Late Empire builder (#8, #28)

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henryj said:
The Builder has been suspended off and on all winter. Time to send the equipment down south where it can do some good. Add it to the SWC, the Eagle and the Sunset Limited. Turn the Builder into a coach only day train between MSP and Chicago and Portland and Seattle to Spokane. Forget the rest of the route until summer.
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Yep, Amtrak should just abandon an entire route and strand thousands of people that have bought tickets because of a handful of disruptions. :rolleyes:
 
Empire Builder out of Portland, OR was cancelled for today 3/13/2011. Passengers were being put on buses, but we opted to take tomorrow's train. Anyone have any idea if it will get through to Chicago? I overhead an employee say that the train had hit a car - any news?
 
The inbound Empire Builder (#27) just departed Wishram, WA at 9:50 this morning and should arrive in Portland about 2 hours late. That train will turn and become your departing #28 this afternoon, so I expect you will depart on time or nearly so. There are currently no blockages on the tracks between Portland and Chicago, so you should get through.

Yesterday's train encountered some sort of severe delay in North Dakota (probably blizzard-related) as westbound #7 and was presumably turned at Spokane (with passengers bussed to/from PDX and SEA). That is, unfortunately, a fairly regular occurrence since when the westbound #7/27 is over eight hours late it will not arrive in PDX/SEA in time to depart as #8/28. Rather than make the entire eastbound journey terribly late, the train is turned in Spokane.

Mark
 
anir dendroica said:
The inbound Empire Builder (#27) just departed Wishram, WA at 9:50 this morning and should arrive in Portland about 2 hours late. That train will turn and become your departing #28 this afternoon, so I expect you will depart on time or nearly so. There are currently no blockages on the tracks between Portland and Chicago, so you should get through.

Yesterday's train encountered some sort of severe delay in North Dakota (probably blizzard-related) as westbound #7 and was presumably turned at Spokane (with passengers bussed to/from PDX and SEA). That is, unfortunately, a fairly regular occurrence since when the westbound #7/27 is over eight hours late it will not arrive in PDX/SEA in time to depart as #8/28. Rather than make the entire eastbound journey terribly late, the train is turned in Spokane.

Mark
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Thank you SO much for the clear information. I so wish that Amtrak would post such things on their website, so that we could all understand what's happening. I (and I think most passengers) are very understanding of delays as long as we are given the information updates. It would be great if Amtrak could send text message updates about departure times and delays like the airlines do. You would just sign up for it online, and then it would be generated automatically.

We drove from Astoria yesterday leaving at 1pm. If we had known that the train had been turned (which it seems they knew by then), we would have been saved a two-hour drive and an overnight hotel stay in Portland.

The scene at the Amtrak counter at the train station is absurd. Everyone has to wait in line to get essentially the same information. We LOVE travelling by train, and wouldn't do it any other way, but just a little more info would help the customer service aspect so much.

Thanks again.

Meg
 
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Meg said:
Thank you SO much for the clear information. I so wish that Amtrak would post such things on their website, so that we could all understand what's happening. I (and I think most passengers) are very understanding of delays as long as we are given the information updates. It would be great if Amtrak could send text message updates about departure times and delays like the airlines do. You would just sign up for it online, and then it would be generated automatically.

We drove from Astoria yesterday leaving at 1pm. If we had known that the train had been turned (which it seems they knew by then), we would have been saved a two-hour drive and an overnight hotel stay in Portland.

The scene at the Amtrak counter at the train station is absurd. Everyone has to wait in line to get essentially the same information. We LOVE travelling by train, and wouldn't do it any other way, but just a little more info would help the customer service aspect so much.

Thanks again.

Meg
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I have been perennially annoyed with Amtrak's lack of information. Fortunately, it is possible to obtain at least some useful information about the Empire Builder anyway.

*The best resource is John Bobinyec's Amtrak Status Maps:

http://www.dixielandsoftware.com/Amtrak/status/StatusMaps/AmtrakStatusMapWest.htm

The only downside is that when a train is disrupted for even a small portion of its route, it becomes a "service disruption" and no longer appears on the map. In most cases, the train is still running over at least part of the route, or is using a bus bridge like yesterday. Today's #8 will likely appear as a disruption due to mudslides north of Seattle forcing a short bus bridge (not affecting the Portland section).

*User "EB_OBS" on this forum apparently has access to inside information and often posts updates. That is the closest we get to obtaining accurate info from Amtrak.

*There is an Empire Builder Yahoo Group, which often has useful information (mixed in with plenty of not-useful information).

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/EmpireBuilder/

*The Trainorders list is occasionally helpful, although many disruptions go unreported there:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/list.php?4

*If problems are weather- or derailment-related, you can check the BNSF Service Advisories page:

http://domino.bnsf.com/website/updates.nsf/updates?ReadForm&service

Frequently, however, freight service will resume before passenger service, especially following mudslides.

