My journey from from Portland, Oregon to Whitefish, Montana aboard Amtrak’s Empire Builder service was not what I expected, but still enjoyable.
After arriving from Los Angeles on the Coast Starlight, we had about an hour before continuing our journey to Montana. While we checked out the Metropolitan Lounge, we used most of our time to take a walk around the station. Unfortunately, Union Station appears to be in a pretty seedy area of town…or perhaps that is just Portland. As we stepped out of the station, we noticed a couple sitting on the ground outside. One was injecting herself with a needle and the other was smoking a crack pipe…
Boarding was called and we left Portland on time. Amtrak’s Empire Builder train starts in both Seattle and Portland, mergers in Spokane, and continues to Chicago. The service was first inaugurated by the Great Northern Railway in 1929 and assumed by Amtrak in 1971. This service was Amtrak’s first to use a superliner bedroom (double decker) in 1979.
Amtrak 28
Empire Builder
Portland Union Station – Whitefish, Montana
Tuesday, May 17
Depart: 04:45 PM
Arrive: 07:21 AM+1
Duration: 13hr, 36min
Seat: Car 2830 / Room A (Bedroom)
Our sleeping car attendant, Ashley, welcomed us onboard and showed us to our room. The train would slowly fill up as we made more stops enroute to Chicago. This is apparently’s Amtrak’s busiest long-distance route.
Amtrak Empire Builder Superliner Bedroom
Our bedroom was nearly identical to our bedroom on the Coast Starlight journey up. The only difference was that the bathroom and sink were positioned slightly differently. The bedroom can accommodate up to three (two on the lower berth, one on the upper berth) but is best for two or two with a young child. The ensuite restroom includes a toilet and shower combo with a sink on the outside.
Bedding was clean and included two large, plush pillows.
The room had a blue night light which cast an eerie shadow over the room before we finally figured out how to turn it off.
Amtrak Empire Builder Dining
I was looking forward to a fish dinner but learned I would be eating a boxed meal instead. As I mentioned above, the eastbound Empire Builder begins in both Portland and Seattle at about the same time. The two trains meet in Spokane and are joined into a single, longer train. Passengers between Portland and Spokane, however, get the short end of the stick: their train has no dining car.
So I was truly shocked when Ashley informed us there was no dining car onboard and that we had a choice of beef gyros or chicken salad for dinner. We tried one of each and I must admit, the food was not bad. In fact, it was tasty. Even so, there was no warning of this in advance and strikes me a rather unprofessional to served boxed meals instead of, say, using the cafe car to heat meals for sleeper car passengers.
I was still hungry and Ashley offered me another salad with chicken:
We slept through the junction in Spokane but awoke to a much larger train and a hot breakfast. I had an omelet in the dining car and my wife had oatmeal. As we were just traveling alone, we were seated with another women who was traveling to Minnesota to visit her grandchildren.
Amtrak Empire Builder Observation Car
With no dining car or lounge car out of Portland, we spent much of the evening in the observation car.
This leg of the journey is truly quite beautiful. Here’s some pictures (including some pictures from our room the following morning before arrival into Whitefish):
Amtrak Empire Builder Service
A special shoutout to Ashley. She was so friendly, so kind, and tried her best with the limited tools she was working with to provide comfortable service. She was a relatively recent hire of Amtrak and I hope that she sticks with it–she made up for the lack of amenities onboard.
The only other crew interaction I had was with the conductor, who briefly checked my ticket, and the dining car attendants the following morning. All were friendly.
Amtrak Empire Builder Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi is not available on this train nor did my mobile phone have coverage for most of the journey.
CONCLUSION
The dining car issue aside, I truly did enjoy the Amtrak journey. It’s not something I could ever do on a regular basis, but once in a while–maybe once every few years–is a nice change of pace over driving or flying.
Finally, look at how quaint Whitefish, Montana is. We enjoyed a great few days hiking in Glacier National Park.
How busy was the observation car on this leg of your trip compared to the prior. Looks like a great trip overall.
Not busy at all on the Empire Builder, at least leaving from Portland. It seemed like the entire train was here and there were still open seats. On the Coast Starlight, the observation car was consistently packed.
My husband and I are traveling in the sleeper from Pdx to whitefish Montana so reading your experience was very informative. Do you know if alcohol beverages can be purchased on the train?
Yes, alcohol is available in both the dining car and snack car.
I would have suggested continuing a little bit farther to the town of Essex, to stay at the historic Izaak Walton Inn. Their specialty are restored Great Northern caboose cars that have been repurposed as hotel rooms. The hotel caters especially to Amtrak passengers, though anyone can stay there. I seriously considered it when we road tripped to Glacier back in 2011, though ended up staying outside West Glacier instead.
