Everfree Northwest, part 1—Westbound Empire Builder · 2:06am Sep 15th, 2022
For once I’m going to try and be on top of things and write about the adventure as it happens. Or nearly as it happens—that’s a thing you can do on a train! In part, the late posting is due to the amount of time it took to sort through pictures . . . you’ll see why if you read along. Those of you with slow internet connections, sorry. 
The old Minot ND station
Michigan actually cares about railroads (which is odd, given that they’re considered the home of the automobile, and both Ford and GM are headquartered in Michigan [Chrysler still might be, too; now that they’re a branch of Stellantis I honestly don’t know]). As such, I had my pick of three different routes to get to Chicago, either from Lansing or Durand on the Blue Water, Jackson on the Wolverine or the Pere Marquette out of Holland. There are also some Amtrak buses that go where the trains don’t, but I didn’t consider those as options.
Due to scheduling of the return train, the only real option was the Wolverine, and Monday morning I departed from Jackson station, the oldest continuously-operating passenger station in the US.
What would become the Michigan Central Railroad reached Jackson, MI in 1841, and they built the first station. By 1870, multiple other railroads were also going to Jackson, and Michigan Central decided to build a new station—the present one—which was completed in 1873. It was a union station, which means it served all the railroads that went to Jackson at the time, not just the Michigan Central. Well, except the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, and the Grand Trunk Railway, since they were major competitors to Michigan Central.
The waiting room is nice, but as the time got close I wanted to go outside and wait for the train when the time got close.
Amtrak Adventure: the Wolverine.
The train was a few minutes late, and it was packed Turns out it was sold out—who knew so many people would want to ride a train to Chicago on Monday? Our conductors had a lot of work to do, all surely under the supervision of the Anime-heroine conductor.*
I was hoping to get a window seat so I could get some pictures of what Silver Glow saw on her train journeys (especially the train view of Kalamazoo College and the bridge under I-94), but it was not to be. I figured I could try again for the return trip, I sprung for a business-class ticket, but it’ll almost certainly be dark when I pass by K. [Spoiler, it was.]
I did get one video out the window in the vestibule between Galesburg and Comstock which got cut off abruptly when the Anime-heroine conductor's co-worker yelled at me for standing in the vestibule.
*(How did I know she was an Anime-heroine? Well, she was wearing the typical Amtrak conductor uniform, with steel-toed boots. And she had her safety goggles on her conductor cap backwards. [sample Amtrak uniform])
As we got to Battle Creek, I missed the Emmet St. Bridge, but I don’t know if Amtrak actually goes under it.
Years ago, Amtrak started improving their service to Chicago, and one of the biggest improvements, time-wise, was the area around Gary, where they were able to double their operating speed, giving them an average of 30mph (50 km/h). That might not sound like a lot, but it shaved more than an hour of time off their Porter-Chicago leg.
Getting through Gary faster doesn't really sell people on trains—after all, avoiding it entirely is better. So they also have a lot of high-speed track in Michigan . . . high-speed for America, about 110mph (177 km/h). I knew that they ran high speed between Kalamazoo and Porter, I didn’t know that some of the Battle Creek to Kalamazoo section was, too—we went through Agusta fast enough to rock the grain elevator. And once we were out of Kalamazoo, the engineer opened the taps wide.
I did manage to get a short video of approaching the road in Gary where I took some train videos on my Epic Trip Up North. It was interesting to see it from inside the train instead of outside.
We passed right by the interstate viaduct where Sweetsong spent her night on the outskirts of Chicago, and I could almost see a pegasus up there, dozing on the catwalk, looking for the next train to . . . well, anywhere.
Chicago Union Station is beautiful and somewhat confusing; after I detrained I wandered around a little and finally found the exit to the road I thought I wanted, but it turned out the road I’d wanted was on the other side of the station. Oh well.
At least we know where to find the trains.
I’d planned to spend the night in Chicago—Amtrak isn’t known for their on-time scheduling, and I didn’t want to miss my outbound train. The one I was on was a half-hour early to Chicago, since the engineer could run hard on more of the line than he used to be able to, and the schedule doesn’t reflect that yet.
When I got to my hotel, they couldn’t find my reservation. When they finally did, I was in room 404, which seemed appropriate.
Hung out for several hours with theRedBrony and we shared horror stories of cars and talked about my upcoming contest, which I’ll tell you about sooner or later.
Amtrak Adventure: The Empire Builder, Day 1
After a good night’s sleep—in hindsight, the last I would get in a while—I wrote some, packed everything up, and made my way back to Chicago Union Station. For first-class passengers (i.e., the ones with sleeping accommodations or business-class tickets) there’s a lounge with free food and free coffee and a baggage-storage area. They’ll also announce when your train is ready to board and then lead you down to where the train is and let you get on first.
