View allAll Photos Tagged empirebuilder
I was just looking to shoot the Empire Builder at Coon Creek, and it just so happened to be a trip with 161 out front with Amtrak's phase one anniversary paint. Bonus.
I more-or-less never shoot on the Staples Subdivision in the northern suburbs, but I really wanted a shot at Coon Creek with the way the Empire Builder was late and the sun favorable. So, I meandered to see the Commercial's Belt Job operations in Fridley and then killed some time before the Builder showed up. I timed my stop up on the highway well, and I would guess that I waited only a minute or two before the train rounded the curve here at Coon Creed with the junction with the BNSF Hinckley Subdivision. Meanwhile, an enthusiastic young railfan enjoys the train passing by, too. Who cares if it's cold when the sun is out and you're having fun?
On May 1st, 1971, Amtrak’s first westbound Empire Builder flies through Duplainville, Wisconsin with a quartet of BN F units. This is the same train featured in Pentrex’s Empire Builders to Milwaukee DVD.
Original Slide
C.W. Richards Photo
Sam Foster Collection
The Thursday arrival of the Empire Builder rushes past Northtown Yard among a scene where there miraculously isn't any other traffic in the vicinity. A chilly night left all sorts of frost present on all the ties making for a nice effect.
Looking a bit tattered, Amtrak 130 leads the eastbound Empire Builder under Bobolink Road bridge at Reeseville.
Amtrak Train Number 8
AMTK 130,187
Reeseville, WI.
Autumn 2020
Amtrak train 8, the eastbound Empire Builder, skirts Glacier National Park at Bison, Montana, on December 22, 1998. Three GE P40DCs power the 12-car train, including lead No. 802 repainted in then current “Phase IV” Amtrak scheme.
It's a gorgeous day upon the grassy knoll, as Amtrak's eastbound Empire Builder races along just east of their Columbus station stop, running only twenty minutes behind today.
Amtrak Number 8
AMTK 130,52
Columbus, WI.
June 4, 2021
It's a glorious clear morning to appreciate the Empire Builder. Units 7 and 207 power the train out of downtown Saint Paul and along the Mississippi River. A long BNSF manifest just cleared out in time for an open shot.
The first eastbound Empire Builder from Seattle/Portland with Siemens ALC-42s navigates through the Minnesota Commercial in Saint Paul coming to a stop to throw the switch at University Avenue. So far this has been the only trip where BNSF did not have to bail out Amtrak for some type of locomotive failure with the new power. I think it'd be easier to embrace the new units if they came out performing well. Train is down 9 hours for several reasons.
On an unusually cold and snowy October 10, 1997, Amtrak’s eastbound Empire Builder makes the climb over Marias Pass just west of Summit, Montana. This was during a short timeframe when Amtrak’s stalwart EMD F40PH fleet was sharing the duties with their replacements—new GE P40DC locomotives—and on this day, No. 812 is m.u.’ed with F40PH No. 378.
The morning Builder departed just a tiny bit later than the 0800 scheduled time. They ease their way towards Hoffman, allowing the cloud to clear the sun.
I posted the wide side-by-side shot a few weeks ago. Not knowing how it was going to play out exactly, I tried for a tele first. The UP transfer is just getting underway at East Minneapolis as the morning Builder approaches its exit from the Midway Sub at St. Anthony.
Amtrak's 'Day 1' painted ALC-42 leads the Empire Builder through Marias as the train begins is descent towards Essex.
The Empire Builder, down a half hour, makes its way closer to the Amtrak station in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
I'm closing out my theme from my 1995 AltaMont trip with today's posts.
The train featured at Cut Bank in yesterday's post is at Grizzly around 12:45pm.
10-7-1995
The eastbound Empire Builder rounds the east leg of the Merriam Park wye past the Minnesota Commercial roundhouse area that acts like a living history museum for GE locomotives sprinkled with one EMD and some ALCOs.
