While hanging around the station at East Glacier, I saw an Amtrak poster for The Pioneer. I'm fairly new to taking Amtrak, but I have at least been looking at the schedules for a few years, and I do not recall this route. Which is odd, as it looks like it went right through my state, and ends up near my preferred destination.
The poster that I saw is a typical Amtrak poster, where it lists the stops in small print around the large graphic. It listed the route as starting in Chicago and following the same route as the CZ until maybe Denver. It then cut northwest through Wyoming and southern Idaho (which are currently unserved), and ended up in Portland.
Does any body know (okay, stupid question for this group) how long ago that route died? Why did it go away, just the usual lack of money and ridership? Any other memories of this route?
Are there other Amtrak routes of the western US that no longer exist? Being a RR geek, I'm really curious now.
BTW, speaking of the East Glacier station, if you ever embark/disembark there, take some time to look through the exhibits inside the station. There is some very interesting information on the East Glacier area, as well as on the Great Northern.
The poster that I saw is a typical Amtrak poster, where it lists the stops in small print around the large graphic. It listed the route as starting in Chicago and following the same route as the CZ until maybe Denver. It then cut northwest through Wyoming and southern Idaho (which are currently unserved), and ended up in Portland.
Does any body know (okay, stupid question for this group) how long ago that route died? Why did it go away, just the usual lack of money and ridership? Any other memories of this route?
Are there other Amtrak routes of the western US that no longer exist? Being a RR geek, I'm really curious now.
BTW, speaking of the East Glacier station, if you ever embark/disembark there, take some time to look through the exhibits inside the station. There is some very interesting information on the East Glacier area, as well as on the Great Northern.