I got in the Transition Sleeper directly behind the locomotives, and I was the first one aboard. I also learned, while waiting, that the number of the car in the train isn’t the same as the number of the car, which is confusing but in hindsight it’s perfectly logical. Just like commercial airplanes have flight numbers which don’t match the airplane’s registration number, the train has car numbers which don’t match the actual number on the equipment, since there’s no way for them to know what the actual consist will be.
The leading digit is the train number, which I also didn’t know. I was in car 732, which is ‘7’ for the westbound Empire Builder going to Seattle [the cars that go to Portland are ‘27’ on that same route], and then it’s car 32. Which is the first car in the train.
We left on time and ran through Chicago heading north. METRA has a big yard near Union Station, and I saw two Metra locomotives running in reverse out of the yard with the conductor on the end platform, no doubt queuing for the evening commuter rush. Stopped in a few small towns on our way to Milwaukee, and I occasionally followed along on Google Maps.
In Milwaukee, I could see the Ponyville Ciderfest convention hotel from the train.
Darkness comes early on the eastern side of the Central Time Zone. For my convenience, Amtrak had provided a copy of the timetable in my roomette, and I was trying to estimate when we’d cross the Mississippi. The most logical place seemed to be in LaCrosse, but then the timetable said that the next stop was Winona, WI, and only after that would we be stopping in Minnesota.
Spoiler, that was a misprint, it was Winona WI, and we did cross at LaCrosse. I managed to get a few shots in the fading light of day, and then I started settling in for the night.
The cabin attendant was fantastic and very attentive, and he also really liked my Admiral Biscuit shirt. After one trip downstairs to set my bags in the little cubby (I didn’t pack smartly, a mistake I won’t make again) I had to wait for one of the gentlemen in the room across me to stand outside in his underwear while the attendant got his bed properly arranged. I wonder how many amusing stories the Amtrak cabin attendants have? I bet a lot.
I went to bed around Minneapolis/St. Paul, and I did not get a good night’s sleep. I suppose you can get used to the jerking and jolting and everything else that goes along with it, but I don’t think I’m going to spend long enough on the train to become accustomed.
Still, there’s something to be said about looking out the window of the train at 4am as you’re being paced by a semi on the parallel road and you don’t even know what state you’re in.
Amtrak Adventure: the Empire Builder, Day 2
Morning finds us in North Dakota, near Devil’s Lake. Depending on how outgoing you are, the dining car’s preference to seat you with someone else is either a fun way to meet new people, or a form of torture you must endure to eat. I am sorry to say that my morning dining companion was entirely unremarkable—we exchanged a few pleasantries and that was about it.
They have roses in the dining car.
Most of the North Dakota we went through was agricultural. Fields and pastures, herds of cattle mostly. Some of the cows were interested in the train and watched it go by, others were afraid of it and ran away.
I had not expected all the pothole lakes. Most of them were full of waterfowl—mostly ducks, I think—who flew off as soon as the train passed.
We pass through Rugby, ND, which claims to be the geographical center of the US. I’m not sure it actually is, but whatever. Maybe it is. I suppose it depends on if you count Alaska and Hawaii.
[I did some googling when I was back home; they determined that it was the center of North America, not the US (which is probably what their sign says, and I just mis-read it). They put an obelisk up in its honor, and one more modern calculating method suggests that the center of North America might actually be the town of . . . Center, ND.]
Random train pics interlude (all in North Dakota):
A shorty covered hopper; the SOXX reporting marks amused me
A Burlington Northern (now BNSF) caboose that's still in service
A wheel car, like the one Sweetsong rode.
I was told that back when I wrote Silver Glow’s Journal that I got Minot, ND wrong, that there were a lot of oil rigs on the Bakken formation. I kept my eye out and there weren’t so many now (a lot of those got closed when oil prices went into the toilet) but there are still some.
We also passed a tank car loading facility that had a loop track—it wasn’t the only industry with a loop track [most of those were grain], but it was one of the few where I could see the entire track. I don’t know if they were loading crude or ethanol; if I remember (or if I don’t, if someone in the comments is sharp enough) I’ll check the placards on the tank cars and see what’s in them.
Not the loop track, just a cluster of tank cars.
Lunch found me seated with a family of three, bound for West Glacier, MT. In the ‘it’s a small world’ category of travel, they have a friend in Lancaster, PA who organizes some kind of local anime (I think) convention, and they remarked that I look a lot like him.
