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The Empire Builder is a daily long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and either Seattle or Portland via two sections west of Spokane.Introduced in 1929, it was the flagship passenger train of the Great Northern Railway and was retained by Amtrak when it took over intercity rail service in 1971.
The Empire Builder became the first long-distance train to use Superliners, and the first train permanently assigned them, on October 28, 1979. [20] Amtrak's new national timetable depicted a Superliner coach on the front cover, and the listing for the Empire Builder carried a heading which read "Amtrak's Superliner is Somethin' Special."
A dome car is a type of railway passenger car that has a glass dome on the top of the car where passengers can ride and see in all directions around the train. It also can include features of a coach, lounge car, dining car, sleeping car or observation. Beginning in 1945, a total of 236 were delivered for North American railroad companies.
Amtrak operates a fleet of 2,142 railway cars and 425 locomotives for revenue runs and service, collectively called rolling stock.Notable examples include the GE Genesis and Siemens Charger diesel locomotives, the Siemens ACS-64 electric locomotive, the Amfleet series of single-level passenger cars, the Superliner series of double-decker passenger cars, and 20 Acela Express high-speed trainsets.
The cars were used exclusively on the Empire Builder from their introduction in 1955 until the end of private passenger service in 1971. Amtrak retained all six cars and they continued to run on the Empire Builder before new Superliners displaced them at the end of the decade, after which they saw service elsewhere in the system before the last ...
The joint operation with the Empire Builder ended on June 11, 1973, when Amtrak extended the North Coast Hiawatha to Seattle using the GN's route via Stevens Pass and the Cascade Tunnel, which included stops at the northern Washington cities of Wenatchee and Everett. The train remained on a tri-weekly schedule west of Minneapolis.
The remaining nine long-distance routes operate as bi-level trains with Superliner coaches and sleeping cars. Both single-level and bi-level trains are equipped with Viewliner baggage cars. Amtrak plans to replace all of its long-distance rail cars by 2032, except for the Viewliner II fleet. [9]
The Olympian Hiawatha was designed by industrial designer Brooks Stevens and included the distinctive glassed-in "Skytop" observation-sleeping cars. It later featured full-length " Super Dome " cars. History