RAILforum: EmpireBuilder: Getting from Minot to Bismarck

This is topic EmpireBuilder: Getting from Minot to Bismarck in forum Amtrak at RAILforum.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
http://www.railforum.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi/topic/11/2372.html

Posted by stbarry (Member # 3330) on :

I am considering taking Amtrak's EmpireBuilder from Minneapolis to Minot because I want to get to Bismarck. Problem is, Minot is 100 miles north and there is little information about public transportation on the web. Does anyone have any affordable ideas?

I like the idea of the train because this is an overnight trip, and runs almost half the cost of air. Any help you might provide would be VERY appreciated.

Posted by rresor (Member # 128) on :

I'm afraid you're out of luck unless you're old enough to rent a car. Neither Greyhound nor Jefferson Bus Lines provides service to Minot. Greyhound has an east-west route on I-94 through Bismarck, and Jefferson runs north-south between Grand Forks, Fargo, and points south, but that's it.

Posted by stbarry (Member # 3330) on :

Thanks, rresor. Yes, I'm unmistakably "old" enough.

Car rentals exceed $100 per day, so that's out. My latest brainstorm is to see about renting a UHaul for $19.95 a day. I only need to get to Bismark and then out again a week later. I want to do it inexpensively, but also wanted to try my hand at riding the rails.

I've had two prior trips: one terrific trip from southern Sweden to Uppsala and back as a high schooler, and an abominable trip from Mpls to Duluth before no smoking laws (I'm asthmatic) coupled with children of parents who couldn't parent (still not legislated!). This provides me with a great excuse, IF I can work out the logistics!

Posted by TwinStarRocket (Member # 2142) on :

What is happening to this country when you cannot travel without a car. Minot and Bismarck are the largest 2 cities in central and western ND. I tried a web search and: no bus, no shuttle. Flying from anywhere to Bismarck from a nearby city probably costs at least 3 times what it cost to fly coast to coast.

I suppose you could get off in Fargo in the middle of the night and bus to Bismarck, or rent a car for $300 per week.

Now that intercity bus transportation is shrinking, there is all the more reason to retain trains in the heartland. In this case, if there was still an Amtrak North Coast Hiawatha as there was in the 70's, you would have no problem. And it also would serve Yellowstone and the more populous region of Montana as well as providing a much needed 2nd MSP-CHI train.

End of rant. Grrrrr.

Posted by RRRICH (Member # 1418) on :

I concur with TwinStar -- BRING BACK THE NORTH COAST HIAWATHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by trainman1 (Member # 1392) on :

quote:
Originally posted by stbarry:
Car rentals exceed $100 per day, so that's out. My latest brainstorm is to see about renting a UHaul for $19.95 a day.

U-Haul's "$19.95 a day" advertising is kind of misleading, since it's really $19.95 plus a per-mile charge...and that per-mile charge certainly could add up when driving round-trip from Minot to Bismarck.

That $100 a day for a rental car seems extremely excessive, but maybe it's because there's not much competition between rental car agencies in Minot.

Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :

I though the $19.95 per day got you a trailer. Rented a truck last summer to move my son North Carolina to Memphis (thanks to computer outsourcing to India), and it was much, much more, but we did get one of their big trucks. Another son just did much better on a different company, I think it was Ryder. U-Haul quality seems to be going down the last few years. Check around the truck rentals for a small van. I like your though process. It it obvious that having an impressive vehicle is not your concern.

Posted by stbarry (Member # 3330) on :

Thanks for the advice. All of it seems spot on. Rental cars are excessively expensive in Minot, an example that without competition, capitalism cannot work because individuals will take advantage...a sad realization.

This era does seem overly dependent on cars for transportation...another sad commentary on our current societal state.

AND UHaul's advertised 19.95 rentals are indeed misleading. By time it is picked up and dropped off in Bismarck, a hundred bucks will have been spent.

So, I have a friend driving up to pick me up and then to drop me off again. The car seemed to be the only solution.

If anyone reading this has any solutions, I am still open to possibilities that will not imposition my friend. The train leaves on Monday.

THANKS for a great forum!

Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :

Encourage your friend to call 1-800-872-7245 and check train status with 'Julie'. It could save him from waiting significantly longer than he had planned in Minot in the event that #7 is running late.

I'm just back from a couple of days in the Twin Cities riding and photographing the Milwaukee Road 261 (and CP 2816....lovely locomotive) and #8, the eastbound Builder was 1-3 hours late each morning. In fact, the July 2 #261 excursion was delayed slightly in LaCrosse while waiting for a three hour tardy Empire Builder to clear.

Don't know how the westbound #7 was doing.....it's due after my bedtime!

------------------
David Pressley

Posted by stbarry (Member # 3330) on :

The phone number is a great tip. My daughter just THIS WEEKEND swamped the canoe with my cell phone in her pocket, so I was needing a way for my friend to be informed about this train's arrival status.

Say, can one get off the train at an earlier stop than one's ticket is paid for? If so, this would be another advantage to train travel.

Thanks.