Riding the Rails
The Empire Builder.
You just don’t hear of airplanes being named anything nearly as cool as that. Just for fun, my family and I decided to take a short break in Chicago, and we decided to ride Amtrak’s Empire Builder to get there, riding just a portion of the full Portland-to-Chicago route. I recommend it.
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
First, taking the railroad cost us less than a third of what an airline ticket would. The $148 roundtrip fare was almost exactly what I figured it would cost to drive…sans the worry and hassle associated with having a car in Chicago.
What appealed to me is the idea of recapturing a hint of the glamour that used to be part of travel. While vestiges of this glamour remain—such as the old-fashioned uniforms and announcements—sadly, the grim reality of air travel has taken over rail travel as well.
First, there’s the rudeness. I know Amtrak has had some hard times, and I’m sure its employees have not been treated well. Yet we WERE paying customers, and we did not encounter a single friendly, helpful staffer. It also appeared that, if you wanted to use a bathroom, we were traveling with the “gastrointestinal issues” support group. I’ll leave the true state of the bathrooms to your imagination.
Finally, let’s describe the other Amtrak travelers as eclectic. The average age was about 103, and that was with two 15-year-olds in our party. Those who weren’t of a certain age were, to use my daughter’s description, “odd.” Maybe the low fare attracted that kind of crowd.
On the upside, the trip itself allowed you to really slow down and enjoy the journey. With nearly eight hours on board, and 10-plus stops, you could settle in and enjoy the scenery or a book or the company of your traveling party. With plenty of legroom for a 6’5” guy like me, and “freedom to move about the cabin” whenever I wanted, the ride certainly was comfortable. Check-in was a relative breeze as well; we just dropped off our bags and walked onto the train. No long security lines, no waiting.
What About the Trip Itself?
We left before 8:00 a.m. from the Amtrak depot on Transfer Road in St. Paul, and the train dropped us off in Union Station in Chicago, just across the south branch of the Chicago River from the Sears Tower.
With stops in Minnesota—Red Wing and Winona—and Wisconsin—La Crosse, Tomah, Wisconsin Dells, Portage, Columbus, Watertown and Milwaukee—we ended up in Chicago just about 4:00 p.m.
For a good part of the trip, it felt like we were riding through peoples’ backyards—good, bad and indifferent. Much of it was bad, though, with garbage and debris strewn about, it wasn’t what you’d call picturesque. However, other parts of the journey were spectacular, especially when we were following Hwy. 52 near Lake Pepin. It also was striking how many of the small towns through which we passed featured at least one—and sometimes several—churches. You could tell the churches by the crosses and mostly bell-less bell towers.
It was fun wandering around the train itself. The sleeper cars looked like great fun, with private baths and small, but comfortable-looking berths. The observatory car gave you a real sense of openness, and the dining car really brought the 1890s home.
Finally, one of the most indelible parts of the trip itself was the acrid smell of the brakes as we slowed or stopped in what seemed like virtually every small town in Wisconsin. One of the last of these towns before Milwaukee—which is, let’s face it, a virtual suburb of Chicago—was Brookfield, which featured the one great old-time side-of-building ads, this one for Necco candies.
The Necco ad made me feel nostalgic, and drove home my appreciation for the slower pace of rail travel. It’s a good sign that, despite some of the warts of getting between destinations this way, we were happy to ride the Empire Builder for our short leg, and talked about how great it would be to ride the train for even longer.
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