April 1979 Amtrak Passenger Timetable

I wanted to post another one of my timetables. This one is from the last year Amtrak ran the Empire Builder on the Willmar line.

As a station on the former Great Northern main line, Willmar used to see the railway's highest priority passenger trains until the demise of private passenger rail in the U.S. at the beginning of the 1970's. With the creation of Amtrak, the Great Northern's successor, the Burlington Northern was relieved of its passenger service duties. The Empire Builder, the former Great Northern's premier passenger train remained in service under Amtrak on much of it's original route. Notable exceptions were the reroute through Wisconsin via Milwaukee and leaving the Steven's Pass main line in Washington.

Click the image to view the full timetable.

Taking a look at the timetable, the westbound Empire Builder was scheduled to leave Midway (Minneapolis/ St. Paul) at 8:45 PM, arrived at Willmar at 10:37 PM, and arrived at Breckenridge at 12:28 AM the following morning. The eastbound Empire Builder was scheduled to leave Breckenridge at 4:43 AM, arrived at Willmar at 6:58 AM, and arrived at Midway (Minneapolis/ St. Paul) at 9:00 AM. These times were far from ideal for many travelers in west central Minnesota and was representative of Amtrak mismanagement during its first decade.

The eastbound Empire Builder crossing the Great Northern Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis, MN on July 9, 1977. In less than 3 years, Twin Cities passenger service moved to the new Midway station, the Minneapolis Great Northern Depot was demolished, and passenger train service left the Willmar line to be rerouted through St. Cloud. Photo Courtesy of Steve Glischinski.

The Empire Builder continued to run through Willmar through the 1970's until the St. Cloud main routed, North Coast Hiawatha was discontinued in 1979. With this reduction in service, it was determined that the Empire Builder would be routed via St. Cloud to fill the void. Nearly 40 years later, the Builder remains on the St. Cloud - Staples line and regional passenger rail service to Willmar and points beyond is set as a Phase II project by the Minnesota Department of Transportation. At the earliest, passenger service will not return to the Willmar line until after 2030.

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/passengerrail/planning.html