We had a nice conversation about trains and IT and meeting friends online—appropriate, since I’m headed to a convention to hang out with a bunch of people who I first met online, and some of whom I have not yet met in person.
Grain elevators are nicknamed ‘Prairie Skyscrapers,’ and for good reason. Most places they’re the tallest thing around, and I think you could navigate from town-to-town by them, the prairie equivalent of navigating an airplane from water tower to water tower.
Naturally, we pass close to them; most would have been served by rail when they were built, and many still are.
There are a few general configurations—there’s the traditional wooden style, the ‘modernized’ wooden style covered in tin or steel sheathing; there’s the big cement silo ones, and the intermediate corrugated steel silo ones (one of the popular brands of steel grain silo where I live is Brock; there are surely other brands). Many of the more active elevators are a hodge-podge of silos, added as needed with whatever the current popular construction technique is.
Most of the old wooden ones have been phased out in favor of newer, bigger, silos, but we passed through one town where they were in the process of repainting their collection of wood-framed elevators.
Some of the bigger silos have their own rail equipment to move the rail cars. I saw a few Trackmobiles—a piece of rail equipment that also has road wheels—and some locomotives lettered either for the conglomerate (i.e., ADM) or some local railroad. An unexpected pair appears near a pipe company, which I assume serves the oil industry: Savage. I missed the Savage road loco, but I caught the Savage switcher.
I also saw, but wasn’t quick enough to photograph, a trio of horses out in their pasture. They were wearing neon-pink leg warmers, but oddly only one of them had leg leg warmers on all four legs.
Living in Michigan, most cars succumb to rust rather than mechanical failures. Oftentimes it’s a mechanical failure that tips it over the edge, but the rust is severe enough it’s not worth fixing any more. As we went through North Dakota and later Montana (and still later, Washington), the collection of older, still-operable cars and trucks I saw that were reasonably rust-free was amazing. Early seventies pickup trucks with less rust than my 07 minivan—and these weren’t collector’s cars, these were still working farm trucks or daily drivers.
G vans are apparently popular; I saw several in one train station parking lot.
Not to mention that there are often clusters of abandoned cars/junk cars parked by the railroad tracks. Not just salvage yards (mentioned in the City of New Orleans song), but personal vehicles parked for whatever reason, sometimes generations of them. Like you can tell what kinds of trucks and cars the farm bought over the years.
Sometimes tracks just branch off to wherever. I could have been watching a map to figure it out, but I didn't.
I caught a local freight on one of the branch lines, it's unimportant enough that BNSF is still using locomotives that havne't been repainted yet (it's only been 26 years, I'm sure they'll get to it). Since they don't have their locomotives in the new paint schemes yet, they ran one of each.
The more modern locomotives clustered in a rail yard, waiting to be called for a train.
Even here, logos aren't consistent
North Dakota and Montana scenery photo interlude:
I paid attention as we came to Shelby, MT. Caught a pic of the highway bridge, and of the tracks beyond it leading off into the Big Sky.
The Bridge
As the day was waning, we transitioned out of the familiar prairie
and into the foothills
For dinner, I sat with an older gentleman who had taken his son’s advice to spend their inheritance on himself rather than pass it on. He was doing the grand tour of the US; he’d taken a train from Washington, DC to Chicago, then was going to have a trip to Vancouver once he got to Seattle, then head down the coast to San Francisco (which by all accounts is a gorgeous ride) and then back to Chicago on the Southwest Chief, with a stop in Salt Lake City.
We finished up eating as the train stood at the East Glacier station, a busy stop for Amtrak. While I would imagine that the bulk of tourists arrive there by car, back in Ye Olde Times a lot of the national parks were served by train, sometimes special trains, and there’s something satisfying about arriving by rail. They also had a very old bus that I didn’t get a picture of. Apparently it does tours.
When I was a kid, we went to the Grand Canyon by rail—the Southwest Chief as far as Flagstaff, and there we boarded the Grand Canyon Railroad and got hauled up by a steam locomotive, which is the best way to travel. Somewhere in a box at my parent’s house, there’s a black-and-white picture I took of my brother standing next to the locomotive, and I’ll be honest, that picture could have been taken any time in the last hundred years.
(If memory serves, I printed it on old photo paper that my dad had, and it sepia-toned itself in a matter of days.)
Anyway, mountains!
Amtrak’s Empire Builder schedule takes you through Idaho at night; just like Sweetsong, I slept through Idaho. I kind of wanted to see the fuel shed where she got discovered, but I wasn’t going to stay up until three AM or whatever just to get a look at it. When the sun went down, we were still slowly navigating through the mountains and that was a good time to go to bed.
