Just one decade later (in 1889), James Hill merged the St Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway with the Montana Central Railroad to form the Great Northern Railway. Hill became known, rather grandiosely, as the Empire Builder.
Great Northern's Empire Builder nearing the summit of the Continental Divide at Marias Pass. This is on the southern boundary of Glacier National Park in the Montana Rockies (Company postcard).
But Darren Sainsbury noted that much of the Great Northern Railroad was not laid down until the early 1890s, AFTER the merger. Breaching the Rockies must have been the most difficult engineering task for them to deal with, so they had to locate the lowest pass across the Rockies in all of the USA. Despite another terrible depression in the 1890s, Hill’s new service quickly became the most enduring Gilded Age railway in North America.
Today the 2-day trip is definitely no longer gilded. In order to keep the trip affordable, passengers can choose between very cheap coach seats (USA$150), roomettes with no private toilet and shower, and bedrooms with private toilet and shower (still quite cheap at USA$ 420+). All sleeping car passenger receive complete meal service in the dining car as part of their ticket price. Coach class passenger have three choices: a] they may use the dining car, as long as they pay for any meal they purchase, B] they can order from the at-seat meal service or C] they can buy sandwiches at the railway stations en route and bring them aboard.
The plan must be working well because, since 2007, the Great Northern Railroad has been Amtrak's busiest long-distance route, carrying 500,000+ travellers annually. But this train is definitely not the Orient Express where people dressed up in cocktail gear en route to Istanbul. It isn't even as elegant as the Rocky Mountaineer trip that spouse and I loved so much in Canada. Yes Virginia, there is Life after Retirement called it 'camping on wheels'.
Observation car
Everyone’s travel highlight is different. The company realises that passengers will spend much of the time looking at (rather boring?) plains in North Dakota and Eastern Montana, so they emphasise the varied landscapes, crops, small towns and three Indian reservations.
Whitefish, Montana
Passengers can see where the Snake and Yakima Rivers join, creating the mighty Columbia River. In the Columbia River gorge, along the Amtrak route, it is easy to take in the stunning beauty of its black basalt cliffs, ribbon-like waterfalls, and lush fir forests. And for those going to/from Portland, the train follows the Columbia on its Washington state side. Mt St Helens can be seen on one side of the train and Mount Hood ranges over the river on the other. The observation car is like a giant picture theatre. Spectacular!
Monkeegrrl’s Blog loved the experience. She described going through some of the most beautiful country the US has to offer. “From Chicago to the Wisconsin Dells, the Minnesota prairie, stunning fields of sunflowers in North Dakota, mountains and rivers in Montana and Idaho and on into Oregon. The train travelled into Glacier National Park and stopped at the lodge, which was originally designed as a rail stop. Porters came up from the hotel to take luggage from visiting passengers”.
Great Northern's map, in The Empire Builder brochure, 1951
For people going in the other direction, The Empire Builder leaves from Chicago’s Union Station, Amtrak’s midwest hub at 2:15 pm daily. The train stops to receive passengers in north suburban Chicago IL and Milwaukee WI before continuing across Central Wisconsin. At La Crosse WI, the train crosses the Mississippi River to Minnesota and winds along the river to St Paul.
