History of the Great Northern's Empire Builder

[@Edelweiss1102]

As an European train enthusiast, I really enjoy this train history videos. The Great Northern Empire Builder is probably my favorite of all the great streamliners. It really had everything, different seating coaches, different sleepers, cafe cars/spaces, vista domes, full length domes, observation cars, a legendary paint scheme, great marketing. Would have loved to ride on one of these.

[@HousewifeInTheWoods]

Thank you so much for this. We just purchased an old late 1800s depot from along the Great Northern Railway track and are turning it into a bakery.... so much fun to hear about how it came to be!

[@bdietz2]

A nice video, but exhausting to listen to your breckneck naration. Please slow down and minimize the asides. Interesting subject. I grew up in Wahpeton,ND across the Red River from Breckenrige, MN where the east and west bound Empire Builder trains met at 2 am each morning. There were two USPS mail boxes on the platform, one for east bound letters and one for west bound. I used to take the Empire Builder to Grand Forks when I was in college and to Minneapolis after I graduated. Many years later I flew out to Seattle just so that I could take the Empire Builder all the way from Seattle to St. Paul. Many great memories. Thanks.

[@littlestevie2919]

I rode the Empire Builder from Minneapolis to Seattle and back when I was about five or six on a trip to Seattle to see my mother's side of the family. I remember the giant baked potatoes they served (made more gigantic in memory due to being only about three feet tall at the time!). I also remember my mom struggling with the manual doors between cars and seeing the ties pass by underneath us while we were between cars. It was a great adventure!

[@rayjones7313]

Hey friend Stevie! You have a great memory! Just one niggling detail: the Great Big Baked Potato was a primary gimmick of the parallel route to Seattle, Northern Pacific's North Coast Limited or Mainstreeter , another part of the James J. Hill empire.

[@trainsupporter9088]

I loved the Omaha Orange and Pullman Green color scheme of GN's passenger trains (it really stood out) - and I think the Empire Builder was the nicest of American streamliners - it had domes, a variety of eating and lounging spaces, variety of Pullman spaces and an observation car. I wish I could have ridden it. When I was a little boy, I got to ride the Western Star with my family. Although I was only 5, I still have some vivid memories of that trip.

[@thetrainhopper8992]

That’s cool. I was born more than 20 years after Amtrak’s creation.

[@trainsupporter9088]

@@thetrainhopper8992 I didn't get to ride many pre-Amtrak trains. When I was able to travel myself, the Amtrak era was in full swing with Amfleet and Superliners. I do remember, however, my mom taking me down to track side once to see the 20th Century Ltd. roll by. It was a fine looking train too.

[@WC3POchannel10A]

Such great colors! And the GN had one of the greatest corporate logos of all-time. Amtrak is sooooo boring.

[@michaelslane6654]

Thanks Train Hopper for another great and informative presentation. Really appreciate the effort you put in to these. Your quick digression into commentary on the 1950ies was funny. Well, you've revealed one more piece in the mystery of who Train Hopper is by indicating your were born more than 20 years after the start of Amtrak---so, this makes you in your twenties lol

[@badmojamma]

Brilliant videos - a treasure today, and worthy of the most deliberate care. What a memory ride!

[@marksteiner3810]

Fair treatment of the Builder. Good memories and details here. Thanks.

[@CarlosVazquez-p4c]

I love this train 🚆 so much that I have the Walthers HO SCALE Empire Builder train 🚆 set with the same F7s number 365 👀 seen on the picture 📷 pulling the train 🚆.

[@Confederalist]

Many people complain about railroad "subsidies" and act like they are a big deal. Less then 7 percent of miles were built by "subsidies". Not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things

[@ChristopherORourke-s7g]

Great video on the Empire Builder which is one of my bucket list trains I want to ride on in the future. The Great Northenr Railway was always one of my most favorite railroads which became Burlington Northenr in 1970 and that was also one of my most favorite railroads which today the the BNSF which is my most favorite railroad of all railroads.

[@blainenodes8182]

My pals a I spent all our leisure time in GN yards/ shops 5 blocks from my hood,1955-1975,our good fortune,flares, torpedoes and suited r.r.police w/ shotguns w rocksalt 👍... St Paul mn

[@paulanderson9208]

While you discuss trade with Asia in talking about the Oriental, trade with Asia was the primary business case on which Hill built the line in the first place.

[@mikekutz5776]

Very good.

[@osmanjeffrey]

Thank you for another installment of history and a skip down memory lane; well done. You did mention the Penn Central merger and how you probably won't tackle that steaming pile because your focus is on the western railroads, but just to plant a seed, you may really get into it if you start on that project. Yes, your hair will turn gray and fall out in clumps and your eyes will bulge out as your head throbs in general disbelief at how bone headedness can be elevated to an art form, but I think you'd enjoy the project. Cheers!

[@thetrainhopper8992]

I’m just going to stick with tackling how the granger railroads were stupid (mostly the Milwaukee Road). That’s already in the drawing board for sometime in October.

[@osmanjeffrey]

@@thetrainhopper8992 Gotcha. That in itself is a lot to tackle. As for "What were they thinking? Moves," I could toss in the Rock Island for actually thinking that the longer the I.C.C. dithered on the U.P. merger that somehow the Wizard would be granting that wish. The B.R.A.C. strike in 1979-80 didn't help the sitch much, either.

