Essex (Amtrak station)
Encyclopedia
Essex, Montana is the only flag stop on the Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...

 Empire Builder
Empire Builder
The Empire Builder is a passenger train route operated by Amtrak in the Midwestern and Northwestern United States. It is Amtrak's busiest long-distance route and busiest daily train, carrying more than 500,000 travelers annually since 2007. Overall, it is the railroad's 10th-busiest line. Before...

route. Of the twelve Montana cities served by Amtrak, Essex was the ninth busiest in FY10, boarding or detraining an average of 13 passengers daily. The community of Essex, MT itself has a year-round population of less than 50, so nearly all passengers boarding or detraining in Essex are destined for the nearby historic Izaak Walton Inn
Izaak Walton Inn
The Izaak Walton Inn is a historic hotel in Essex, Montana, USA. It was originally built by the Great Northern Railway in 1939 for lodging railway workers. The hotel was originally planned as a gateway to Glacier National Park, but that plan never materialized...

 in Essex, Montana
Essex, Montana
Essex is an unincorporated community in Flathead County, Montana, United States. Located in the northwestern part of the state, Essex lies near Glacier National Park, southwest of East Glacier and southeast of West Glacier. Amtrak's Empire Builder makes a flag stop at Essex, westbound at 7.41pm...

. The Empire Builder serves eleven other communities in the state. Of the twelve Montana stations serves by Amtrak, Essex was the ninth-busiest in FY2010, boarding or detraining an average of 13 passengers daily.

There currently is no station building at Essex. (The only remaining piece of the original station is the sign with the name "Essex" on it, currently afixed to a small storage shed adjacent to the Inn.) The Empire Builder stops at a short platform located just around a curve from the Inn, with that location chosen so that departing/arriving passengers do not need to walk across the tracks in the little rail yard to reach the Inn. In late 2010, Amtrak built an attractive concrete platform with embedded heating coils (for automatic snow clearance) to replace the old asphalt platform, and also added additional lighting and fencing.

A van from the Inn meets both the morning eastbound and the evening westbound Empire Builders to convey departing/arriving passengers between the platform and the Inn. The Izaak Walton Inn is open year round.

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