The Seattle section of Amtrak's eastbound Empire Builder is less than 20 minutes out of King Street Station as it runs through an S-Curve along the shores of Puget Sound at Carkeek Park Beach on a warm and sunny May afternoon.
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.
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.
