been on this route many times on the builder and the milwaukee road 261. great ride but i've heard tell you can time the builder by calender lol. today the minnesota legislature approved the new amtrak route to duluth. it's about time, been on that trip on the milwaukee road 261 to lol. great trip. if you can a visit to the house on the rock is a must.
That's good to hear. I hope they find the budget to buy into the midwest railcar buying pool, or get a good deal on the Amfleets & Horizons. The House on the Rock has certainly been on my list for a time!
The WI River bridge has an interesting history. It’s over 100 years old and originally hosted vehicular traffic on the lower level. You can still see the road alignment when heading west on Broadway. Additionally, it appears that it was once double-tracked.
The bridge is called Canadian Pacific Railroad Wisconsin Dells Bridge. And if you follow the tracks dang near exactly 1 mile, you’ll find Riverside & Great Northern Railway Railroad Museum that offers scenic train rides on small trains. And the little bridge Amtrak goes over their entrance appears it was too double railed at one point.
Great video! Rode the Borealis out of MSP today and was surprised nobody was lining up 30 mins prior to departure. Waiting room was fully open too. First in line 😁
I agree, with more diplomacy to cities and towns along the route. The existing rail ROW has capability (if upgraded, which is unlikely on decent time frames), but I prefer an interstate running median line. If constructed along with highway modernizations it could be lucrative. To build it non-invasively for traffic would be unlikely given the preference for the powers that be to go with anything but the cheapest option. Ultimately, though, freight RR's need to see investment by parties interested in passeger service, a la Brightline. Trains are novelties to Americans, and unless that changes with the conversation shifting to the middle ground rather than the extremes we won't see it in our lifetime.
My GF takes the EB twice a week between Chicago and the Dells, really good crew they have on there! They have been running very on time lately too! Hope You guys had fun in the Dells, enjoy your channel! PS very interesting what you had to say about the Borealis too , high quality content
Thanks for saying and sharing! I enjoy having the Builder calling on the twin cities. The flexibility of departure times for all the stops is fantastic. Cheers!
I'm surprised anyone is going from MSP to Wisconsin by train on the Builder anymore, since Amtrak 8/28 is so unreliable. Reliability is the biggest advantage of the Borealis, plus that its schedule is a little faster. Borealis definitely makes shorter trips like MSP to Red Wing, Winona, or La Crosse much more practical. With the Builder, the train might not arrive in St. Paul until you were scheduled to reach your destination.
Truly so. Amtrak seems to bask in booking the uninitated who might just book the earlier departure time of the EB, unknowing of its unreliability. The dining car has some substantial upsell value, and some do book sleepers MSP-CHI (and shorter distance station pairs) for the experience. The bilevel land cruise will always have a niche until the Superliners become fiscally ridiculous to keep maintaining.
@@StevesWanderlust Shifting the MSP-CHI traffic to Borealis doesn't hurt Amtrak much, they just have to shorten the Builder by one coach. There will be some impact on Builder's cost recovery, but now three states are underwriting the former Twin Cities Hiawatha. Next, ND and MN should study the advisability of shifting Builder to its former 45 hour schedule on the Surrey Cutoff and run a day 403(b) train from MSP to GFK and then WIL. North Dakota and Central Minnesota should have a daytime train service. Plus then the Builder could arrive in Chicago in time to reach Detroit and St. Louis at reasonable hours.
The Wisconsin Dells station looks relatively new because the steam era original was damaged in a derailment about 40 years ago. Fortunately, there were no injuries, and local residents had a facsimile of the original built to replace the old station.
Excellent! Great to have honest commentary…the St Paul segment is spot on…
Honestly these are the type of videos that we need more of to get Americans on board with long distance rail
Thanks! I try to approach each video as simply as the trip needs to be.
been on this route many times on the builder and the milwaukee road 261. great ride but i've heard tell you can time the builder by calender lol. today the minnesota legislature approved the new amtrak route to duluth. it's about time, been on that trip on the milwaukee road 261 to lol. great trip. if you can a visit to the house on the rock is a must.
