winter travel

[andrew]

going from milwaukee,wi. too sandpoint,id. in december. so how are the veiws during the winter months. is there delays.are the trains heated.

 

[AlanB]

going from milwaukee,wi. too sandpoint,id. in december. so how are the veiws during the winter months. is there delays.are the trains heated.

The views to some extent are actually better during the winter, since there are no leaves on the trees to block your views. And there is just something about a snow covered mountain. Of course with the shorter days that does mean less viewing time, as darkness gets here so much earlier.

There is always a risk of delays no matter what, since Amtrak doesn't own or control the tracks. However the RR's tend to do less repair work during the winter, so delays are usually less than they are in the summer months. Besides the route that you'll be riding is on one of the best host RR's around, BNSF. They do a very good job at keeping Amtrak and in particular the Empire Builder on time. Of course a very heavy snowstorm could still throw a monkey wrench into the mix.

And yes, the cars are heated. That's not to say that you might not want to bring a sweater or a light jacket to wear while on the train. You also might want a light blanket if you're traveling in coach.

 

[gyuri_ft]

There is always a risk of delays no matter what, since Amtrak doesn't own or control the tracks.

To be fair with Amtrak: there is always risk of delays no matter what, even on best railroads who own and control the tracks. But: a railroad delay of several hours is a chaos. An airline delay if it is, is usually a major pandemonium.

 

[Everydaymatters]

I traveled from Chicago to Washington D.C. in January and it was one of the nicest trips ever. The train wasn't crowded, the car was warm. I'd do it again without hesitation.

 

[battalion51]

Train travel is actually one of the most reliable methods of travel during the winter months. Trains are able to travel in low visibility thanks to signaling and electrical circuits. Many times after a heavy snowstorm they will have to use some specialized equipment to clear the tracks, but it's usually not an issue. The switches in northern areas have specialized heaters installed that keep the switches from freezing up, and here in the south temporary heaters are used as necessary. It is vital that trains (passenger and freight alike) keep running because of how important they are to our economy. Many products are shipped via rail before they reach distribution centers, electronics, clothes, household goods. Other domestic items including, grains, cars, coal, rocks, and other items rely on rails to move, so even though the average American doesn't realize it, a week without trains in this country would cause the economy to come to a grinding hault.

 

[yarrow]

you would be in daylight through a little of western north dakota and most of eastern montana heading west. going east you would be in daylight through the rockies and most of montana then the next day along the mississippi after st paul and then through wisconsin to mwk. bring reading material for the dark hours or talk to fellow travellers.

 

[rile42]

I took the EB from Chicago to Spokane in Feb. of 2004. It was a great trip. The snow around Glacier National Park was incredible. I wouldn't hesitate to make that trip again.

Enjoy

 

[racer1735]

You will find that with the leaves off the trees that you can spot deer running through the fields and woods. The cars are nicely heated, but err on the safe side and bring a sweater or light jacket (if in a compartment you have your own heater control which works very nicely). Coach can get chilly because it is a larger area and with people constantly passing from car to car, the door is opening and closing quite frequently. Even with the bellows between cars it still gets cold between the two cars.

 

[yarrow]

speaking of deer we have seen wolves(near east glacier) and antelope(central montana) in the snow while on the eb.

 

[Guest]

I find quite often the at least Amfleet and Acela cars are often overheated in the winter, and over airconditioned in the summer.

 

[battalion51]

The problem (at least on the Amfleets) is that the cars do not have a thermostat. The heaters are either on or off, no in between. You turn those heaters off it's gonna get awfully cold in there awfully fast. As for over air conditioned I'd love to get one or two of those down here in Florida, I've yet to run into one.

 

[sechs]

The switches in northern areas have specialized heaters installed that keep the switches from freezing up

*Except for UP

 

[frj1983]

I love traveling in December-January(though I haven't had the chance to do it in awhile). I especially like looking for the Christmas Lights and the lights of the small cities along the way!

 

[jphjaxfl]

I have ridden the Empire Builder many times during the winter months when I lived in Minneapolis and Grand Forks. This includes pre Superliner and Superliner trains. It was always close to schedule unless there was a freight train derailment. The cars were always compfortable whether sleeping car, coach, diner or lounge. The scenery in the winter is great. Many times the Builder is reliable when planes, cars and buses cannot travel in the Winter weather. Since I now live in Jacksonville, Florida, I wish the Silver trains were as reliable as the Builder.

 

[battalion51]

Maybe we should get BNSF to buy the RF&P and A-Line. :lol:

 

[NS VIA FAN]

Winter! My favorite time to travel and looking forward to another trip on VIA’s Canadian in January. On my last trip it was just so enjoyable to sit back on the warm train rolling through a snow storm across Northern Ontario. Later that evening in the dome, the sky had cleared and with a full moon on the fresh snow, it was almost as bright as day!

And the storm didn’t appear to have had any affect on the schedule as there is considerable padding for the 30 cars of the summer. In fact we were 70 minutes early arriving into Winnipeg in -20C temperatures!

 

[racer1735]

I can remember as a boy in the early 1960's going to the T&P station in Fort Worth, TX to meet my grandparents for the Christmas holidays. They would take the train from Marion, IN to St. Louis to Fort Worth, and would arrive in Texas on one of the MoPac's Eagles. One particular cold day the train arrived and I remember the cars all had ice caked all around the wheels and underbody, the vestibules were iced up and when my grandparents detrained they told of the cars lacking heat (back in the days of steam generators on the old E-units) and running water in the restrooms becase everything was frozen. Glad to say those days (for the most part) are behind us.