by ryanch
I know we've been advised that the proper place for additional service on the Empire Builder is in another thread, but I'll tentatively post this here, since I see it as somewhat different.
I'm planning a family ski trip to Cascade Mtn., near Portage, WI. The Portage/Wisconsin Dells area is a fairly big regional tourist destination. I wonder whether Wisconsin has ever considered an extension of 1 or 2 Hiawathas to the area.
The Builder schedule isn't ideal for a vacation routing with it's mid-afternoon departure from Chicago, and mid-day run back from Wisconsin. For my family, that would mean either losing two days of recreation, or taking additional time off work. Extending, say, the 5:32 departure from Glenview would allow a Friday departure without taking time off (maybe leaving the office early), and still getting us to Portage at a reasonable hour. Arguably, a similar timing on a return trip would work well.
I recognize that "similar timing" would mean extending two trains, which may make this even less likely. The Builder runs Portage-Milwaukee in 1:40, or Wisconsin Dells-Milwaukee in 2 hours, so you'd be adding a 5-6 hours of running time, which may not work with existing or planned train-sets.
Does anyone know whether this has ever been considered?
I'm planning a family ski trip to Cascade Mtn., near Portage, WI. The Portage/Wisconsin Dells area is a fairly big regional tourist destination. I wonder whether Wisconsin has ever considered an extension of 1 or 2 Hiawathas to the area.
The Builder schedule isn't ideal for a vacation routing with it's mid-afternoon departure from Chicago, and mid-day run back from Wisconsin. For my family, that would mean either losing two days of recreation, or taking additional time off work. Extending, say, the 5:32 departure from Glenview would allow a Friday departure without taking time off (maybe leaving the office early), and still getting us to Portage at a reasonable hour. Arguably, a similar timing on a return trip would work well.
I recognize that "similar timing" would mean extending two trains, which may make this even less likely. The Builder runs Portage-Milwaukee in 1:40, or Wisconsin Dells-Milwaukee in 2 hours, so you'd be adding a 5-6 hours of running time, which may not work with existing or planned train-sets.
Does anyone know whether this has ever been considered?