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If there was anything here at the time (last December) I missed it -
Apparantly the 1905 Minot Station has undergone renovation and has been restored to something resembling it's original appearance..... as opposed to it's boxy, 'modern' look that it got during it's last makeover in the 1970's.
This article has a couple of interior photos..... still trying to find one of the new exterior.
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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Photos here illustrate that 70's Minot Depot.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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I wonder how they keep the soft drinks in that outdoor soda machine from freezing during the winter?
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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Vending machines that are intended for outdoor use have thermostats to keep the products fresh. A vending machine intended for indoor use likely only has a refrigeration element, but a machine for outdoor use will also have a heater.
That old station must have been one of the ugliest Amtrak depots in the nation.
Posts: 831 | From: Seattle | Registered: Jan 2011
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Wow! Thanks for posting this. The Minot station has looked dumpy ever since I started riding Amtrak (in 1980). I've spent lots of time hanging around that station, because it's a service stop for 7 and 8. Oftentimes the train is very early, and I would have up to 2 hours to walk around and check things out. It's nice to see that station looking beautiful again. It really was an eyesore.
Does anyone know if the sleeping car passengers still get warm, freshly baked cookies at Minot? I haven't been on the Builder in 3 years, but in 2008 the sleeper attendant went inside the station and heated up AmCookies in an oven.
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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Hoping the water subsides and the Builder gets it together before I step on board #8 June 21.
I have led a rather charmed life with the western trains though - last May I was aboard the only #6 to arrive on-time (if at all) in a 10-day window. The two previous days' trains were bustituted due to a Colorado rock slide and the next three days after were bustituted because a 12-foot tall truck attempted to drive under an 11-foot bridge in Colorado's Coal Creek Canyon.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Vincent206: Vending machines that are intended for outdoor use have thermostats to keep the products fresh. A vending machine intended for indoor use likely only has a refrigeration element, but a machine for outdoor use will also have a heater.
So far as I know, there are no heating elements in machines in the south or other areas where freezing is unlikely,
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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And as I'm a native southerner posing the question, I would have just assumed that having a soda machine outside in places like Minot or Fargo would be just a really bad idea.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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We all use the word 'pop' for soda up here. Maybe because that's the sound made when the can freezes and bursts.
Posts: 1572 | From: St. Paul, MN | Registered: Dec 2002
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quote:Originally posted by TwinStarRocket: We all use the word 'pop' for soda up here. Maybe because that's the sound made when the can freezes and bursts.
I was tempted to say 'pop' having been exposed to the term while working with a youth group in Iowa..... but then claiming ignorance about heated soft drink machines because I'm a southerner on the one hand and then talking about not taking your pop into the gym on the other would have seemed a bit incongruent!
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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In the Pacific Northwest, that's a pop machine.
I don't know if the machines actually have heaters, but they do have thermostats that control the internal temperature. The machines are well insulated, so the heat from the lights and internal machinery may be enough to keep the products above the freezing point. I imagine that operating the air circulation fan inside would, by itself, produce enough heat to keep the products safe. If you ever decide to purchase a vending machine, be sure to specify whether it will be placed indoors or outdoors.
Posts: 831 | From: Seattle | Registered: Jan 2011
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Here's what I've concluded from my regional experiences with soft drinks:
In the Northeast, it's always called soda (in Maine, the poster boy for soda is Moxie, if you can find it any more).
In the Midwest and West, it's called pop.
The South has to be different; it's either called pop or coke (small c), I guess in deference to the Atlanta nexus of Coca-Cola. When I was in the military stationed in the South, I heard guys ordering soda by saying things like, "I'll have a grape coke."!
Posts: 1530 | From: Ocala, FL | Registered: Dec 2006
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Over here "soda" is what comes out of a syphon. "Pop" is still a common term and one I grew up with, and is a generic name for non-alcoholic fizzy drinks but especially for what we call lemonade (which is clear, not yellow, like your Sprite or 7-UP) but you could have orange pop or cherry pop etc.
I also have a T-shirt with the inscription "I snorted Coke.....but the bubbles went up my nose"!
Oh, and I did go through Minot on the EB in 2005 so I can at least pretend that this isn't too far off topic! Posts: 395 | From: england | Registered: Sep 2002
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From the website, it now appears that Minot will have "none a day" service until June 6.
Posts: 9976 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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There was an Empire Builder sitting in the St. Paul station today about 4:30 pointed toward Chicago. Less than the usual full consist, but it had a lounge. Maybe they had an unused train with no place to put it. If it were a stub train to CHI it would only be there overnight.
Posts: 1572 | From: St. Paul, MN | Registered: Dec 2002
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I believe that they have been operating a 'mini' Builder from Chicago to the Twin Cities..... and providing a bustitute between Spokane and Seattle/Portland. Everything else is suspended with no alternate transportation.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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quote:Originally posted by notelvis: Everything else is suspended with no alternate transportation.
Temporary hiccups can in some cases prove to be a benefit. Although not an expert on the local geography, I wouldn't think there'd be too many airports along the route and with the Greyhound cutbacks of recent years some places would have been left without public transportation.
I know that the EB route is generally well supported but hopefully, there will have been a few doubting Thomases converted to the cause by realising how isolated their communities would be without a subsidized train service.
Posts: 395 | From: england | Registered: Sep 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Ocala Mike: Here's what I've concluded from my regional experiences with soft drinks: etc etc,,,
Mike, interestingly just last month I researched this very topic for a script.
That's when I found this soda - pop site bubbly and refreshing. HA.
And directly on topic, the station in Minot distributes literature inside, including a flyer about the town and Amtrak, with the warning proclaiming "Do NOT get left in Minot." That's a family joke now with my daughters and me.
The "stub" Empire Builder has been running a SSL and three coaches between Chicago and St. Paul. Here's a video I found of stub No. 7 consist 31 May. Maybe two locos to avoid a wye in St. Paul I'm guessing,,,
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