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Trails & Rails Program
The National Park Service and Amtrak, the National Rail Passenger Corporation, have teamed up to bring onboard interpretive presentations to riders of Amtrak's trains . Highly successful on other Amtrak routes, the Trails & Rails program came to the Empire Builder route in 2001. The Empire Builder transports passengers between Chicago, IL and Seattle, WA/Portland, OR on a daily basis, with much of the route in North Dakota and Montana following the Lewis and Clark trail.
National Park Service volunteers on board the Empire Builder present scripted talks, answers questions, and use traveling trunks full of reproduction artifacts, all with the purpose of enlightening and entertaining travelers along the "High Line." The focus of the presentations is on the Lewis and Clark expedition, but the knowledgeable volunteers also provide information on the fur trade, Northern Plains tribes, the military in the West, and homesteading.
The Trails & Rails program begins in May and runs through September. Onboard programs will be presented three times per week; Tuesdays will be from Williston, ND to Shelby, MT, Wednesdays will be from Shelby, MT to Williston, ND, and Saturdays will be round-trip from Williston to Malta, MT and back.
A Trails & Rails volunteer shows an Amtrak passenger
items from the Lewis & Clark traveling trunk. (NPS Photo)For more information on Fort Union's Trails & Rails Program, contact:
Trails & Rails Coordinator
Fort Union Trading Post NHS
15550 Highway 1804
Williston, ND 58801
(701) 572-9083Or, visit the Trails & Rails web site at www.nps.gov/trails&rails.
For more information on Amtrak's Empire Builder, including schedules, please visit Amtrak's Empire Builder web site.
Keith Bear, Mandan-Hidatsa flutist & storyteller.
Keith's appearance was sponsored by the Trails & Rails program and by the North Dakota Council on the Arts. (NPS Photo)
A Trails & Rails volunteer talks with passengers in the lounge car. (NPS Photo)