The windchill is -22F as Amtrak's eastbound Empire Builder blasts thru a snow bank approaching Watertown, Wisconsin on January 29, 2019. Today's (Jan. 30) actual temperature is -27F with a -49F windchill.
The Empire Builder at MP 322, cruising along the Mississippi River at track speed on a beautiful day.
A brutally cold morning with awesome sunlight makes for a great conditions to shoot the Empire Builder arriving into downtown Saint Paul. I'm a big fan of the sandstone bluffs - and they look good in direct sunlight.
The eastbound Empire Builder is back underway after a stop at Union Depot as it enters the BNSF St. Paul Subdivision at Division Street. In several more hours they will arrive at Union Station in downtown Chicago.
The Empire Builder diverges off the BNSF Midway Subdivision mainline into the Minnesota Commercial yard making for a slow trundle towards the CP Merriam Park Subdivision. Today's train made some good time from St. Cloud and will arrive Union Depot early.
On a bitterly cold winter morning, Amtrak's Empire Builder flies through the fresh powder with an orange visitor leading the way. Below zero temps and lots of snow have been playing havoc with Amtrak's schedule as well as their GE locomotives this season.
A giant White Pine watches the Empire Builder round a corner into Red Wing at the hay Creek Bridge. The train was just late enough where the light was not favorable at the depot, so I came here to Old Main to get an angle I have not previously. I really like this spot by framing out hint of city life and focusing on the railroad's route through the woods.
It's just a hair before 7:40am in St. Paul at St. Anthony Junction where the Empire Builder has shown up making significant gains on its 1 hour and 17 minute late status. The timetable gives a healthy cushion of time between St. Cloud and St. Paul. Fortunately for me, running a bit late meant some great sunlight here at the junction with a peek of downtown Minneapolis in the distance.
The Sunday edition of the eastbound Empire Builder comes down the hill at Chestnut Street as it is about to enter double track where they will soon diverge onto the platform tracks at Union Depot. A sharp GE rebuild holds down some cars on the Westbound lead.
I had this great idea tonight. My goal was to photograph the Portland section of the Empire Builder as it headed east to Pasco and Spokane. The new Siemens locomotives have been fairly regular on this assignment. I hoped one of the colorful locomotives would be on the train.
Around 5:00, I left the house and headed to a spot in the Columbia River Gorge near the Bridge of the Gods. I was guesstimating that I was about 20-30 minutes ahead of the train. There's a short stretch of BNSF trackage that heads northward where I was going. Over on the Oregon side of the river, a nice mountain makes a great backdrop.
Once I arrived at the site I had chosen for the photo, I discovered that Amtrak 28 was stopped in North Portland short of the Columbia River drawbridge. Due to some unspecified 'signal problem,' the train was 90 minutes late when it finally departed Vancouver. As the shadows lengthened, my original photo site was completely shadowed in. While waiting, I whacked back some foliage to improve my next visit.
Eventually, I relocated about 100 yards to this spot, which was not my first choice. My patience was rewarded when Train 28 came by, about a half hour before the evening sun dipped behind the Cascades. One of the new Siemens Charger locomotives was pulling the train.
I think it worked out okay.
Amtrak's eastbound Empire Builder, led by BNSF 744, crosses an icy Wisconsin River at Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin on January 4, 2022.
On November 9, 1992, a pair of Burlington Northern EMD SD60Ms lays over in the Soo Line’s locomotive facility at Portage, Wisconsin, in a view from the cab of Amtrak EMD F40PH No. 357 leading the eastbound Empire Builder into town for a station stop. The BN units are being used as run through power on a unit coal train to the Columbia Power Plant near Portage.
Following a button push, conductor clearing some ice, and another push, the switch is now lined for the Builder to continue their eastward journey into the Commercial Yard on yet another frigid morning.
Eastbound Amtrak #8, The Empire Builder, streaks over the BNSF Miller River Bridge between Skykomish, WA and the former timetable location of Grotto. Despite being well after sunset, the rising full moon cast enough light to fill the foreground somewhat during my time exposure.
