Empire Builder 8/28 8/05/2009 Yesterday the eastbound Empire Builder, Train, 8 was delayed twenty minutes in Seattle due to a mechicanical problem then only reached Alaskan Way in Seattle when the lead locomotive's brakes brakes locked. That caused the train to be over an hour late arriving at Spokane so the two sections were combined into one. As a result, our train's consist was now P42DCs 50 and 82, baggage 1243, transition 39042, sleepers 32012, 32068 and 32015, diner 38043, coaches 34054, 31039 and 31009, lounge 33021, coaches 31031 and 34024 and sleeper 34023, all of which occurred while I was soundly sleeping. I awoke just after Libby, Montana.
The DPU's of a loaded westbound coal train. I walked six cars forward to the dining car and was seated with three ladies travelling together. One lives in Cowan Heights, the second from Corona, who was having a birthday, and the third from Colorado. I enjoyed pancakes and sausage patties and we passed through the Libby tunnel during the meal. We continued on to Whitefish and a fresh air stop.
Great Northern NW3 181, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1942.
The Great Northern Railway emble, Rocky the Goat.
Great Northern Railway Bus 101. The railroad initially used a gas-electric one-coach trail to move passengers, freight and mail on local spurs, but as years passed, a better service was required to meet growing demands. In 1951, a combination bus/truck, or "Bruck", painted in the Great Northern's colors of orange and green, took up the route. When personal cars began populating America's highways, the service declined and fell out of use by 1972. The Bruck was lost for many years, but then found again, sitting in a Great Falls' salvage yard. Now restored to its former appearance, today the vehicle sits beside the Whitefish depot, as if waiting for the next train.
The Empire Builder at rest.
Whitefish Mountain has a ski resort built upon it.
At the Columbia Falls depot, Sommers Lumber Company two truck Shay 1 built by Lima Locomotive Works in 1914 is on display. It became the property of P.L. Howe Lumber Mills in Eureka, Montana in 1919, then was sold to Brooks- Scanlon Lumber Company in 1922 and further sold to the State Lumber Company in Columbia Falls in 1926. A 1933 corporate sale transferred it to F.H. Stoltz Land and Lumber Company. At a later date, it was donated to the city of Columbia Falls.
The first tunnel immediately after Columbia Falls.
The North Fork of the Flathead River just before Coram.
The Great Northern Belton station built in 1910 and relocated in 1935, is also known as West Glacier and is a summer stop on the Empire Builder.
The Empire Builder entered the canyon just east of Belton.
Tunnel 3.7 at Milepost 1191.2.
Tunnel 3.8 at Milepost 1192.5.
The Middle Fork of the Flathead River is the route we follow east and is also the southern boundery of Glacier National Park.
Through the trees along the river.
Tunnel 3.9 at Milepost 1194.0.
Tunnel 4 at Milepost 1194.5.
Looking back tracks and river.
Nyack, where two main tracks start and continue until Paola.
Mountain peaks in Glacier National Park.
Looking back down the grade.
More peaks in the park.
Two main tracks.
The double track ends at Paola.
Tunnels 3 and 2, the last ones of the morning.
A ledge before Pinnacle.
Pinnacle is where the next section of double track starts and runs to West Java.
The Essex ballast pit.
Water tower at Essex.
The Izaak Walton Inn at Essex.
A railroad tie train was waiting for us the clear our flag stop.
The Izaak Walton Inn van was about to load its guests and head back to the Inn.
A snowshed just east of Essex.
The Goat Lick trestle over Java Creek.
West Java, where the double track from Pinnacle ends.
Passing the slide zone east of West Java.
The Java high bridge.
East Java, where the next section of double track starts and runs east until Summit.
The next snowshed.
At the following snowshed, we met a westbound BNSF grain train exiting as we entered.
The showshed to the east of the last one.
Yet another snowshed.
Most of the snowsheds are on a curve.
A straight snowshed.
Looking back down the tracks.
This snowshed is just west of the next one.
The last snowshed.
A former snowshed location.
Looking back.
The snowsheds through which we had just travelled.
A view looking back as the clouds built over all the mountains. While it can be clear on one side of the monutain, it can be the opposite on the other and no peaks could be seen from the eastern side on this trip.
Blacktail.
Marias, where there used to be crossovers.
Railroad Continental Divide sign.
Summit, the end of double track from East Java.
Between Summit and Bison.
West Bison.
A small lake at Bison.
East Bison.
A bridge just before East Glacier with wind protection features added for train safety.
East Glacier Lodge and a bus.
A BNSF work train leaving after we cleared the switch.
The former Great Northenn East Glacier station, a summer stop on the Empire Builder.
Helpers waiting at East Glacier.
The Two Medicine River bridge built in 1910.
The High Trestle over the Cut Bank River before our station stop there. I took a fresh air break at Shelby then had a nap on the way to Havre.
The Milk River prior to our servicing stop at Havre, where I detrained and the ice cream machine gave me two for the price of one. We departed at 2:30 PM {1:32 PM} and continued east as I watched my Jethro Tull DVD "Living with the Past". At Chinook, the westbound Empire Builder flew by us on the mainline, running on time heading to Havre and points beyond.
On the way to Malta, we stopped at Wagner to reboot one of our engines. It was here on July 3, 1901 that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid's Wild Bunch pulled off one last great train robbery when they held up the Great Northern Flyer, taking about $65,000 before splitting up forever.
We stopped in Malta and I was walking into the dining car as we approached Glasgow. I was seated with a man going to Milwaukee, a lady going to a cousin's reunion in Wisconsin and a young man from Scotland. I had the flat iron steak and chocolate bundt cake for dessert. Dinner was finished as we arrived at Wolf Point and I next watched Blue Oyster Cult's "A Long Summer Night".
An Interesting rock formation before we entered North Dakota and ran to our next stop of Williston, North Dakota.
Great Northern 2-8-2 3059 built by Baldwin in 1911. It was retired in December 1957 and was donated to the City of Williston in August 1958.
Independent Locomotive Service GP5 1362, nee Great Northern GP9 912 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1959. We departed at 8:38 PM {7:09 PM} and proceeded east towards Stanley. I made up my room and called it another night after another great day aboard the Empire Builder.
8/06/2009 I was up at 6:00 AM and went to the dining car for a pancakes and sausage patties breakfast. Our estimated time of arrival in the Twin Cities was now 9:00 AM.
The next stop was at Staples, home of the 1910 Northern Pacific Railway depot.
Miles later, we crossed the Mississippi River on the way to St. Cloud.
The Great Northern St. Cloud station built in 1899. The train then sprinted the final miles to the Midway Station in the Minneapolis, arriving there at 8:25 AM {7:05 AM}, ending another excellent Amtrak adventure aboard the Coast Starlight and the Empire Builder. Now to get the rental car and start the next part of this trip.
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