Passenger Trains > Chasing The Builder Up The Pass

I went out to Lowell, between Everett and Snohomish, on Saturday to shoot the Empire Builder leaving town with two private cars.

I ended up chasing the train up, and over Stevens Pass to Wenatchee.

Here is a video at two locations on the west side of the pass.

After Lowell, I had intended to catch the train at Skykomish. But, the combination of Lowell's remoteness in getting back to the main road, and an abundance of leisure travelers on U.S. 2, made that impossible.

It seemed like I was a minute behind the train most of the way up the pass, but I did manage to make Scenic about 5 minutes ahead of number 8.

There, you'll see in the video the girl in the yellow sweatshirt that was in the photo I posted yesterday.

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Nice video of No. 8!

Posted from Android

One coach to Seattle at peak season??

Posted from Android

Same for the Seattle Sleeper, and I know demand is there for that second Seattle Sleeper. You can't get a bedroom from Seattle to Chicago or at least Montana to Chicago for a couple of weeks out. Random chance there's a roomette available, but slim pickings at best. They need the second sleeper now more than ever! The Dorm is being booked with roomettes. One would think with reduced F&B costs, Amtrak would want to rake in the higher end revenue right now to try and offset.........

EDIT - they may have added some capacity in July.....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/21 12:52 by jp1822.