played by the Kronos Quartet.

a safe rail system. I wish you a safe and happy trip.

Byron Parker and the Mountaineers, recorded around 1939.

I knew the last couple of the Mountaineers when they were up in their 80s. They still could really play.

The Chicago & Northwestern has a great 150 year history, finally being acquired by Union Pacific in 1995.

find a seat in an observation car!



For music I suggest This Land Is Your Land

Many videos of the trip. It's possible we'll see it by dawn.

First, PLEASE tell me you built one day in Chicago into your itinerary. At this time of year, the line the Empire Builder runs on is packed with grain trains and coal trains - which have precedence on the line over passenger trains. The train is scheduled to reach Chicago at 3:55 pm, and you'll be lucky if it gets there by 6. If you are arriving and departing Chicago the same day, you will have to run straight from the platform to the Great Hall to wait for your next train. Going west is no problem; you have several hours between the Capitol Limited's arrival at Union Station and the Empire Builder's departure for Seattle.

You pass through Glacier National Park in the early hours. It's gloomy then. After about 11am, you're into wheat fields and not a hell of a lot else. I recommend taking books. (I REALLY recommend a different route - Coast Starlight to Emeryville, stay one night in San Francisco then California Zephyr to Chicago...but you might not have time for that and you already have tickets.) If you have an e-reader, your seat has an AC outlet to plug the charger into.

It’s a John Denver original re-recorded on a tribute album. I used to go to Montana monthly for work and played it everytime I got into my rental car. Bozeman, Billings, and Missoula airport parking lots have all had to put up with my musical whimsy...many times

Safe travels.

I remember their bluegrass Viva Las Vegas!!

Saw Bare Naked Ladies at a bar in Scottsdale in the early 90s. Same with Jason Miraz. Both times I could not believe how good they were and were just playing in a bar....

My favorite version

great show all around.


and for fun:

I'm going to use I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry too, because of the midnight train whinin' low. And because I think it's the saddest song ever written.

Did both at different times.

Glenn Miller Orchestra, Tex Beneke, the Modernaires with Paula Kelly, the Nicholas Brothers and Dorothy Dandridge.

I hope you have a great trip!

here is one version - bet there are better ones:

Willie Nelson; Downtown - Petula Clark; Rocky Mountain High - John Denver

It's a scenic route. I have an Amtrak Winter-Spring 2013 timetable open now. I don't have the 2017 times at hand, but they shouldn't be too far off. That timetable shows the eastbound Capitol, train Number 30, leaving Connellsville, Pennsylvania, 6:29 a.m. -- if it's on time. If it runs late, which happens, you should have daylight over the Alleghenies. The actual high point is at Sand Patch, Pennsylvania. There's a two-track tunnel there.

I used to go up there in the 70s to watch trains. I'd have the place all to myself. Since, it's become discovered. Here's some footage of what the terrain looks like.

We used to live there and I miss the gorgeous foliage here in the PWN. It's not bad, buttoning like back East.

If it should happen that your train is just sitting and sitting in a siding, the scanner will let you know what's up.

Also, if you have inTune on your mobile device, you can listen to what you want.

Last edited Fri Oct 27, 2017, 01:32 PM - Edit history (1)