Grotto has not appeared in a timetable since the end of 1982, at that time the intermediate location between Baring and Skykomish was removed as unnecessary. At the same time, Peshastin on the east side of Stevens Pass was also stricken from the official records. Both locations would live on in railroad parlance though, as the nearby talking defect detectors would announce their named location before the mileage on their broadcasts. I recall many times in my childhood being roused from early morning slumber at the Sky River Inn in Skykomish by a detector readout at Grotto, and scrambling trackside to get a photo of the impending eastbound train.
My vantage point for this photo is from a rocky bar at the edge of the river. The Old Cascades Highway had a parallel span to the railroad above my position until a storm event in 2011 damaged the bridge enough to have it condemned and removed.
After chasing the eastbound Empire to Bangor in the morning, I intercepted Amtrak 7 coming west near Mill Bluff State Park between Oakdale and Camp Douglas. I was fortunate to have enough sunlight beating through the smoke that rolled in throughout the day for this shot - every shot afterwards looked dark and dystopian.
Before the IXONIA station sign disappeared, we find Amtrak's westbound Empire Builder racing through the small burg, while cutting through the hot, humid August air.
Amtrak 7
Ixonia, WI.
August 11, 2008
Amtrak 306, a new Siemens ALC-42, leads the eastbound Empire Builder through the Grey Cloud Dunes Scientific & Natural Area on its way out of the Twin Cities. I wont go into detail how I got the photo, but it involved rushing through deep snow. I say it was worth it to get the Empire Builder in my favorite location around the Twin Cities plus a bonus train following.
On a rainy evening, Amtrak's westbound Empire Builder arrives into East Glacier Park with the Day 1 ALC-42 on the point.
A refreshingly normal consist for the Empire Builder with a baggage car, making this scene look like any time in the last few years. Instead, this is a version of the Empire Builder that has a normal look weeks before being cut down to three round trips per week starting later on in October. Regardless, the Builder looks good coming under the signal bridge along Dayton's Bluff in Saint Paul.
Amtrak's latest and greatest Long Distance Chargers take an hour late Empire Builder under the searchlights at KK Bridge in Milwaukee, WI.
I'm closing out my theme from my 1995 AltaMont trip with today's posts.
Amtrak's Empire Builder is on Two Medicine Bridge with F40PH's.
10-7-1995
Amtrak's eastbound 'Empire Builder', train number 8, soars over the swollen banks of the Skykomish River on bridge 1753.4 just east of Gold Bar, Washington.
The west side of Stevens Pass endured constant rain for over 24 hours leading up to the day of our visit. The rainstorm culminated by dumping exceptionally heavy showers around mid-day. The tributary creeks and rivers feeding the Skykomish River were raging by the afternoon, dumping the churning white water of their mountain runoff into the typically docile waterway at the center of the Skykomish Valley. After squeezing every lumen of the days usable light into our camera sensors up on Stevens Pass, our group was fixing to photograph one more train before heading for home. A quick glance at Eagle Falls near Baring revealed a maelstrom of white water, surging through the gap in the rocks, leaving no place for even a foolhardy photographer to stand. With even blue hour passing rapidly, and Amtrak #8 advancing steadily towards us, we pushed towards Gold Bar, and the riverside park near bridge 1753.4. Upon arrival, we discovered that the wide silt beach where we had started our day eleven hours before was now under two feet of swirling water. Each successive wave was advancing further into the bushes that typically are well above the touch of the river. A frantic search for alternative angles, on solid ground resulted in the composition above. Partway through my first test exposure, to dial in my camera settings, the trackside trees high above on the western side began to catch the headlights of the approaching train. Fifty five seconds of shutter open time passed slowly, as I did my best to shield my lens from the downpour with my hat.
