After a good, hearty freight chase south down the Hill, driving back north to the summit, something strange happened. Far off in the distance, a little sliver train pokes over the hill. No way, that's Amtrak! But Amtrak, in the day, on the Lakeside Sub? Surely the Empire Builder, Amtrak's best performing distance train, couldn't be THIS late. Sure enough, it wasn't Amtrak's premier distance train, but an Operation Lifesaver Special traveling over the Northwest to raise awareness of railroad. Equally as sweet! The engineer of the little special, referring to me as the paparazzi over the radio (he was sure I was listening), was taking as many pictures of me as I was of him. This perhaps, might be the only daylight Amtrak on the Lakeside in years.
This train, which runs between Chicago and Seattle and Portland, takes its name from James J. Hill, who founded the Great Northern Railroad and extended it from Minnesota to the Pacific Coast.
With two sections of the Empire Builder, the Coast Starlight, Seattle, the Cascade Mountains, Columbia Valley and Puget Sound, Washington state offers rail buffs plenty of variety and beauty.