Mark
 
Meg said:
We drove from Astoria yesterday leaving at 1pm. If we had known that the train had been turned (which it seems they knew by then), we would have been saved a two-hour drive and an overnight hotel stay in Portland.
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You live in Astoria? My wife and I spent our honeymoon there about a year ago - beautiful town and some of the best dining we've ever had!
 
Empire Builder Boy said:
Thankfully for me, I have a ticket for the #28 car.
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That is irrelevant in this case. East of Spokane, the #8 and the #28 are the same train. Either they're both running

or they're both not running. (Or, in some cases, they're not running but Amtrak has a stub train or bustitution between

MSP and CHI...in which case it's still irrelevant which "train" you are ticketed on.)

The reason #28 shows up is that there is no service disruption between Portland and Chicago. The reason the #8

does not show up on the Amtrak website is that there was a service disruption between Seattle and Chicago. Never

mind that this disruption is just a few miles north of Seattle and that virtually the entire route is unaffected...it's just

that Amtrak is incapable of programming its website to show that the train is operating "normally" except for a very

short bus bridge near the beginning of the route.

P.S. It occurs to me that your comment may have been in jest...apologies if that's the case.
 
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Empire Builder Boy said:
Not in jest. I actually didn't know how that worked.
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Cool. Good luck with your trip. As it happens, I have relatives leaving on the #28 out of PDX today, which will eventually be

the train you'll board. But they'll be long gone by the time the train reaches WIN.
 
Ryan said:
Meg said:
We drove from Astoria yesterday leaving at 1pm. If we had known that the train had been turned (which it seems they knew by then), we would have been saved a two-hour drive and an overnight hotel stay in Portland.
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You live in Astoria? My wife and I spent our honeymoon there about a year ago - beautiful town and some of the best dining we've ever had!
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Yes, I do live in Astoria! It's a great town, if a little too rainy at this time of year...

I wonder where you ate, because sadly, Gunderson's Cannery Cafe (where my husband and I got married and had our reception) burned down on December 16th, 2010. It's really, really sad because it was the best and prettiest restaurant in town. There are others, for sure, but there is a big hole now in our hearts (and bellies!) where their salmon used to be!

All the best,

Meg

p.s. The train used to run here, and there are still tracks and a station. If only people would make it a priority, we could have rail service again. They got it running for the Lewis and Clark celebration a few years back, but then didn't have the money to keep it going :(
 
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Empire Builder Boy said:
Does anyone know if the EB will be running from WIN-CHI thursday?
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That train will depart Seattle and Portland today. Aside from the bustitution between Seattle and Everett, WA there aren't any other blocking events that I'm aware of. The chances of it being a little late are fairly good. IF the train gets really late, like six or eight hours or more late, then the District Manager Stations, in that area, is really good about arranging for buses to depart MSP and further east stations, on-time. Either call the station or Amtrak customer service if you see that the train is running very late. Or shoot me a PM. When he schedules on-time buses I'm always included in the distribution.
 
Meg said:
I wonder where you ate, because sadly, Gunderson's Cannery Cafe (where my husband and I got married and had our reception) burned down on December 16th, 2010. It's really, really sad because it was the best and prettiest restaurant in town. There are others, for sure, but there is a big hole now in our hearts (and bellies!) where their salmon used to be!
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That is a shame, that was dinner out last night there. We stayed at the Cannery Pier Hotel and got driven down there in one of their classic cars and then walked back along the riverwalk to the hotel right at sunset. An absolutely perfect evening! We also ate at Fulio's and Clemente's and enjoyed them, but they couldn't match the view from Gunderson's!
(sorry to all for the thread diversion)
 
I got a phone call by Julie. She called me at 10:19 am central saying my train was cancelled and my bus took off at 10:11 am. I was thoroughly scared. I called the Winona station and they told me it was a technicality call, but the train is running and at the estimated time was correct on the website. So I don't care. It's running and I'm all packed and ready to rock!
 
Empire Builder Boy said:
I got a phone call by Julie. She called me at 10:19 am central saying my train was cancelled and my bus took off at 10:11 am. I was thoroughly scared. I called the Winona station and they told me it was a technicality call, but the train is running and at the estimated time was correct on the website. So I don't care. It's running and I'm all packed and ready to rock!
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I guess "technicality" is Amtrak-speak for "wrong."

Looks like you'll be leaving about 3 1/2 hours late.
 
Empire Builder Boy said:
I got a phone call by Julie. She called me at 10:19 am central saying my train was cancelled and my bus took off at 10:11 am. I was thoroughly scared. I called the Winona station and they told me it was a technicality call, but the train is running and at the estimated time was correct on the website. So I don't care. It's running and I'm all packed and ready to rock!
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Enjoy your trip!
 
20 March 2011, BNSF grain train derailed near Leonia, ID, 130 miles west of Whitefish, MT. Main track out of service. Unknown repair estimate. Amtrak uses this line. Unknown Amtrak status now.
 
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