That's good to hear. I hope they find the budget to buy into the midwest railcar buying pool, or get a good deal on the Amfleets & Horizons. The House on the Rock has certainly been on my list for a time!
The WI River bridge has an interesting history. It’s over 100 years old and originally hosted vehicular traffic on the lower level. You can still see the road alignment when heading west on Broadway. Additionally, it appears that it was once double-tracked.
I recall reading that, too. Kilbourn town has a fascinating history.
Yes the bridge was double-tracked until Soo took over and installed CTC.
The bridge is called Canadian Pacific Railroad Wisconsin Dells Bridge. And if you follow the tracks dang near exactly 1 mile, you’ll find Riverside & Great Northern Railway Railroad Museum that offers scenic train rides on small trains. And the little bridge Amtrak goes over their entrance appears it was too double railed at one point.
Great video! Rode the Borealis out of MSP today and was surprised nobody was lining up 30 mins prior to departure. Waiting room was fully open too. First in line 😁
Awesome! I was surprised, too. Back when Amtrak used Midway Station there always was a gaggle awaiting the morning departure.
Now, we need to lobby for a N-S train from St. Paul to San Antonio!
I agree, with more diplomacy to cities and towns along the route. The existing rail ROW has capability (if upgraded, which is unlikely on decent time frames), but I prefer an interstate running median line. If constructed along with highway modernizations it could be lucrative. To build it non-invasively for traffic would be unlikely given the preference for the powers that be to go with anything but the cheapest option.
Ultimately, though, freight RR's need to see investment by parties interested in passeger service, a la Brightline. Trains are novelties to Americans, and unless that changes with the conversation shifting to the middle ground rather than the extremes we won't see it in our lifetime.
My GF takes the EB twice a week between Chicago and the Dells, really good crew they have on there! They have been running very on time lately too! Hope You guys had fun in the Dells, enjoy your channel!
PS very interesting what you had to say about the Borealis too , high quality content
Thanks for saying and sharing! I enjoy having the Builder calling on the twin cities. The flexibility of departure times for all the stops is fantastic. Cheers!
I'm surprised anyone is going from MSP to Wisconsin by train on the Builder anymore, since Amtrak 8/28 is so unreliable. Reliability is the biggest advantage of the Borealis, plus that its schedule is a little faster. Borealis definitely makes shorter trips like MSP to Red Wing, Winona, or La Crosse much more practical. With the Builder, the train might not arrive in St. Paul until you were scheduled to reach your destination.
Truly so. Amtrak seems to bask in booking the uninitated who might just book the earlier departure time of the EB, unknowing of its unreliability. The dining car has some substantial upsell value, and some do book sleepers MSP-CHI (and shorter distance station pairs) for the experience. The bilevel land cruise will always have a niche until the Superliners become fiscally ridiculous to keep maintaining.
@@StevesWanderlust Shifting the MSP-CHI traffic to Borealis doesn't hurt Amtrak much, they just have to shorten the Builder by one coach. There will be some impact on Builder's cost recovery, but now three states are underwriting the former Twin Cities Hiawatha. Next, ND and MN should study the advisability of shifting Builder to its former 45 hour schedule on the Surrey Cutoff and run a day 403(b) train from MSP to GFK and then WIL. North Dakota and Central Minnesota should have a daytime train service. Plus then the Builder could arrive in Chicago in time to reach Detroit and St. Louis at reasonable hours.
Ironic the smoker got kicked off at a smoke stop! If only they could have waited a bit…
That finally just registered with me! She might've had that same timing the other two times she got caught, too.
The Wisconsin Dells station looks relatively new because the steam era original was damaged in a derailment about 40 years ago. Fortunately, there were no injuries, and local residents had a facsimile of the original built to replace the old station.