Cab Ride on Empire Builder

[Streetcar1743]

I have a funny feeling that the federal government is trying to tell railroads (both freight and passenger) what to do. We need to write to our congress people and tell them to stop telling us what to do. We railfans don't like to have our rights to filming cabrides taken away. Even our buddies at Pentrex has some assignments in filming cabrides. All the feds wants to do is to kill the beauty of railfaning.

[Streetcar1743]

I asked Amtrak in a nice manner about filming a cab ride from Maplewood to Kirkwood in an Amtrak P42 and they told me that nobody but Amtrak crew is allowed in the cab for insurance reasons, but also because of 9/11, they prohibit photography and videography! The Missouri River Runner has only a few cars behind the locomotive. I am a huge fan of cabride videos, but I hope you got permission to film in the locomotive.

[simonspics1]

Cool! Thanks for sharing! I have never been on the Empire Builder,but now at least I know!

[railgeek404]

My question is what type of bug was that splattered on the windshield? I wish you would use a less distracting background when posting your bug splatter videos. Slightly sharper focus of the bug splatter would also be nice.

[simonspics1]

@railgeek404 ur Mean! LOL

[amtraksouthwestchief]

the p42's a beautiful thing. that k5la is magical and so is every little noise down to the compressor winding up

[amtraksouthwestchief]

@yftftyfffy that is my favorite noise dude

[harry811]

Can't go faster than that. Trains here should do the same speed as in France

[thebluetrain57]

I always wanted to have a cab ride on that :)

[TallNBlack]

Do the P42DC's have in cab signaling, or does the engineer have to manually look for them.

[Steve2223]

@TallNBlack It has been a couple of years, but as I recall the engineer had to read trackside signals all the way. Those locomotives may have in-cab signaling on other routes.

[doct0rnic]

@Steve2223 there is no cab signals on the high line sub division, how ever its all CTC so the signals govern the train movement.

[AmtrakFlorida]

@TallNBlack Many routes have in-cab signalling, like the RF&P, but they still have to call out the signals on the radio when they pass them. I thought the same though.

[Canesfan7012]

Was that the Cascade tunnel at the end

[Steve2223]

@Canesfan7012 No, it was the Flathead tunnel, 7 miles in the dark.

[Canesfan7012]

@Steve2223 oh ok thanks

[BeeRich33]

That "No Defects" alarm warning...is that on the train or a sensor on the tracks?

[Steve2223]

@BeeRich33 That is a sensor on the tracks that detects overheating bearings and perhaps some other stuff. It radios the verbal message right after the train passes. We we getting these messages constantly. They must have them stationed every 10 miles or even more frequently.

[BeeRich33]

@Steve2223 Thanks for the reply. There's one near my house, and I monitor rail frequencies. Wasn't sure if it was the train or the tracks. Now I know.

[hawktb9]

That has got to be a LONG ride... How often do they switch engineers? I'm guessing 4 times...

[Steve2223]

@hawktb9 I was only on the leg between Spokane, WA and Whitefish, MT. I don't know how often they switch operating crews, but I think it is probably more than four times. The one I rode was the third in from Seattle.

[Amtrak1194]

The day I get behind the controls of a Locomotive,

I will die a happy man!!!!

[ohiofoamer7612]

Nice video! Do you work for Amtrak?

[Steve2223]

@ohiofoamer7612 No, the engineer was an old friend.

[fixierider97]

wow, amazing video, horn, everything! My dream ride

[cochranexyz]

Who the hell gave this 6 thumbs down? This kicks ass!

[kingspian]

Thank you for posting this video of the Amtrak.

[s7o0a0p]

No ditch lights (or any lights) in the tunnel?

[Steve2223]

The main illumination was the loco's head light. There were also little alcoves every half mile or so with lights to mark them and presumably some emergency equipment was in them.

[teddybeareleventeen]

Great video! That is the kind of scenery I want to have on my layout, but I have quite some work to go! Thanks for the inspiration and motivation! Rated 5***** and favourited. Subscribed too!

[penguingeneral2]

5 stars and favorited. This is amazing. I want to go on that train so bad! =]

[MBTA000]

Love the detector.

[prorobo]

Wow what a great stretch of track and scenery! Awesome vid!

[freckldnred]

wow, very cool, I'd like to do that too. :)

[guitars14]

Interesting to see 3 SD70MAC's on that intermodal. Very nice video also.

[justkiddin08]

I had the chance to ride the front end on Amtrak also. Very fun ride.

[hylander89]

how did you arange to do that?!?! that musta been kinda cool to see it from the cab......

[vidstuff007]

More bugs on the windshield than shooting from the back and reversing the footage *wink* .... although there are fewer red lights!

Yes, the location makes sense now! I remember getting into Whitefish @8-9am? I guess I could look at the timetable! I remember a park full of ceramic bears last time I stopped over in Whitefish.

I with that Google would take on shooting video of all the rail lines in the daylight! If they can shoot "street views" of all the streets, the railroads should be easy!

[vidstuff007]

There are so many cool things they could do with video of all the railroad lines - now that they are putting video screens on board passenger trains, they could show the daytime scenery as you go through areas at night.

My hometown is at @ MP 231 - Hawley MN - Unless it's VERY late, the Empire Builder always goes through in the dark!

