Empire Builders to Milwaukee

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Privately run intercity passenger service in Milwaukee was a thing of the past by early 1971. The Federal government had formed Amtrak to remove the burden of passenger service from the railroads and insure that core passenger routes remained active. By May 1st, when Amtrak rolled into Milwaukee, things had changed. Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha and C&NW's bi-level Streamliners were out, but Amtrak's Empire Builder was in. Direct rail service was now available all the way to Seattle, but one could no longer travel to Green Bay! All passenger service on C&NW rails was gone, but Amtrak did pick up some Chicago-Milwaukee trains over Milwaukee Road rails. These new trains looked different, too. Amtrak paint was months away and its first units were made up of mismatched heritage cars and engines that earned them the nickname "Rainbow" trains (BN green, GN orange and blue, Milwaukee yellow, Burlington silver, NP greens, and others). Their classic motive power included E-9s, F-3s, F-7s, and F-9s.

Empire Builders to Milwaukee takes you back to the six months preceding and following the start of Amtrak service in Milwaukee. You'll view the Morning Hiawatha and the C&NW bi-level Streamliners during their last winter and spring of operations as well as Amtrak's new Empire Builder and Chicago-Milwaukee corridor service. Also making appearances are freights (many pulled by venerable GP35s and GP9s) on the Milwaukee Road and Soo Line, the commuter Cannonball, and specials including Amtrak's Turbo Train on its national tour and the Great Circus Train of 1971. These exciting scenes were filmed at Oconomowoc, Pewaukee, Duplainville, Brookfield, Elm Grove, Wauwatosa, Oak Creek, West Bend, and other Milwaukee metro areas. There's plenty to enjoy in this fascinating tribute to Amtrak's early Empire Builders!

Channel: Travel & Events
Uploaded: June 27, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Author: pentrexvideos

Length: 00:03:46
Rating: 4.89
Views: 78790

Tags: empire builder amtrak early pentrex e9 f7 vintage passenger train

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numbing numbered numerous Comments:
b5kalad (November 20, 2008 at 4:49 pm)
The more I watch this video the more I feel that I was born one generation too late.
amtrakrules52 (November 6, 2008 at 7:57 pm)
great video!
revolp69 (October 30, 2008 at 3:21 pm)
look at 2:07- 2:10..is that normal for that s.p. boxcar to hop like that???
collegeboy1083 (November 18, 2008 at 11:58 pm)
That wasn't the boxcar's fault, more like the track.
revolp69 (November 19, 2008 at 12:35 am)
i don't know the ones behind it aren't hopping like that...ahhh good old 70's/80's railroad
trainguy91 (September 1, 2008 at 10:35 pm)
the Milwaukee Road paint scheme on the passenger cars and the old locomotives is similar to the Union Pacific paint scheme
elrodjones (August 13, 2008 at 9:50 pm)
Love it!
StrassenbahnBenny (June 25, 2008 at 1:02 pm)
Did you made that video by your own? This is brillian!!! Very well done!
TexasPacific (June 9, 2008 at 11:13 am)
The old 70s amtrak trains were awesome.
wangbuh300 (June 6, 2008 at 9:04 pm)
hindi maganda panooren