Just after dawn, Amtrak’s Empire Builder passenger train pulls into the station at Whitefish, Montana, as it does every day on its cross-country journey from Seattle to Chicago. The train usually consists of two locomotives and a string of utilitarian passenger cars. But on this morning, two of the cars, directly behind the locomotives, disrupt that familiar conformity. Unlike the regular Amtrak cars, these ones look just like they did decades ago: One is polished stainless steel and the other a rich brown and orange with yellow stripes. The passenger…
