Day5

TO PORTLAND AND CHICAGO BY RAIL, 6/10/08 TO 6/17/08

by Fred Dunn

Day 5

Saturday, June 14

I woke up about 5:30 a.m., showered and got dressed. While I was showering, we made a stop at Libby, MT. During the night our train had been coupled to the Seattle section, so the train was considerably longer. My sleeper was still at the end of the train, but to get to the diner I had to walk through five coaches and a lounge car. As I was finishing breakfast we were passing Whitefish Lake. After breakfast, I went back to my sleeper to watch our arrival in Whitefish. We had approximately 20 minutes in Whitefish, leaving at 7:57 a.m., 11 minutes behind schedule.

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Whitefish Lake

Whitefish Depot

Leaving Whitefish, we traveled 20 miles to West Glacier (Belton), where we made a short stop. We then continued along the Southern edge of Glacier Park, following the Middle Fork of the Flathead River to Essex, MT, where we made another short stop at the Isaac Walton Inn. Leaving Essesx, we continued along the park boundary, reaching the summit at Marias Pass (5220 ft.) and continuing on to East Glacier, where we had a ten minute stop.

West Glacier

West Glacier (Belton) Depot

Middle Fork Flathead River

Middle Fork Flathead River

Snowsheds & snow covered peaks

Summit at Marias Pass

Descending toward East Glacier

Glacier Lodge

East Glacier Depot

Crossing trestle leaving East Glacier

We left East Glacier at 10:12 a.m., 18 minutes behind schedule. Since we were heading into less scenic, more mundane terrain, I decided to spend some time exploring the train. The consist was as follows:

P 42 Genesis 112, 52

Baggage 1159

Transition sleeper 39046

Sleeper 32011, 32016

Diner 38059

Coach 34020, 31009, 34075

Lounge 33012

Coach 34134, 31045

Sleeper 32000

Sleeper 32000, the car that I was in, was the first Superliner sleeper built by Pullman Co. My car was still located on the rear of the train, so that I was able to look out the widow of the rear door. I walked up to the lounge car, but it was so crowded that I decided to return to my room.

We arrived at Shelby, MT at about noon, and arrived at Havre, MT at 1:13 p.m. On display at Havre is an old 4-8-4 Great Northern steam engine. The locomotive was one of 14 built by Baldwin in 1930, and was used in passenger service on the Empire Builder and on the fast mail trains. We left Havre at 1:31 p.m., right on schedule.

Shelby Depot

Havre Depot

Great Northern steam engine 2584

Great Northern steam engine 2584

The wine tasting for sleeper passengers was held in the dining car from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. Four wines were sampled, two whites and two reds. Each table also had a plate of cheese and crackers. During the wine tasting, trivia questions were being asked, with the person giving the correct answer receiving a bottle, or partial bottle of wine. One of the questions was "what is the fifth busiest station on the Empire Builder route." I gave the answer Whitefish, which turned out to be correct, so I won a bottle of Chateau St Michelle Gewurztraminer, which I enjoyed later with dinner. The dining car steward came by during the wine tasting, and I made a dinner reservation for 5:30. I did not have any lunch, partly because I was still full from breakfast, and partly because I didn't feel like taking the long hike through seven cars to get to the dining car.

At 5:09 p.m., shortly after leaving Wolf Point, we passed the Westbound Empire Builder. This was not a good sign, because the Westbound should have left Wolf Point at 11:41 a.m. So it appeared that it was over 5 hours late, undoubtedly due to the flooding in the Midwest.

I went to the diner for my 5:30 reservation. The menu was the same as on the Coast Starlight. The fish was again trout, so I ordered the flat iron steak, which came with salad, choice of baked or mashed potatoes, and vegetables. The steak was not as tender as the one that I got on the Starlight, but it was still tasty.

We arrived at Minot ND at 9:11 p.m., 10 minutes ahead of schedule. Minot is a crew change point, and the crew that was supposed to come on board was the crew from the Westbound Builder that we passed near Wolf Point, running over 5 hours late. We were told that it would be after 11:00 p.m. before the new crew was available, so we had 2 hours to explore beautiful downtown Minot at 9:00 p.m. on Friday night. I took a two mile walk to get some exercise, and then went back to my room. On returning to my car, Dan, the attendant had some bad news. He said that we would probably be bused from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Chicago. With this unpleasant news, I went to my room and read for awhile, then went to bed.

Minot ND, still light after 9:00 p.m.

[ Next: Day 6 ]