Amtrak Adventure: the Empire Builder, Day 3
Sleeping on the train still isn’t great. I suppose it’s like getting sea legs; after a while you get used to the bed moving and actively trying to toss you on the floor.
Time no longer has meaning. My cell phone says that it’s 5am; I have no idea if it remembered to change to Pacific time or not. Something that you don’t have to think about so much on airplanes—it is whatever time they say it is when you land, and who cares in the air?
The dining car opens at 6. We don’t have an observation car any more (or any of the train behind that), since it was taken off in Spokane and will be going to Portland.
I get seated with a group of sisters from Iowa, and can’t help but think of Grannies Gone Wild. They’re fantastic conversationalists and we keep getting distracted by the view.
As we pass around a horseshoe curve, the waitress remarks that this is why we bought our train tickets, and she’s not wrong. Going through the Midwest by train is fun, but it’s got nothing on going through the mountains. And then we cross the Columbia River . . .
The first pic was taken from that bridge, and then the tracks looped around so I could take a picture of it.
If ever there was a place a pegasus would love flying around, this is it. Sweetsong missed an opportunity to bail off the train then and there.
(by which I mean I missed)
I mentioned to my breakfast companions that we might see some airplanes on flat cars, and sure enough, the next rail yard delivered on my promise.
One of the main industries in the area—at least close to the railroad tracks—is the apple industry. We pass by orchards and apple storage warehouses and apple packing plants. Old windmills, probably running wells, dot the larger orchards. They’re not like the multi-bladed ones us Midwesterners know, but short two-bladed affairs on a tubular column.
They also have pears, and the best and worst pun I’ve seen on a building. I don’t think it was even intentional. Probably some well-intentioned sign painter made that sign, and didn’t realize how much people were snickering as he finished.
The mountains crowd around us as we start making our way into the pass. We followed the Wenatchee River for a while, but then turned off on a new route, and just hit our first tunnel on that route. The throb of the locomotives echoes up and down the tunnel, along with the occasional banging of the cars and the squeal of wheels on rails. On the other side of the tunnel, it’s like a different world. We were parallelling a road and there were houses and such; now we’re trending more towards forest.
The dining car attendant was right; this is the view we paid for.
In one of the few spots where I had cell coverage, work called to see if I could fill some shifts. Gave me flashbacks to my trip up north back in 2013; I left cell coverage behind when I left St. Ignace, then as soon as I was rolling into Newberry, I got bars and my phone rang. “Hey, can you come in for a shift this Saturday?”
Not long after we come to a stop. We’re near the mouth of the Cascade Tunnel, the longest tunnel in the US, and an Eastbound freight just went through. We cannot enter until they’ve blown some fresh air through.
I mentioned in the blogs to Destination Unknown that I’d learned that train crews had to be trained to go through the tunnel, and that they had to have self-contained breathing apparatus (although it would only be used if things went wrong). At that time, there was no word on what passengers on the train had to do, and I couldn’t remember if there was any passenger briefing before entering the tunnel.
I can now say with confidence that there is not.
One of the nice things about trains is that I can write (or do whatever) in reasonable comfort. The little folding table the train has isn’t as good as my dumpster-salvaged desk at home, but it’s way better than the joke of a tray table an airplane has. I’ll admit, though, I do feel kind of like I should have my face pressed up against the window for every moment of the journey rather than bringing you this blog post from the mountain pass . . . [well, that won’t be when y’all actually see it, but you get the idea.]
If memory serves, Westbound trains are going downhill through the tunnel, so if the locomotives break, we’ll coast down. Just going off memory though; it could be the other way around. I can hear them working and I can smell diesel exhaust in our car. I remember from writing the blog post and watching a video from an Amtrak train that it takes 15 minutes to pass through the tunnel, although as we entered that felt inconceivable. Right after filming that video, I started a stopwatch. . . .
15.20.
We’re back in the mountains, and a stack train is waiting its turn for the tunnel. As I recall, the area just on the other side of the tunnel is called ‘scenic,’ which is appropriate.
Wide spots along the tracks hold railroad infrastructure equipment of various sorts. Just outside the tunnel are spare tracks, ties, and the BNSF Scenic Shed.
I’ve seen better sheds. . .
If I remember my route, we’ll be passing through Skykomish soon, a popular destination for pegasi who panic in tunnels.
Trains don’t like hills or curves, and this route has both. Not only are the wheels constantly squealing in protest, but the train is making constant creaking and groaning noises. I can’t hear the locomotives run anymore, I’d assume right now they’re just using their dynamics to keep us from running away on the downside.
