Empire Builder where it should be by steve55126 Via Flickr: It always seems a little strange to me that the Empire Builder no longer goes on the Willmar Line, it's original GN route. Amtrak ran it on the line from 1971 to 1979, but when the North Coast Hiawatha was discontinued in October 1979, it was shifted to the line through St. Cloud. Interestingly, if you go way back in Builder history, it served St. Cloud before – from 1929 to 1931 it used the GN's line on west bank of the Mississippi River and served St. Cloud, Alexandria and Fergus Falls. When I took this shot of the Builder passing the GN depot in Cokato on Jan. 28, 1978 the train was on an overnight from Chicago, four days a week schedule, putting it westbound on the Willmar Line in daylight. The train must have been late this day since it was due in this area in the morning, and with nose light on the engine it was obviously late. A surprise came behind this train - BN train 190 led by an A-B-A set of F units!