Barely visible below the truss span, and closest deck girder span are piers remaining from the bridge of the Wallace Falls Timber Company's logging railroad. WFT used a steel span across the center of the river with wooden pile trestle approaches. This bridge allowed WFT to add spurs on the south side of the river to their already extensive network of trackage feeding logs to the mills. Use of a steel bridge for a logging railroad was atypical, but some of the reasoning behind this has been brought to light thanks to local rail historian David Sprau. In his words: "...I always had been told that Wallace Falls Timber had been somewhat hoodwinked into putting a steel and concrete bridge over the river there, instead of a traditional wood or Howe truss, because 'somebody' had assured them that GN would be glad to buy it, and the alignment, from them anytime they wished to sell, because GN was 'very close' to going ahead with a line change at that location."
An article he shared from the September 13, 1929 edition of the Monroe Monitor about recent Great Northern Rwy surveyors working the area adds further substance to this: "The present bridge across the Skykomish River in use by the Wallace Falls Timber company is of the heavy type in use on most railway construction and it is rumoured that the railway officials had some ultimate purpose in mind in getting the timber company to build such a bridge." Unfortunately for the Wallace Falls Timber Co., the Great Northern did not act on any of their plans and surveys for realignment of the mainline between Gold Bar and Index for over 30 more years. By the time GN's 'Reiter Revision' to reduce curvature and ease the ruling grades was under construction in 1960, the WFT had gone out of business, and their trestle was in a state of disrepair. The logging railroad's bridge was demolished not long before the new GN line went into use in 1962. Today the concrete piers stand as the few clues that this place once hosted another railroad.
Thanks to Dave Sprau for his research, and permission to post the above.
Down a couple hours and change, the Empire Builder heads downgrade along the CP Merriam Park Subdivision that was the Milwaukee Road's shortcut through Saint Paul. Timing was perfect with the sun dodging spotty clouds. The Empire Builder took just enough time through the Minnesota Commercial's A Yard to allow for the train and sun to show up at the same time. I will add that it took around 20 minutes for the train to travel from St. Anthony Junction to Merriam Park Junction.
Amtrak’s Empire Builder has departed Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for its last stretch into Chicago on the afternoon of January 12, 1991. The F40PH-powered Superliner is rolling smartly through a curve approaching West Waterford Avenue grade crossing.
Well, we hope so. With Global Warming, one can never be positive that a snow filled winter will be had for us in the Midwest. The weather report for tomorrow calls for 73 degrees!! But by Saturday, a low of 27 with snow flurries. Bring it on! Here is Amtrak's Empire Builder heading east in heavy snow near Winona, MN back in February of 2002.
Two of Amtrak's first Siemens ALC-42 Chargers built for long-distance passenger service are set to lead the westbound Empire Builder out of Chicago later that afternoon. They are about to depart 14th Street coach yard to be staged in Union Station.
All routine photo locations become new in my opinion with the new Siemens ALC-42 locomotives hauling the Empire Builder. I have shot plenty of GEs here, but seeing the Siemens locomotives shows a new era for Amtrak and passenger service in Minnesota. A duo consisting of 302 and 310 bring a routine Empire Builder over the Mississippi River lift bridge at Hastings, splitting the searchlights adjacent to the depot. So many interesting details exist at Hastings - my appreciation has grown for this spot over time.
The Empire Builder descends the grade on Short Line Hill approaching downtown Saint Paul and its station stop at Union Depot. It's a nice golden morning for some shots of Minnesota's passenger train that currently only shows up occasionally. I will be celebrating the Builder's daily return in May.
Amtrak’s Empire Builder quickly passes a westbound Chicago & North Western coal train at the end of double track on Soo Line’s former Milwaukee Road main line west of Milwaukee at Pewaukee, Wisconsin, on April 18, 1994.
While shooting blue and silver P42s over and over can be as stale as shooting orange GEs, St. Anthony can at least always present some fun scenarios. As the Builder pulled into the plant here, the yard job appeared from Union Yard to take a cut of cars over to Midway. The yard job yields, while the Builder's conductor goes to push the button, and in the shadows, the UP waits to make a delivery to the Commercial.