Amtrak Empire Builder in Washington State - Cascade Mountains

[Marcolepsie]

Very good work!

[Marcolepsie]

Omg!

I thought we are in Santa Claus country!

[heavyindie]

Thank you for this vid! It is awesome! =)

[murphsart]

@heavyindie My pleasure! Thanks for watching! I was really fortunate to have my camera ready on a trip when we were @4 hours late at the Cascade Tunnel. Most mornings in the winter, the Empire Builder goes through this area when it's just getting light out. Adding to that, there had just been a snowfall and no wind to blow it around, so it was near perfect.

[coolwhiteguy1]

shut the godamn music off i wanna hear that diesel power

[murphsart]

@coolwhiteguy1 That would be tough to hear - I shot this from the rear of the train and reversed the footage.

[Emubirdproductions1]

this scenery is so beautiful!!!!!!!! I would love it to take it on my train adventure across america

[nitevixen440]

This is amazing, a total wonderland of winter beauty. Who is the musician?

[murphsart]

@nitevixen440 Thanks! I was very lucky to have such a perfect morning to shoot the video. I used Edvald Grieg the Norwegian composer for lots of my footage.

[murphsart]

@nitevixen440 OOps, this music is Dvorak Symphony No. 9 "From The New World": Largo

[BNforever2009]

can i do the recording on a digital camera (camcorder mode)? and put it on DVDplus R?

[murphsart]

@BNforever2009 Sure! Depending on the kind of camera you have - the new HD ones will be sharper than this, but the downside is that the window you shoot from needs to be REALLY CLEAN, because every spec shows up in HD. Unfortunately, windows on trains tend to be dirty, especially after a long trip. I've taken to bringing Windex and a squeegee!

[BNforever2009]

Did you use a camcorder or digital camera with the camcorder option or your camera/phone? this video is beautiful. Love the music to go with it .

[murphicus]

@BNforever2009 Thanks! I used a "Sharp VLWD450U" DV tape camera - keeping it steady by holding it tight against the glass from the last car on the train. I then edited it in iMovie 6 HD and reversed the footage. The quality is quite a bit less on here than the DV footage.

[MrMiner49r]

@murphicus Very clever - reversing the footage! I wondered how you got into the cab. Beautiful!

[murphsart]

@MrMiner49r Thanks! The calm morning makes it passable, though there are a few whiffs of snow going up! Also, as a few rail road people have noticed, we tend to pass through RED LIGHTS which would not be good if I had shot it from the cab!

[IngloriusBastard11]

Nothing greater than sitting in the lounge car or dining car in the middle of the winter aboard one of these trains. Why do we not give our railroads the attention they deserve and the ability to improve?

I have never seen a dumber country than ours when it comes to improving transportation and moving masses of people from point A to point B. Maybe when the Chinese are finished buying the entire country they will improve the railroads?

[magnum7mm44]

Awesome video, I got some pretty good footage too from last may when I went from Chicago to Seattle.

[murphicus]

@Briankey1960

If there were no windows to glare back at you, yes... but that's not the case. A full moon would help too!

[TheJamesCase]

In 1966 I took the train from Louisville, KY to Seattle WA. The part of the trip from Chicago to Seattle was aboard The Empire Builder. I have never again seen such beautiful and majestic scenery in my life, and I have been a lot of places. I would love to take that ride again.

[murphicus]

@TheJamesCase

I think that everyone should try and make the trip -

You should make the trip again!

My brother and his wife made the trip from Milwaukee this summer, and stayed in Whitefish & Glacier Park for 3 nights - that would be a great stopover. The route has actually changed a bit since 1966 - When BN consolidated the Union Pacific (The original Empire Builder route) & the Northern Pacific (The North Coast Limited route), it became the current "Empire Builder"

[Mockeraina]

So this is being taken from the end of the train looking out the back?

[murphicus]

@Mockeraina

Yup, you got it. The westbound Empire Builder splits in Spokane, this is from the Seattle bound section. It's normally dark in this section, but we were delayed @4 hours on that trip.

[smwokie60]

I would rather see this from an Amtrak train than any tv or computer screen. There is just nothing like seeing it in person. Even in the winter the scenery would be absolutly beautiful.

[murphicus]

@smwokie60

Me too! This was an unusual trip in that the train was very late, and the winter scenery in the video is normally before it gets light.

[homerodding]

The new World symphony was my late father favourite piece of music and he loved the countryside. Thank you very much for compiling this video.

[BarbJoSam1]

This is terrific! I traveled on the Empire Builder to Seattle in 1991, and remember it well. They are wonderful memories.Thanks for bringing them to youtube!

[jonni701]

hi dave!

what great Job! . that is so relaxing!

i maybe comeing ur way on that train soon. let you know. thanks again John/Bos Downeaster train host

[howardkevinm]

this is absolutely amazing. what direction is the train traveling?

[murphicus]

Thank you! The train was westbound from the Cascade Tunnel, but I reversed the video so it appears that we are heading East.

[cocatwoman7]

aha! Stevens Pass-was close!!!  Yes! Thanks for sending this to me

[cocatwoman7]

Aaahhhhhhhhh-so peacefull and gorgeous. nice music. Do you know where this is (maybe near Snoqualmie Pass?) All those majestic douglas fir tress-miss those :)

[murphicus]

Thanks! Yes, the footage is heading East towards the Cascade Tunnel

[rick12580]

Hi April,you might like this,remind you of the NW

[werksdesign]

Very beautiful and peaceful. Thank you.

[nomiclas]

peaceful and powerful.i wish i could take the ride.

[QuebecCentral]

One of the best railroad video than i saw on youtube ! thanks for sharing

[subocincy]

What an enjoyable and mesmerizing ride! One day soon I hope to watch this on a wall-sized screen instead of a 20" computer monitor. Thank you.

[murphicus]

Thank you for the kind comments!

[Streetcar1743]

I love the piece and the piece along with the train is great. Trains and nature do mix.

[courtmacsherry]

Hi

From one Murphy in The Emerald Isle to another on the westcoast of The New World Great piece of music and a wonderful soothing journey. Thank you

[Joelwww7]

Great scenery!! I love traveling on trains and specially during the winter.

Thank you for posting this video :-)!

[therealroadstar]

What piece of music accompanies this?

[murphicus]

I'm sorry - i forgot to change the tags - the original Paxton music was purged by the WMG's pulling their content.

This is the audio swap that I picked from youtube's library:

Symphony No. 9 "From The New World": Largo

artist: Dvorak

album: Point Classics

length: 9:55

genre: Classical

[billh891]

I have so much enjoyed the journey. What a wonderful think you have done---and Tom Paxton sing us along the route. Who could ask for more---and the ticket price was pretty good.

[pierrejones21]

My favourite singer and a long train journey! What a wonderful combination. Tom is 71, and still filling the concert halls. I intend to go to Chicago in 2009 and get the train to Seattle to see my daughter and her husband.

[mikestrawman]

Beautiful Scenery and great music. Thank you!

[indycar101]

Murphy

Another great ride and music! Thanks for sharing your travels and hard work? Well maybe labor of love!

Amtrak Engineer Retired.

[1293i]

Nature is like a Russian!

[OettingerCroat]

insult to Nature

[1293i]

Only the russian nature is more beautiful also the russian people is better!!!

[matrixhed]

Beautiful work! Tasteful choice of music, too.

[Leadingnorth]

I love it!!

[slowpokecat]

thank you for this.