The terrain varies, from cliffs right up against the tracks to steep slopes covered in trees. Occasionally, the train passes over a steep valley, as often as not littered in fallen tree trunks, Nature’s version of pick-up-sticks. My car got scraped by branches on a tree that was just a little too close to the mainline, and I can’t help but wonder how often the crews have to go out and clear a tree or rock that’s fallen across the tracks.
Although there is one YouTube video of a Canadian train smashing through trees that have fallen after a storm, so maybe the trains can remove their own trees.
For somebody looking to hop a train, this would be an ideal spot. They’re running slow on the upside and downside, and there’s plenty of thick spots where you could hide until the locomotives were past. A pegasus might have it even easier (even if she has a Klemme Coop colored coat), since she can hide in trees and swoop down from above. One could potentially hang out in Skykomish, pick up a train on the outskirts of town, ride it across the pass, wait in the woods, and then get a train going back for a nice, highly illegal, extremely dangerous day trip which you should absolutely not try under any circumstances.
Of course, if you got spotted in the woods, they’d probably assume you were up to no good. And I don’t know if there are cameras at the portals to the Cascade Tunnel, but I bet there are.
One of the disadvantages of being on an Amtrak for the scenery is that you never know when you’ll get view-blocked by a string of cars or a waiting train on a parallel track. Such it was as we came into Skykomish; a long train of tank cars was waiting just east of town, and I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d get the shot of the Great Northern and Cascade Railway I was hoping to.
Before I did, though, I took some shots of the wye and also an un-repainted Great Northern locomotive.
The GN became part of BN (now BNSF) in 1970, so this locomotive hasn't been painted in over 50 years.
As luck would have it, I did get my GN&C RR shot, too.
Granted, you can’t see much
[An additional late note, as I was checking Google Maps for locations and whatnot, I discovered that Google Maps now puts on forest fires . . . the Bolt Creek Fire is about 4 miles (6km) from Skykomish at the time of writing, and assuming that Amtrak is currently running that route, I might have had a very different view of the mountains.]
From there it was crossing back and forth over the Skykomish River until we got to Everett. The train had a tour guide who told us about some of the sights out the window. When she described the forest, though, she said that it was made up of ‘carnivorous’ trees. I hope she misspoke. Do any of these look dangerous?
I didn’t get eaten by a tree, and the train continued on its way to Seattle. I’d hoped to get a picture of the tunnel entrance under the north part of the city, just to see if that same box truck is still sitting there. Alas, I didn’t.
Right after the tunnel is an intermodal port, one that Sweetsong would have noticed.
I did get some shots of the beach where Sweetsong detrained.
Further along, there’s a lock system leading into Salmon Bay, Lake Union, and Lake Washington. Our tour guide mentioned it.
We passed through the Interbay rail yard just after that; they have a roundhouse and it looks like the turntable still works. I didn’t see any locomotives going round and round on it, though.
They obviously have modernized this roundhouse; look at the roll-up doors.
A shiny building reflects the train
The Seattle Space Noodle
One really nice thing about Seattle is the public transit. I had a few options open to me; I could take a bus all the way or I could take a subway and then the bus. Naturally, I took the subway.* Cost me an extra three dollars over busing all the way, but it was worth it.
*[Those of you who know Seattle public transit, it’s not all subway. Sometimes it street-runs or runs at grade, sometimes it’s an elevated line, and other times it’s underground. The whole section I was on was underground, so I’ll call it a subway. 
]
Last year, the bus I took dropped me off at a transit hub (I think that’s what it’s called) which, in 2023, might have trains running to it. It was a six or seven block walk. This year, the bus I was on from the Husky Stadium (proudly sponsored by Alaskan Airlines) stopped a half block from the hotel which was really convenient.
It also crossed Lake Washington on a floating bridge, which was cool. It was like dropping down on a roller coaster.
Seattle also not only has buttons you can push when you want to cross the road, but they talk to you. That’s something a pony would find fun, I think. And it was satisfying walking across the road dragging an unreasonable amount of luggage in front of a very expensive BMW convertible.
Thus I finally made it to the hotel! The first half of my epic journey to EFNW was completed, and just as the absolute cherry on top, no sooner had I opened my computer to start typing up the final section of this blog post, the fire alarm went off.
Because of course it did.
There’ll be more blog posts to follow, one about the con and one about the return trip, yay! For now, I’ll leave you with a sunset pic out the hotel room window:
My jealousy runs deep. I used to have a brother out in Colorado which gave us an excuse to travel out there. Had a couple fun vacations up in the mountains. Now that he moved back in the state, I can't find a reason to go back out there again (at least a reason within my budget). Traveling by train is so relaxing, especially on the western routes.