Great review! Nice scenery, too. It’s disappointing about the meal situation; it’s great that you at least got a second serving, but they really should make it clearer that there’s no dining car from Portland.
I know you mentioned you redeemed points for this trip (your trip reports really should have links to all the parts! 🙂 ), but how much would it have cost if you had paid?
“Amtrak’s Empire Builder train starts in both Seattle and Portland, mergers in Spokane…” *merges
“Our sleeping car attendant, Ashley, welcomed us onboard and showed us to your room.” *our
“The train would slowly fill up as we made more stops enroute to Chicago. This is apparently’s Amtrak’s busiest long-distance route.” *en route and *apparently
“As we were just traveling alone, we were seated with another women who was traveling to Minnesota to visit her grandchildren. *woman
My daughter and I just returned from a trip. Eugene Oregon to Sac to Denver, to Albuquerque to LA back to Eugene. Food was the SAME 3 menu items on all trains, got really old, wifi on coast starlight only. Bathrooms were dirty, We had a roomette, small but workable. Staff was very nice. Observation car was often full.
It was great that you called out the great service from Ashley. Friends are often surprised that a gratuity/tip is customary. Perhaps you might make an edit to call out what you did for a tip so as to help readers be prepared.
Best!
I tipped her $20. Hope that was appropriate.
Not to be mean or anything but I don’t think 20 was enough from someone traveling in a upper class cabin especially after u said she provided such great service
What would you have suggested?
From what I gather, $5 per person is typical, so $20 for the two of you seems appropriate for good service.
I was never on a train like this but 20 only comes out to around a dollar fifty an hour I would think around forty for the two of u would be nice but again this is my opinion and I was brought up to give generous tips ps I love ur blog and what ever ended up happening with United
20 is plenty
“One was injecting herself with a needle and the other was smoking a crack pipe…”
You’re lucky you weren’t attacked by the antifa goons.
What a ridiculous thing to say.
Right? It’s like half the population forgets there was an entire world war in which the US specifically fought against fascism. Literally the country’s entire stance was antifa goons, and for good reason. Abbie M. could perhaps use a history lesson.
Oh, honey. Antifa is exactly what we fought against in WW2: they’re violent, they ban thoughts not 100% aligned to themselves and they’re a uniform mass of non-thinking drones; the brownshirts of the Left.
My wife and I rode the “Builder” in October three years ago from Portland to Chicago and enjoyed every minute. The dinner situation the first night was a surprise but the rest of the trip the food was excellent and our dining companions were fun. Very relaxing way to travel the scenery was great. And what you saw outside Union Station is what Portland has become. Sad but true.
Just rode the California Zephyr from Sacramento to Chicago. The train was decent, attendant was OK. But the train was many hours late resulting in lost connection in Chicago, Amtrak was useless offering a seat in the lounge for an entire 24 hours till the next train to DC… I ended up taking an Uber to Midway and getting a short flight to the east coast rather than getting home almost two days later. Amtrak employees were rude and arrogant having to keep the Metropolitan Lounge open past closing time… I was considering never taking another train again. A few months later after a cooling off period I just booked a room on the auto train…
Was there a bar or some place to get beverages or cocktails?
Yes.
Trains are fun.
I took Amtrak from s. Ga to whitefish Montana last Dec 2017 and loved it,! Great way to travel..u tripped really well..they get paid a very decent wage so don’t let anyone suggest otherwise.
My daughter and I took the train in July 2018, from maricopa az to Los Angeles to connect to the coast starlight. The first train was late by7hours
Not able to get any food. Missed connection in Los Amgeles,was put on a bus then a commuter train to get ahead of the coast starlight. Still no food. Got on coast starlight, 11pm that nite. Was able to get breakfast.lunch and dinner on coast starlight, only to spend over 2 hours waiting for the bridge contols to get fixed to cross river into portland. We were 4 hours late into Seattle. Our return trip unfortunately was the same. It was my retirement vacation trip. My travels were ruined. WE WERE SO STRESSED OUT.MAY NEVER GO BY TRAIN AGAIN. We took this trip 3yrs ago and it was a blast.
Must say it was actually not Amtrak’s fault,it was all caused by the fright trains. Passenger trains should have priority over freight trains Always. Thank you. Enjoy reading about all your travels.
MOST lateness problems with Amtrak are the result of using the tracks owned by freight trains. We may be the only “developed” nation in the world without national dedicated passenger tracks. We have a Congress that is so extreme that many members think national public transportation and even the US postal service are forms of communism. It will take citizen activism to help insure they’ll survive the next decade. Both are routinely under funded and need our support.
STOP blocking my comment which is NOT being repeated!:
MOST lateness problems with Amtrak are the result of using the tracks owned by freight trains. We may be the only “developed” nation in the world without national dedicated passenger tracks. We have a Congress that is so extreme that many members think national public transportation and even the US postal service are forms of communism. It will take citizen activism to help insure they’ll survive the next decade. Both are routinely under funded and need our support.
