Reading on the railroad: Minot Amtrak passengers get free books

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Reading on the railroad: Minot Amtrak passengers get free books

Hurrah for Ms. Taft, AND Amtrak! Any chance of getting an address to send books to the Minot Friends of the Library?

What a nice gesture. I am wondering if this sort of act will slow the erosion of civility in this once free country. naah.

Great idea! The CTA’s Kimbal brown Line station has a similar set up. I still have a newspaper I acquired in Minot while ridding through on the Empire Builder in January, but like the other reading material that rides the train with me, I never actually read it. I just stare out the windows or when the sun goes down, start conversations with fellow passengers. BTW, taking a train through booming North Dakota is quite a sight to behold right now.

The Denver Amtrak station also offers free books, but most are children’s books.

This brings back memories of a train trip on the Great Northern Western Star when I was a little kid in the mid-60s. One story my dad told me is that the Pullman porter told him that he had time to get a newspaper at one station and my dad told him that he wanted to get away from that on his vacation. One other story my parents told me from that same trip was about a guy being left behing at a station and from what they said his wife was pretty upset about it.

When I worked on the Dakota Division for BN, 30 years ago, I found the people of the State of North Dakota had some of the biggest hearts, glad to see some things haven’t changed.

When I worked on the Dakota Division for BN, 30 years ago, I found the people of the State of North Dakota had some of the biggest hearts, glad to see some things haven’t changed.

Kirkwood, MO station also has free books. All they ask is that you pass them on. This station is staffed totally by volunteers, the city bought the station when Amtrak pulled out a few years ago. They do an awesome job of taking care of things. It’s a beautiful old station, former MoPac and I’m glad to see it was not torn down.

The Minot public library is just west of the Amtrak station and the reading room overlooks the BNSF-CP diamond.
Several of us spent some pleasant time there when we did a Chicago-Minot turn on the Surrey Cutoff several years ago. The staff was helpful and friendly and they had email and rail magazines.