This was a delightful read.
No video.
So. Many. Tank cars.
Sorry you had trouble sleeping on the train. On high speed/bullet trains it's a lot easier to sleep.
I like to imagine them reading this and thinking Oh crap, that was Admiral Biscuit I yelled at!
Wait, your what shirt? Does it have your face on it, or a biscuit in an admiral's hat, or what?
Probably for the best that you didn't, as far as I know you're not a pegasus.
Not bad! I have wanted to take a train vacation, but haven’t had the ability to go due to either not being able to get the necessary time or having a necessary expense come up and that use all of my discretionary spending be used up.
Things To Remember About Grain Silos
1 Grain burns
2 Grain dust is explosive
3 Those silos are really giant bombs. Google it if you don't believe me.
I was imagining a pony enjoying the rose
snacksdecorations in the dining car.That's a great run. I did the reverse last year and had a wonderful and relaxing time.
5686522
video has been added; here it is for your convenience
Just a small town mare...
Yup, those sure do tap for white mana. (Well, except maybe the last one.)
Yes, but you have the excuse of not having wings.
Yeah, subways that don't stay sub all the way are fun.
Gorgeous photo tour of your trip across the country. Looking forward to seeing what you got up to at the convention itself.
I found this and the video is a hoot - train did not even notice most of the trees on the tracks.
I mean, they don't *look* dangerous, but maybe that's how they lure you in.
Ahh, this takes my back to when Bronycon was my horse convention of choice, and I'd opt to lose productivity over booking a plane flight by taking the train (either to Baltimore in a roundabout way or to folks i could carpool with to Bronycon.) Beautiful architecture, labyrinthine interior, and heaven help anyone who couldn't retrace their steps with their eyes closed in case they got lost.
Those are some absolutely breath-taking views!
Great write-up!
I've done the California Zephyr to Chicago several times, and the scenery is gorgeous through the mountains. It's great if you like deserts, too, but once you leave Denver... well flat and empty isn't bad. I've never ridden the Empire Builder, but it's on my list.
Everyone who has told you that the Coast Starlight route is unbelievably beautiful is absolutely right. The only bad thing about the trip is that the tracks and equipment are so old that you'd be wise to allow for 24 hours of delays between LA and Seattle. No kidding. It rarely gets held up for a fraction of that, but sometimes... The worst that I've ever experienced was it arriving in Seattle 12 hours late.
I love those little econo-sleeper rooms. It's weird, but I sleep really well on the train. I've heard of people who retire to live on cruise ships, and I've often thought that it would be really neat to spend a couple of months living aboard trains in North America. I wonder if it would be possible to arrange a schedule that would make that happen without having to do hotel stays between trains.
Looking forward to the rest of the journey!
Next time you're in Toronto we'll take you on the subway bridge over the Don Valley where you get a gorgeous view of the greenspace. n_n
Looking forward to hearing (and seeing) the rest of your adventures.
A picture Sweetsong Probably wouldn't have seen exactly as taken in Centralia WA. She still could have seen it, though. She was there during the warm summer months, and this was obviously taken during a rare winter snow event.
Centralia Station at Night
Minty was here.
Probably this one?
https://zenkaikon.com/
Oh yes, those are quite special:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Jammers
And of course I have a picture of one in my carchive. With a twist... This is a one-of-a-kind 1935 White Sedan:
images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/7c867467-fa6f-457a-a5f1-ae7cf0a3184d/da60lbn-be6f0ac8-5a80-44a5-83d2-ef67c1892373.jpg/v1/fill/w_1024,h_683,q_75,strp/one_of_a_kind_by_swiftysgarage_da60lbn-fullview.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9NjgzIiwicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvN2M4Njc0NjctZmE2Zi00NTdhLWE1ZjEtYWU3Y2YwYTMxODRkXC9kYTYwbGJuLWJlNmYwYWM4LTVhODAtNDRhNS04M2QyLWVmNjdjMTg5MjM3My5qcGciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTAyNCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.kUtXYI4BqeQEP4hOgw3quLHvZH843l9_8XbrFXPKLlM
White is best known for their trucks, however they were also an automobile manufacturer until 1918. But they had Dr. Louisa Tingley on their board of directors, and she wouldn't settle for driving anything but a White. She just happened to need a new car in 1935. So what we have here is a one-of-a-kind sedan built on a 3/4 truck chassis and a cut down Yellowstone bus body (Bender Body Company). This car served Dr. Tingley until her death in 1952. Seen above in unrestored condition, this car retains its original paint, interior, and drivetrain (all of 77 horsepower from an inline 6).
