2003 Western Road Trip - Day 11 - July 03



















last updated: 06/06/04


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Summit, MT We spent the night at a small campground located astride the Continental Divide, which is commemorated by these two monuments. The obelisk is in memory of Theodore Roosevelt, who was an important proponent of national parks (however, it was President Taft who, in 1910, signed the bill creating Glacier National Park). The statue portrays John Stevens, whose 1893 discovery of Marias Pass allowed the Great Northern to cross the divide at the lowest elevation north of New Mexico.
Marias, MT Shortly after dawn, BNSF 4453 East leads a matched set of BNSF "Pumpkins" through the former location of the "Marias" crossover, a mile and a half from the 5,215-foot-elevation summit.
Summit, MT BNSF 4453 East enters the single track descent down the east slope at "Summit switch."

Added 03/20/04

East Glacier Park, MT At the bottom of the relatively gentle descent down the east face of the Rockies, BNSF 4453 East crosses the 1,019-foot bridge over Two Medicine Creek.
East Glacier Park, MT Lou found this shot by literally looking over his shoulder as we were rushing eastward. It turned out to be one of my favorite from the whole trip.
Spotted Robe, MT Our eastbound was held at Spotted Robe for two westbounds. The first was BNSF 4545 West, leading a unit "earthworm" grain train towards Marias Pass. A welcome surprise was the CN unit as the trailing DPU helper!
Spotted Robe, MT BNSF 118 West was closely following the grain train, and it was another pleasant surprise to shoot a warbonnet GP60M leading an intermodal train.
Spotted Robe, MT Finally, our train got a signal to proceed east. As you can see, I shot slightly different angles for each of the three trains we caught here, and I like this one the best: It clearly demonstrates how quickly the mountains drop off to rolling pastureland.
Browning, MT BNSF 4453 East sweeps through the descending curve into Browning, as viewed from the US 6 bridge. I probably would have been better off taking this shot with a telephoto lens, but I simply didn't have time to make that decision before the train arrived. BNSF has a perfectly-maintained drift fence on the other side of US 6 to protect the ROW; a wind velocity meter has also been installed at that location.
Nimrod, MT Returning to the pass, we decided to check out the big bridges on the west slope. Our first stop was the 778-foot bridge over the Middle Fork Flathead River. Much to my delight, we heard Amtrak train No. 8, the Empire Builder, calling the station stop at Essex, and within 15 minute the train arrived at our spot. One of my inspirations for making this trip was Terry Pindell's Making Tracks, a tale of his 30,000-mile rail journey across America. The chapter I have always returned to was his description of riding the Empire Builder to Essex, MT, and I was thrilled beyond words to have been able to make a direct connection to one of my favorite books via what became one of my favorite photos from the trip.
Nimrod, MT Shortly after No. 8 passed, BNSF 4545 crossed paths with our viewfinders again. Lou's photo of the DPU crossing the bridge was chosen as a "Photo of the Week" at Cordova Bay Station.
Nimrod, MT Waiting at West Java for the grain train to clear was BNSF 4869 East, a long manifest with lots of lumber in its consist.
Nimrod, MT After shooting BNSF 4869 East, we moved west a mile to the Sheep Creek Bridges, where we found an eastbound stack train slowing to a stop at West Java. We had hoped to catch BNSF 118 West here, but we realized that this train was stopped on the near track, ruining any opportunity for a good shot of the GP60M-led westbound. Realizing that we'd had an incredible morning of shooting, we aimed the airscoop of Lou's WRX northward.
Kiowa, MT
On the way to the border, we couldn't help but be impressed by the majesty of the mountains of Glacier National Park. These views were taken from a couple pulloffs along MT 49, overlooking Lower Two Medicine Lake.
Lethbridge, AB Canadian Pacific's Lethbridge Viaduct, built in 1909 and an amazing 5,328.6 feet long and 313.7 feet high, carries the Crowsnest Subdivision over Oldman River. The railroad proclaims that the structure is the longest and highest steel railroad bridge in the world.

Day 12