Inside my room was a small bag filled with toiletry items courtesy of Amtrak and the attendant also offered us bottles of champaign or sparkling cider. I chose the Champaign which was J. Roget and was very good. We made our first station stop at Glenview, IL and departed there at 2:41pm, 2 minutes late. I would find out right away that the AC outlet in my sleeper would be almost useless as there is some trim around it that makes it impossible to fit a surge protector over it. I like the interior of this sleeper as it looks nice but that AC outlet is not positioned in the right place which can cause problems. This would prove to not be too big of a deal though. I had the GPS going in my sleeper and it charted the course the train took as we headed to our next stop at Milwaukee, WI. We arrived in Milwaukee at 3:45pm and a smoking break was granted there. I took a few pictures and got some air before we left at 3:55pm, on time. I went to the lounge car after leaving Milwaukee to get a candy bar and just relaxed in the room as I was very tired. We ended up having to stop somewhere near Watertown, WI to weight for a Canadian Pacific freight to pass us as the railroad we were headed for was single track ahead. We ended up being stopped for about 20 minutes because of this. I dozed off and slept through the stop at Columbus, WI and we made our next stop at Portage, WI at 5:54pm. Our next stop was Wisconsin Dells where we made a double spot and left there at 6:14pm now 22 minutes late. We would pass a very late eastbound Empire Builder near Wisconsin Dells. That particular train was late due to a freight derailment in Montana. The residual freight traffic that was delayed on the BNSF due to that derailment would have an impact on our train later on.
I had a dinner reservation for 6:30pm. We made our station stop at LaCrosse, WI during dinner. I was seated with a couple headed to Minneapolis as well as a passenger who talked about his many world travels, all conversation was great! I would have the New York Strip steak with a baked potato and salad with a Diet Pepsi and a delicious chocolate peanut butter pie for dessert. I'll admit the service during dinner was only average, about on par with what I experienced on the Texas Eagle, though it would appear that it was just one employee in the dining car whose level of service wasn't as good as others. We made our next two stops at Winona, MN which was a smoking stop, as well as Red Wing, MN. Red Wing was the location where a drunk was removed from the train the last time I rode this route in 2006. I eventually went back to the lounge car to continue this travelogue, back up pictures and get some gadget batteries charged. I had an interesting conversation with a passenger from Minneapolis who was a railfan. I stayed in the lounge car until arriving in Minneapolis.
Once arriving at St. Paul-Minneapolis Station (arrived 16 minutes late at 10:47pm), my plan was to do a night photo of the train. I decided that since I would need to use a tripod and this was a busy station, that it would be a good idea to contact Amtrak Media Relations before taking this photo just to make sure there would be no problems. I was given a verbal approval to take this photo from them as I was a ticketed passenger. I advised them that I would only be using a tripod and cable release on a consumer grade Digital SLR camera, no umbrellas or extra lighting was necessary. Once the train arrived, I grabbed the camera & tripod and ventured out to the platform to get set up to take the night photo. I wore my valid press credentials from TrainWeb's Rail News Division and would initially be told by one Amtrak employee they didn't want photography there because if one person goes to take a picture, more will follow! After showing my press credentials, as well as explaining that I had spoken to Media Relations about this, as well as some additional pleading with this person, he finally let me take the picture! You've already seen it, its at the top of this page! By the way, for the record, nobody followed me up to the head end to take a picture either! While there, I also got photos of the Puget Sound and Gritty Palace private cars that were parked at the station, you'll see them a bit later. There are several private cars parked at the station. Had there been more time, I would have gotten photos of all of them as they were absolutely beautiful cars! Night Photography is a very time consuming thing however, so shortly after getting the photo of the Puget Sound car, I reboarded the train and we left Minneapolis 1 minute late at 11:16pm. I put away the camera and had my bed turned down for the night. I then took a shower and called it a day, and what a day it was!!!
|
|
| I woke up around 7:30am and had breakfast. This morning, it was the pancakes with pork sausage and a Diet Pepsi, all delicious! I was seated with 3 people from different parts of the country, all good conversations! After breakfast, I grabbed the camera and took a bunch of pictures at our next stop, Minot, ND. This is a service stop for the train though photographing the head end of the train here was not possible. I was told by an Amtrak employee that a good place to get a picture would be in Havre, MT, thus I decided to just get some roster photos of several cars in the train before we departed on time at 9:06am. Eventually, I switched my bed back to day use and brought out the computer to the lounge car to continue writing this travelogue. One very pleasant surprise in the Sightseer Lounge on this train was that the car on this train has AC outlets!!! YES!!!!! This is something that has been sorely needed in these cars! We made it through our next stop at Stanley, ND then Williston, ND. A brief smoking break was permitted there and they have a very nice Great Northern steam locomotive on display there! Williston was the last stop in the state of North Dakota. Our train would be stopped in Bainville, MT (not a station stop) due to trackwork. We then had a 10mph speed restriction that lasted some 15 minutes. An announcement was made that there would be wine and cheese tasting in the dining car for sleeping car passengers and our attendants came by to figure out how many people wanted to participate. I'm really not much of a wine drinker (if I'm gonna have wine, it better be sweet wine!) but I figured this was free and I wasn't driving, so why not? We later ended up on a siding in Blaire, MT to wait for 2 freights to pass us. We had to contend with a lot of freight traffic likely left over from the delayed freight trains after the aforementioned derailment that happened a few days ago here in Montana. There was no doubt that these delays were definitely slowing us down. I originally decided to have lunch after we got to our next stop at Wolf Point, MT but because we were running so far behind schedule and an announcement was made that a waiting list would be formed due to high demand for lunch, I just went and had lunch! Lunch today was the angus burger with bacon and potato chips with a Diet Pepsi and another slice of that delicious chocolate peanut butter pie!!! I was seated with a couple who were newlyweds and this trip was paid for by the groom's father. I figured if they were both railfans, then good, there's hope for me yet!!! It turns out they weren't "railfans" but were enjoying the trip nonetheless. The other passenger seated with us had had breakfast with us that morning. We left Wolf Point at 1:07pm, down 1 hour and 26 minutes, ouch! We ended up waiting on a siding in Bowdoin, MT for another freight to pass us. It was now pushing 3pm, time for wine tasting!!! Two of the sleeper attendants conducted the events and they did a world class job with it. The wines and cheeses we tasted are listed below: |
|
