involves someone with a sense of humor - and history.
11. This handsome train was sitting at the Milwaukee station.
12. The end of 28 taken while in Pasco - I spend a lot of time watching the world go by out that window.  

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And the video.

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Thank you for sharing and thanks too for Flo and all the other Amtrak and BNSF personnel who do this day in and day out.
And for BNSF leadership who invested in capacity improvements for the line.
I also see you had a clean rear window, a big improvement over my last few Amtrak trips.

Beautiful video, thanks for sharing your experience with us.  I too have spent time in that window at the end of the Portland sleeper.  

Thanks for the great photos and videos.

Ret. Navy Chief Bob Jensen
Manteno, IL

I just rode #28/#8 from Portland to Chicago June 22-24. Sleepingcar attendant was Pete, nice guy, good job making sure I was nice & comfy, diner crew alsofriendly & providing good service. Bonus was a Nat'l Park Ranger on board in the Lounge car explaining all the sites in Montana as well as some "cute" stories about past residents of those local "towns" we passed by. I was nervous in that we were due into Chicago at 4pm & my Detroit train was due out at 6pm & in my many past experiences coming from the West more times than not i missed my connections even though most times i had at least a 4+ hour cushion. When I went to sleep thurs nite we were 2 hrs behind & when I awoke fri we were 2'10" behind but Pete told me not to worry - we would make it in time for me to make my connection. He was right. We arrived 1'05" late.. My son flew home & arrived 2 hrs late so I got to haze him for a change !     

I made that trip in December 2015,only westbound.Could not get
out in Portland because of rain.

Uncle Joe,Seffner,Fl.

Thanks for the video.  Looking forward to my westward journey from Cincy to Portland in about 4 weeks.    Will by flying back home due to time constraints, but looking forward to it. 

regarding image #10, it is my understanding that BNSF ran out of numbers in the series it uses to number its yard switchers (perhaps they wanted to repurpose them for another class of locomotive, I'm not sure on the exact details).  Instead of picking a new numbering system within the rest of the four-digit BNSF numbers, they changed the reporting marks on some of the switchers to GN.  An interesting idea to free up some numbers for some more locomotives to utilize the BNSF marks.

-Martin