[unique1028]

nice.. i live in St Cloud mn.. the Empire builder usually goes though at 2 am west bound and about 6 to 8 am eastbound.. :-D

[s7o0a0p]

I live along the NEC near MP 220.3 (Hyde Park, MA). I get MBCR trains and Amtrak trains constantly. Yet, I get almost no freight.

[vidstuff007]

At 0:55 - did he say: Washington?

[airplanebuilderman]

vidstuff007 yes he did say washington.

[vidstuff007]

Yeah, I was thinking that this looked more like Washington! I thought I heard milepost 1315.9... milepost 1217.5 is Whitefish MT - and it must be over 100 miles to the Idaho/ WA line...

[airplanebuilderman]

vidstuff 007 beginning says western montana (and so does the comments). The guys says Washington. I think he also said the goodday? river Than again who knows???

[kemptrain]

He did say Washington but I know for a fact this is in Montana, just east of Libby. I have worked this line many times. It is along the Kootenai River (pronounced KOOT-nee)

[airplanebuilderman]

thanks for the info

[kemptrain]

Its on the BNSF's Kootenai River Subdivision, Libby, MT area to the Flathead Tunnel

[BlackWolfessUSCM]

This is so awesome. The most I ever got to do was when I was volunteering out at Illinois Railway Museum, I was the third wheel in BN-1 and BN-2 and monitored the radio.

[AuburnRails]

He forgot to blow the horn two times b4 the tunnel

[kemptrain]

Why would he, there is no rule on the BNSF that says to do that.

[AuburnRails]

I do that in railsimulator on the Sub

[coolguy676]

Show us the Cab :D

[BXV2009]

Great job.  Five stars! Just wondering: What time was this shot at?

[Steve2223]

Early morning. July 2007.

[BXV2009]

Right. Thanks.

[UPReading85]

Ben is right.....I wouldn't necessarily post when you took this video anywhere in the video the way you did because it could be used against the engineer if anyone from Amtrak or FRA sees this video.

[airplanebuilderman]

upreading85 he might be is an engeneer or part of the crew or employee of amtrak.

[DJGENEX71]

Awesome! 5*****

[railfanner91019]

howd u get this ride? do u like sweet talk the engineer or somethin

[AmtrakSilverMeteor]

Did my ears fail me again or did that detector say 2 degrees outside! Great!

[Steve2223]

I think it said 42 degrees.  Remember it was July.

[airplanebuilderman]

it did say 42 degrees

[BenAliGtor]

That engineer put his job on the line by letting you ride-it's an FRA violation. Great footage, though!

[tallflguy]

Very true. If someone from the FRA saw that the engineer would have been out of service.

[Crintingnut]

What does the signal green over red mean? Unable to find literature on signals.

[TEMPLE7D]

proced prapare for car crossing

[1dwheat]

Green over red is clear in every rulebook. There is NO such a thing as roceed reare for car crossing.

[DJGENEX71]

Awesome video! 5***** and Favorite! Wasn't that from the conductors side? Left side of the engine?

[CoastStarlight11]

Saw this a while back. This ia an amazingly hard core vid!!!

[trainengineer2]

how do u het cabrides i want one down here in florida on amtrak wehat do u do to get one?

[Steve2223]

Become friends with the engineer!

[trainengineer2]

thanks very much ill have to do that do u just talk to them at a station

[bonnevillessei]

i am a brother of an engineer and they wont let me ride on the train with him...

[Trainman11185]

lol I thought the freight trains had the right of way

[trainboy07]

good work!

[chefjavier]

what's up with the ending? Low budget movie.

[Steve2223]

Yes, it definitely was done on a low budget.

[NEBY25]

Do you have a better one??

[bonnevillessei]

what kinda ending is that? boooooooooooooo

[HHS76]

You've never seen North By Northwest? *L* Great clip!

[bigdog41407]

Flathead Tunnel baby!

[seankolker]

Gonna see some more of that as the SD70ACe`s are gonna outnumber the MACs,don`t forget about the ES44ACs. I heard the 60Ms are gonna go to Chicago,the MACs to ND for their new assignments. That leaves the ES44 and 70ACe`s for Alliance.

[cuttingwoodnow]

How mph are faster?

[Steve2223]

Maximum speed is 80 mph.

[cuttingwoodnow]

Thank you

[seankolker]

couple years ago i rode a zptlchc from whitefish to cut bank,i work for bnsf that`s some nice track up there!

[jbrandt04330]

Wonderful! Thank you for sharing.

[CoastStarlight11]

Excelent cab ride vid!!!

[tmc110]

Hey I work for Amtrak in St. Paul, stop by and say hi.

[lexmarks567]

how did you pull that off or do you work on that train

[Steve2223]

The engineer is an old friend.

[mallmaven60]

That Freight Train is Huge

[wn676]

Is that Flathead at the very end?

[Steve2223]

Yes, it is/

[K5HLR212]

SWEET!! I was on the texas eagle for 32 hours a few weeks ago!!

[Amtrak839]

Your lucky! That looks like so much fun! Great video too.

[gregtrain1]

Here's a suggestion for another video: Empire Builder eastbound cab ride from MSP to LSE! Try that for another video.

[trains0509]

man they dont let me do that on the new haven springfield line sucks

[Jeff4098]

Because they would get fired. More managers than employees on that line.