Oddly enough, I've never seen one of the actual buses though.
This is why it behooves one to sit near the front - you don't want to get left behind when they need to lighten the load to get up the mountains...
I'm so very jealous. This is my kind of trip and I wish I could've gone along too.
Well, jet fuel is expensive these days. Putting the plane on a train to save fuel makes sense! I'm not sure it'll help with the turbulence though...
Sweet Song may be traumatized for life.
Carnivorous trees are the native habitat of the Pacific Northwest tree octopus.
5686507
Fun is a reason, or I want to. It's a bit harder to justify financially, but it can be justified IMHO.
It totally is. I highly recommend it.
5686508
Thank you! Part two's probably gonna be meh (about the con, not so many pictures, and I'm really not good at giving an entertaining con summary, I don't think), then part 3 is gonna be the return trip with lots more photos, including (maybe) a blurry pic of the 'scenic shed'.
5686522
It's crazy to think about. And in any rail yard, the sheer number of cars is kind of mind-boggling.
It's the trackwork in part, and that I don't sleep well generally and less so in unfamiliar places. I'd probably do better on a high-speed train, but who knows?
On the flip side, there was something to waking up at whatever AM and looking out the window at scenery going by, something that my normal life lacks. We were legit pacing a semi one time when I woke up and I had no idea where we were and didn't bother to check on my phone.
5686523
So far, nobody IRL has recognized me (besides at cons, of course).
Would be pretty funny if they commented, 'you read the sign, you knew the rule.'
Nope, it just says "Admiral Biscuit Since 1977." Here's a video from Trotcon 2018 with two people wearing them:
I meant I missed an opportunity to have her flying around in a very scenic location . . . I could have phrased it better :P
5686530
That is a problem--it's not cheap, both in terms of cost and in terms of time. I don't know when I'll have my next opportunity, to be honest, One of the reasons I decided to do it now--work's been good, and we had enough mechanics to cover for a longer-than-usual absence by me.
5686544
Not only do grain silos (and mills) explode frequently, that was known back in the Middle Ages, where there were regulations about having open flames in mills (as in, don't).
I should write a story about the Ponyville mill exploding. That's very much a thing that could happen in Ponyville that doesn't require a monster attack or any kind of magic . . . besides the magic of aerosolized dust, I suppose.
5686546
"Ooh, look, they've got hors-d'oeuvres for us!"
5686549
I also did the reverse (that's two blog posts away
) It's a great trip and very relaxing and a good way to meet people if you're into that.
5686554
<further lyrics removed to avoid copyright claims:>
Did you know that Google used to provide meme-y directions if you typed in the right song lyrics? One did involve taking the midnight train to anywhere.
Some people think that's the best kind of mana. One of my better decks has a lot of plains in it.
This is true, but I coulda written her doing it.
I didn't want to miss a train and was hauling around way too much luggage, or else I would have ridden the line to its end and back again just for fun.
The convention blog post is gonna be a let-down, I think. I don't tend to take very many pictures at cons. But, I took the train back, too, and I got a whole bunch more pictures of that, so stay tuned!
5686556
Yeah, trees are big and solid, but trains are bigger and solid-er.
That is a possibility. Maybe if I'd gotten off the train and walked into the woods. . . .
5686559
It seems like it should be more intuitive, and it's not like I haven't been there before, and of course they've got signs (including the 'to all trains' signs) and I still got lost a couple times.
One of the best ways to go to cons--or wherever--is by train. I never got to Bronycon that way, and I now regret it. That would have been a fun way to go.
5686560
Thank you! That's the train view we all paid for, all the trees and mountains and plains and rivers and even the clusters of abandoned cars trackside.
5686864
I remember the late George Carlin suggested putting up a monument to the rubber spatula as it was the only human invention to never kill anyone.
¡Wow! The pictures are amazing. Unfortunately, many pictures did not load. I shall watch the video.
Room # 404 not found.
About central cities, just looking at a map of the USA, it looks like Denver is pretty central and defensible; so now, it would make good capital for the country.
5686574
Thank you!
I can't remember if I've ever been on that one or not. I think the one we took through Colorado was one that Amtrak doesn't operate any more, but I'm not sure--I'd have to ask my Mom if she remembers. We might have taken the Coastal Starlight down the west coast and then gotten on the CZ.
Michigan to Chicago was bad, but they've spent a lot of money fixing the tracks.
