Back in the 60’s I went to school in Missoula, Montana and rode NP’s North Coast Ltd home for Christmas in Chicago. I made 5-6 trips this way and also had the pleasure of riding the GN’s Empire Builder from Libby to Chicago and return. East of St. Paul we rode the Burlington all the way to Chicago, and I found the track to fast and smooth, and the scenery to be superb.
With the coming of Amtrak, I rode the North Coast Hiawatha from Missoula to Chicago, but Amtrak opted to use the MILW tracks east of St. Paul. The track was rougher in my opinion, and the scenery not nearly as good. The present route of the Empire Builder is the same. I know that BNSF runs a lot of freight down this line, but back then there wasn’t that much. Any ideas why Amtrak changed the routing?
There were several reasons; among them were Red Wing and Winona were served directly by Milwaukee; plus Columbus Wisconsin and Milwaukee. The BN line from St Paul to Chicago did not serve any important stops except La Crosse. However, BN track was in much better condition than was Milwaukee’s. The Milwaukee did not really fix up its tracks until 1980. Amtrak rides on Milwaukee trackage between St Paul and Milwaukee were an adventure. Amtrak often used an ex-SCL diner which rode rough on the dreadful Milwaukee tracks. There were many slow orders and until Amtrak opened its new depot in the Midway area of St Paul,crews changed at Pig’s Eye yard. Milwaukee conductors always wore Milwaukee uniforms while BN wore Amtrak uniforms.
The original Amtrak service between Chicago and the Twin Cities via Milwaukee, originally followed the route of the former Milwaukee Road, not of the 'Q". This means no changes in routing. No monkeying with the status quo, and especially not making enemies of congressmen whose districts the service now crosses, but whose districts would be skunked (left without Amtrak service) if the route were changed.
More centers of population – Milwaukee (duh!), Oconomowoc, Portage, Wisconsin Dells, etc. – than if the service were rerouted via the Q.
Remember that Amtrak is a creature that is dependent, and therefore survives, on the whims of our elected Congress. To change its current route for a minor travel time decrease (consider current scheduled travel time, Puget Sound – Chicago) for an hour – or even two’s – speedier carded time transit time isn’t worth the negative juju it would accumulate in Congress (and at budgetgo-arounds) at appropriations time.
Since everyone knows that Amtrak is a creature of Congress, why should it shoot itself in the foot by unnecessarily alienating its Prime Public? To do so would be dumb, dumb, dumb!
Almost 28 years ago (1981) I rode the Empire Builder from La Crosse to Glasgow, Montana and even though I’m unabashadely a MILW-first guy, I found the MILW’s mainline on the rough side at the time (this was at the same time the MILW was doing extensive work on “My Mainline” from La Crescent to Sabula). Ironically, I got the chance to ride the “Q’s” mainline from Prairie Du Chien down to East Dubuque in 1968 and 1970 as an elementary school kid and found it quite nice.
But ultimately, Amtrak had to choose the MILW for its Chicago - Twin Cities corridor. Bigger population centers simply made the difference. Aside from La Crosse, the former “Q” mainline didn’t serve many key places.
Not scenic enough? The drive along U.S. 61 along the mainline from St. Paul to River Junction (La Crescent) has to rank as one of the best in the Midwest if not the country. I ALWAYS go down the River from St. Paul down to Marquette whenever I go back to my hometown in N.E. Iowa. I think Amtrak passengers get a treat with the scenery they get on the former MILW.
I might be remembering this wrong, but when Amtrak first started, didn’t the Builder run on the BN side and the “North Coast Hiawatha” run on the Milwaukee side, then when the NCH was removed after a year or two, the Builder moved over to the west bank?? I might be wrong, maybe they both went on the Milwaukee side from the start.
It could be that BN was glad to get Amtrak on the other bank, and maybe lobbied for that, so their Twin City - Chicago freights didn’t have to share the tracks with passenger trains??
The Empire Builder used the Milwaukee’s tracks from Pig’s Eye yard in St Paul to Chicago from Amtrak’s start up on May 1 1971. A crew change was done at Pig’s Eye; not at the GN depot in downtown Minneapolis.When the North Coast Hiawatha began operation it followed the same practice. When the North Coast Hiawatha began it often used a Milwaukee Road E9 for power.Also on May 1 the service to St Paul Union depot ended and Amtrak used BN trackage( ex-GN ) to reach Minneapolis via the stone arch bridge.