#28--EMPIRE BUILDER

[railrider]

I've ridden this train a number of times. Recently, there have been delays of several hours into Spokane, while #8 seems to be doing pretty well, and is held for the pdx arrival. What is the problem? It seems to persist. I'm travelling pdx to esm on Feb 8.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I believe weather has been bad in that area (snow & ice)

 

[KmH]

And very cold, which can impact some of the track infrastructure. Like frozen switches.

 

[Ronbo]

Actually, the #7 into Seattle today is the entire train, #27 did not split off in Spokane as usual because of the poor weather. At least that is what I read over on Trainorders. For those onboard, nice opportunity to make use of the Sightseer Lounge between Spokane and Seattle, if they could find a seat, I bet it was crowded in there! I wonder if the Portland passengers were allowed to use the Diner? Anybody here on that train that can report?

 

[Robtrav57]

I was onboard. Woke up early and couldn't for the life of me figure out why the train was not split. At about 7:30 they made an announcement that there was a problem on the track to Portland. They wanted to bring buses out to Spokane but had trouble arranging that in the middle of the night. They decided that the best course of action was to keep the train together and bus from Seattle to PDX. The dining car was not crowded at all. In fact the whole ride from Milwaukee to Seattle was on a pretty empty train. Only 3 people in one coach on the last night.