We were super late into Chicago once when we rode the Southwest Chief, but that was because we hit a truck parked on the tracks somewhere around Kansas. I think we were about 13 hours late, and we got a new locomotive on the front of the train, a Santa Fe freight locomotive.
I think it would be possible to get used to it, I'm just not used to my bed rocking from side to side, y'know? (and I never was very good at sleeping anyway) I don't know if you could actually arrange a trip that didn't involve any hotels; maybe if all the trains stayed on time, it might be possible, but I wouldn't want to count on that.
That'll come sooner or later!
5686580
Ooh, that sounds fun! I do need to take another trip out that way.
Thanks! It'll be along soonish
5686645
Ooh, I like that!
I didn't get a picture of all of them, but there were a few towns along our route where I saw passenger stations that weren't next to the Amtrak tracks, like some competing line had formerly used them. There were also a bunch of stations where Amtrak didn't stop in various small towns along the route--I probably didn't see all of them, either.
5686671
If Minty owned a railroad car leasing company . . . Weirdly, I can't find any information about that reporting mark online.
It could be; I don't remember
I checked the Wikiedia page on them; apparently 33 of 35 are still in service, which is a good operating record.
Amusingly enough, one of the things my grandpa did for General Motors was repair work on cars that didn't get fully-assembled on the line, or cars that got some damage on the line. He also did some custom work to executive's cars, which sometimes went down the assembly line with few options ordered, but they got added on anyway. As far as I know, nothing to that level of custom, though.
I love that they just cut down a bus to make the body.
That is one reason that they pay attention when they sell you a seat, but if you move to a different seat further back on the train, you might find yourself going to a different destination.
Dude, it was awesome. Highly recommend.
It doesn't help with turbulence, especially when the train derails and dumps some of them into a river.
It was the only practical way that Boeing could move them from their fuselage assembly plant to their final assembly plant.
That's why she bailed right after her freight train got through Cascade Tunnel.
Could be; maybe the two species have a symbiotic relationship.
5686901
I bet someone's been killed by a rubber spatula.
5687188
It does have problems loading them all; I might have to do something different for the next blog post.
I know, right?
I doubt you could convince the government to move (not to mention, it's nowhere near the population center of the US). I think that there's some huge government bunker near Denver, though, and it might be an alternate location for the government in case of nuclear war.
5687317
Trying to Google that led to
The Insane Battle of Objects (Rubber Spatula is a contestant) & an article urging that they be replaced by silicone spatulas (easier to clean & more heat resistant).
REGULAR spatulas have been used to kill people, though
5686901
5687317
Police believe So. Salt Lake mother used spatula to beat 5-year-old girl to death
Comedians: 0, Cynics: 1
5687368
As the cause of death was "exsanguination" (bleeding) IMO, it must have been a metal spatula.
George Carlin was a Catholic School dropout (no surprise). He joined the military to get money for college. (Considering his later anti war stance, BIG surprise). Court-martialed 3 times, eventually given a General Discharge (Next lower than Honorable. Basically "We don't want you in the military but we can't specifically prove you did anything bad enough to jail you.")
Said the USAF took the attitude "We don't kill people, we provide air support. People don't die, they 'sustain collateral damage'. Those who maintain that there is a causal relationship between these two events are Communists."
5687397
Oh, I love Carlin to death! I think he was brilliant and said a lot of things that needed saying, and got away with it under the guise of comedy. I'm just saying he wasn't cynical enough!
5687368
Y'know, one of the things about real life is sometimes stuff happens that you couldn't make up in a story.
5687397
There are engineering terms that are similar.
A rocket doesn't explode, it's dynamically disassembled.
Cars don't catch on fire, they experience a thermal event.
5687318
Because of the SuperCity from Atlanta Georgia to Boston Massachusetts, the population-center is near Hartville Missouri. According to the 2020-Census, only 594 people live there. The town claims that its population is 640 (maybe the 2020-census missed 46 people).
5687460
So if you put 500-some Congress- and Senate-critters, a president and VP, and the Supreme Court, you'd only double their population.
I suppose some hangers-on would move in, too.
Still, I bet that currently Hartville real estate is cheap.
5687466
¡All of your pictures load now!
¡Very pretty!
Actually those windmills are wind makers. The orchard owners start them up during periods of EXTREME Cold and calm. So... basically once or twice a decade.
5687469
5691343
Huh, that's interesting. How does that work? My mind says that all they'd do is blow more cold air over the apple trees, and I don't see how that would be of any benefit. Unless some kind of low-level atmospheric condition traps the cold air at the orchard while there's warmer air somewhere else.