[@thetrainhopper8992]

Yeah the Rock Island is also getting torn apart when that video comes out. It’s going to be close to an hour long. I’be started recording it, but I’m no where near done.

[@osmanjeffrey]

@@thetrainhopper8992 As an amateur Rockologist, I'd be happy to help in any way. The Rock Island remains my passion and I still ride what's left from time to time. Luckily, the Rainbow Ice Cream Parlor is not too far from the Branch Line; I can get off/on at 99th Street and treat myself to way too much sugar.

[@Ratstronot118]

awesome video keep up the good work

[@kyleecarlson9912]

Great video The Dome coaches showed up around the mid 50s

[@deesalkelly3069]

just shared to Fbooks group 'Amtraks Empire Builder' - hope thats ok..great info and pics - Jon SE Australia - love ya videos

[@thetrainhopper8992]

Sharing is appreciated.

[@pacificostudios]

The St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba had a large land grant; the sale of these lands put the Hill Lines on a strong financial basis before the GN was established to get to the Pacific.

[@dknowles60]

wrong

[@danielhemple8649]

Well done

[@rhettinski]

You were alluding to Churchill,Manitoba. Its up near Hudson Bay

[@kyleecarlson9912]

The great domes showed up a few years later and only one per train atsf got the first ones

[@lynntaubeneck7383]

Pretty good information except for the rambling parts.

[@Kenny-en7wb]

Dispatched most of that territory

[@glennfoster2423]

The dialog sounds like the barker at a racetrack and is more than "off-putting" with snickering and verbal poo-poos. Rocky was less than impressed.

[@rayjones7313]

I thought I was alone in thinking the narrator was Artificial Intelligence (For decades A.I. was Farmer Lingo for Artificial Insemination of cattle, hogs and sheep) or, just as likely the son of an 80s Valley Girl--- so Vacuous and Ill~Informed... Maybe his Ritalin Suppository dosage got doubled by error. Charming. An Anal Cephalectomy might be to his benefit then this otherwise great presentation could get the Total MakeOver it deserves or have Tommy Chong do a Voice~Over... Oh far out, Man!

[@odess4sd4d]

I'd really like to understand the route changes between the Amtrak EB and the GN version. You mentioned the differences to St Paul but the map at the beginning indicates it didn't go through Grand Forks so maybe they don't match up until Minot.

[@thetrainhopper8992]

The main difference is the modern Empire Builder goes through Milwaukee, which the pre Amtrak version didn't do. If there is an issue with the map, that could have been my blindness when I drew on it.

[@odess4sd4d]

@@thetrainhopper8992 I was referring to the historical map image. I believe Grand Forks and St Cloud were changes too in addition to Milwaukee. It would be interesting to study out when and why the changes were made. As full as the builder gets between Minneapolis and Chicago it seems like they could almost extend the hiawatha service to MSP and return the builder to its gn route to save time. Thanks for the interesting video!

[@thetrainhopper8992]

According to a GN schedule from the 1940s, the Builder did go through Grand Forks. Amtrak's current plan is to add more service between Chicago and St Paul with Minnesota, but Wisconsin has been the problem with doing that.

[@Wsaetre]

This channel won’t be able to inform you about anything, especially regarding the history of the lines of the GN, the NP and how they changed, intertwined, and what has now become the Amtrak Empire Builder line. The original GN Oriental Limited, which became the Empire Builder (not as falsely claimed here) did not go through Fargo-Moorhead, rather traveled due west from Breckinridge, Minnesota, joining the Grand Forks line at Minot. Fargo was strictly Northern Pacific Territory, going from St. Paul, north to Duluth, then west, via Staples, MN and on to Fargo. The GN built its own smaller station on Fargo, a few blocks from the NP station, which is used today as Amtrak’s Empire Builder station. Early in the 20th century, the GN mainline cut directly north from Breckinridge, and staying on the Minnesota side of the Red River, stopping in Moorhead, and crossing the Red at Grand Forks, from there, heading due west through Minot, Williston, Glacier Park and onto Everett, WA, the terminus of the GN mainline. Grand Forks was always on the Empire Builder mainline.

[@odess4sd4d]

@@Wsaetre Your comment prompted me to look up the June 19, 1960 timetable. It shows both the Empire Builder and Western Star running from Fargo to Minot via New Rockford, and Grand Forks being served by the Dakotan. I was also surprised that the Western Star didn't run through Great Falls then either. Point is the routes changed over the years and I think it would be interesting to see where and when.

[@martinadams7949]

we always called thew local coach the Helen Keller cars cause the windows where so small

[@Bob.W.]

Slow down a little and maybe your mind will catch up with your tongue.

[@ericfrohlich9137]

Slow down, you speak too fast !!!

[@Rafael-716]

The monotone narration is almost insulting.

[@Confederalist]

oriental is latin for eastern

[@xr6lad]

Yea he comes across like an immature kid to be honest. Racist? Is everything racist for zoomers? One of the worlds largest 6 star hotel chains based in Asia is called the Mandarin Oriental group: they even have hotels in Boston Miami and NYC.