EmpireBuilderFan
Lead Service Attendant
I just got off of the first leg of my Empire Builder birthday (mine and the Builder's) trip. #8 into Williston kept to pretty normal time keeping as we arrived 30 minutes down. #7 was another story. We passed the westbound Builder about 10 miles east of Wolf Point, putting it 5 hours 30 minutes down. Interestingly, it arrived into Minot, ND slightly early, but didn't leave MOT until 5 hours later. While having a long delay might be almost normal (sadly) for trains like the Sunset Limited, this is extremely rare for the Builder.
I almost wonder if there was something wrong with the consist itself. I couldn't see anything obvious as it passed us, but we were in the siding as it blew by at 79 MPH.
As an aside, this is quite ominous for the return trip on Monday. When I picked up my tickets a couple of weeks ago, the westbound was running 4+ hours down. Now, today the westbound is running 5+ hours down. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come... :blink:
I almost wonder if there was something wrong with the consist itself. I couldn't see anything obvious as it passed us, but we were in the siding as it blew by at 79 MPH.
As an aside, this is quite ominous for the return trip on Monday. When I picked up my tickets a couple of weeks ago, the westbound was running 4+ hours down. Now, today the westbound is running 5+ hours down. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come... :blink: