Rail Travel
News
News posting
June 12, 2004
Rail Travel
News
News posting
June 12, 2004
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THE EMPIRE BUILDER IN 1979, AGE 50
(continued from previous page) Brian Cutter continued, "Brawner, who was supervisor aboard the 'On the Twentieth Century' special train of last year, had the honor of cutting the red, white and blue cake, measuring 9x36 inches, with the words 'Empire Builder' in red and '50th Anniversary' in blue directly beneath it, along with uncorking the first of many bottles of Almaden champagne. By about 4:30 (Wisconsin Dells) the passsengers knew something was going to happen. "Despite a line which stretched through half of the lounge car and took up to 45 minutes to negotiate, no one complained as they lined up for dinner. But something had changed since earlier in the afternoon. Was this the same group of peo0ple who boarded in Chicago, Glenview and Milwaukee? This group waiting for dinner wore leisure suits and 3-piece outfits. Either I was dreaming, or they had decided to dress for dinner--an uncommon occurrence on today's Builder. "Not a bad word was heard as mammoth meals were placed in front of all the diners. This was the most attentive crew I had ever seen! Not a glass was less than half-full of anything, the meat was cooked to perfection, the car was pleasingly cool, and everything worked, just as the GN had it built to do." "By the time the dinner party reached 'Scenic' St. Croix Tower-- the meeting place for the BN and Milwaukee Road main lines-- the manifest of passengers was jammed full of smiling faces. "It was 10:14pm when #7 pulled into Midway Station in St. Paul. Illinois ARP president J. Michael Morrison and a friend jumped off #7 and barely made train #10, the eastward North Star, to return to Chicago. Another 54 passengers stepped off the train at a slightly slower pace, many swearing allegiance to Amtrak, vowing never to drive again on an out-of-town trip. 'This is something we'll always remember,' one woman said, her three kids in tow. 'We're coming back again next year!'" While the train had been 2:13 late at Midway Station, it pulled into Seattle 13 minutes early, at 8:52am. Eastbound train 8 of June 10, 1979 had a much less elaborate celebration, serving champagne that ran out at some point. Some of the cars overheated and the train reached Chicago late. When the train was made up in Seattle, two diners had to be rejected because of mechanical problems, and the third that was used had already been bad-ordered for overheating. The diner used was 8022, a 1947 Budd-built ex-Florida East Coast car. Also, one of the two sleepers had to be changed before departure, from a 10/6 to an 11-bdrm car 2262, "Placid Harbor." Amtrak was having equipment problems in that era, and the Superliners were just being delivered. The first in the Seattle area appeared on the Mount Rainier a few days later, on June 13. The Empire Builder would not receive them until the fall.
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