This month, Amtrak began using its newly acquired ALC-42 locomotives on the Empire Builder, the daily long-distance passenger train connecting Chicago with Seattle and Portland that runs across the Hi-Line and through the Flathead Valley. The brightly painted red, white and blue engines built by Siemens Mobility in Sacramento, Calif., are the first new locomotives Amtrak has purchased for its long-distance train services in the West since the early 1990s.