Unfortunately for passengers, freight trains will always have priority in the US because they’re the only reason Amtrak can financially survive on these routes. I thought that was obvious to people – if you want an on-time, more consistent service – take a plane. Trains are for people who have the time and patience to put up with the non-European experience of train travel. Sure it’s hit and miss sometimes, but that’s the way it goes in this country. And the scenery when you do use the train is superb and incomparable to flying over.
Thank you – awesome review! Very fun & refreshing to read a thorough train trip review. 🙂 Makes me want to try it out!
Great review esp as I`m contemplating a solo journey from Seattle to Chicago in Oct 2019. As an avid train traveller I don`t mind the hassle that goes with delays etc and try and make the most of it. After all I`m on my own time…
On a recent sojourn around California , my hubby, 18yr old son and I took the Pacific Surfliner from LA to San Diego.Luckily a short trip, especially as it was preceded by a 15 hr flight from Melbourne to LAX, We enjoyed a boxed meal, free drinks and a great ride and views along the coast in Business Class. Next Amtrak trip took us from beautiful Oakland to Santa Barbara on Train#11 – Coast Starlight. This nine hour journey through the Cali countryside and then along the west coast with sunset views on the Pacific was bucket list stuff. Train was on time, food good and just all round great experience. Not sure what my trip across the continental divide holds but come what may, I cannot wait to enjoy an iconic American travel opportunity 🙂 and maybe a stop in WhiteFish looks like it will be worthwhile ….
Enjoyed your review. What you witnessed outside the train station has no bearing in your Amtrak trip. This can happen anywhere in America today. My wife and I are starting a week long rail trip starting in Dearborn MI, to Chicago, picking up the California Zephyr, then the Coastal Starlight, the Empire Builder and finally returning to Dearborn on the Michigan Wolverine. We are with a group and excited about our trip. Any suggestions?
Glacier is one of the most beautiful places on this planet. Give yourself a couple of days there and you’ll have memories for life.
Chicken or beef? Haha, they’re running a service out of PORTLAND and they can’t handle a veggie option?
My Sister & I recently took a trip from Spokane, WA. To Portland, OR & back 10 days later, on the Empire Builder. We Reserved a Roomette both ways. On the way down, a hot breakfast in a dining car was offered over the intercom which we declined as we wanted to be hungry when we arrived in Portland, but on the way back to Spokane… given a choice of 2 different cold Sandwiches with chips & a desert bar…while tasty, Im confused as to why the price to & from were identical.
We really did enjoy our Roomette. Very compact comfort. On both ends of the journey, being in the sleeper cars allowed us to be treated like VIP’s, no lines, personal service by the delightful staff taking us to our car – walking with us or giving us a ride in a cart with our carry ons. The Only big con was the shaing of the restroom with all other travelers in that car- very small outhouse type situation, & if you follow a man like I did, one must clean everything before you can use it- would be nice to have available cleansers & lysol, airfreshner available. From the Station staff, to the train staff, the airline companies could sure use alot of the same training. So very kind & helpful! They must be paid well & treated very nicely by Amtrack to be so kind & happy with their jobs.
I will definetly look at train travel over air travel in the future, and another Plus! -You cannot beat the price! Thank you Amtrack! It was a beautiful Journey & experience from start to finish.
The Amtrak timetable and schedule cards state the following in the listing of services provided on the train:
Dining: Full meal service.
– Not available between Spokane and Portland; Sleeping car passengers will receive complimentary cold meal service.
Here’s the link to where it can be found:
https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/timetables/Empire-Builder-Schedule-042918.pdf
One can debate whether whether cold meal service is appropriate, but the information about meal service between Spokane and Portland is at least published.
Good, fair review. You don’t travel on trains in America for quality, speed or good food on board (although they do their best, and the food is not that much worse than what you get everywhere else, so I don’t understand people complaining about it). US railways are a bit of a relic of another time, and comparisons to the European high-speed, high-quality rail systems are absurd. But they’re not terribly expensive either given the time you spend on them (and they are slow), and the staff are genuinely kind and friendly – they have to work with what they’ve got, and in their own humble way they’re lovely people – no airs and graces about them, probably on US-style minimum wages too. That’s what I remember about my experiences on long-distance US trains: the friendliness of the conductors and the scenery, which is spectacular. No better way to get a feel for the enormous, beautiful landscapes than to take one these trains. I’m so pleased these loss-making routes in America still exist with public subsidies, and haven’t been privatized out of existence. After all, these railroads were the foundation of opening up the country a century ago and are a massive part of US history: I’d hate to see them go!