I took a trip last week to Minot, ND on business, and while my wife and 'lil engineer took Amtrak, I drove with the guy that went with me. The biggest bummer was the 9-hour drive; but it had a silver lining... The route we used follows the old Great Northern (BNSF) Hi-Line from roughly all of the 600 miles, with a few areas where the tracks disappear for miles. All my photos were taken from the truck, at 70 MPH, or as the speed limits dictated. I didn't want to be asking the driver to be pulling over every 5 miles for railfan shots, or to get him ticked-off at me; we'd have to share the vehicle for a 9-hour drive each way, and 3 days at our destination. So, the shots are not great, but illustrate a tiny bit of the Hi-Line from Chicago-Seattle. In fact, he even pointed out a train or two that I would otherwise have missed. I tried not to make him completely bored of hearing about trains, and Sirius Satellite Radio is da BOMB..... All in all, a great trip! Pics are uploaded, coverage will begin tomorrow!
Well shoot, I though this was gonna be about the inside Gateway neee highline in Or. Still can't wait for the pictures.
No, and he even made a stop for me to grab a shot of 2584 in Havre! Cool! Here's a sneak preview: Grain empty stopped for MOW forces just west of Culbertson, MT (about 40 miles from the ND border): And Amtrak's Empire Builder speeding westbound at Frazer, MT: (check out the uncommon baggage car placement!)
Sounds cool Hemi. Even if some of its gone, at least it's better preserved than the MILW Pacific Extension! Wonder why that baggage car is in between two Superliners? Do any other railfanning in Minot?
What day was this? I've left a call on the voice mail of a friend who works for ATK. He *might* know. Probably won't hear back from him, for a day or two. If he's not traveling. Boxcab E50
I think I saw that Amtrak in Spokane. Anyways it is proably a equipment move. I see them ofter enough. Kevin
We started the trip at 6:45 AM, and left Great Falls seeing nothing but our taillights. We nearly whacked a deer near Ft. Benton, MT just 40 miles from home--would have been a bad omen! By the time daylight crested the Highwood Mtns, we were nearly to Big Sandy, the end of track from havre south toward Great Falls. As we headed north out of town, we saw miles and miles of empty stack cars and TOFC/spine cars in storage. They were racked & stacked in mile-long blocks, with a couple hundred feet between strings at crossings and for wildlife access. Shots of this on the return trip! Apparently, BNSF has done this in the Missouri River gorge south of Great Falls towards Helena, and the locals are complaining their fishing access is blocked..... A reminder to all the viewers: these shots are not my normal quality, being captured thru the windows of the truck we drove! Be easy on me! Anywho, we arrived in Havre for a pit stop, and all my shots were too blurry to use. A stack was EB thru town, and the glint from the rising sun was great, but unusable. Just out of Chinook, a stack was making its way west behind a GP60M: My next shot was at Malta, where I bagged the trestle carrying the Hi-Line main over the Milk River: With MOW trucks being spotted east of Chinook, traffic dried up until Amtrak's Empire Builder was bagged at Frazer, MT, speeding westbound: More coverage, and lots more pics to come! Stay tuned!
LOL I know what your saying, I've taken many a video now out of a fast moving bus myself in the past couple of years. You get what you get and as long as a passing truck, tree, etc. doesn't block the shot to me it's still a good shot! :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up:
OK. Just heard back on this inquiry. He said it was just a deadhead move. Not certain if it went only to Spokane. Or possibly further west. Boxcab E50
I figured as much--there'd be no way to move from this car until the train stopped! Back to coverage! The rest of the trip, we saw nothing. Nothing. Nothing! I did get a last-light shot of Gassman Coulee Trestle (longest on GN), a few miles from Minot, ND, but the glare was so bad it was totally unusable. I never did get another shot on it. The railfan action in Minot was great! I didn't get a chance to railfan with daylight, but the night was just as good. As far as I'm concerned, my son and I loved it! I feel a little bad for anyone follong me in the streets of Minot, when I heard a whistle..... The only action I captured was a former Milwaukee Road (Soo/CP) GP40 working a string of loaded grain hoppers to the CP yard on the east end of town. I got video, and photo of the "Bandit" loco on its knees at a snail's pace. It was after dark, and I handheld the shot at about 1 second shutter speed; not great, but it's all I got: Also bagged a rather rare MILW hopper, complete with its "America's Resourceful Railroad" placard:
We left Minot before dawn, and had made it to Williston by daybreak. The blowing snow that hit the night before was still falling and blowing; sure made for zero visibility when a big rig passed us. The first shot I had was of a self-propelled rail crane, gon and crane tender car heading east, but the shot was too blurry to use. Once we passed Williston, the snow started to break up. By the time we hit Culbertson, MT, it was nearly stopped. We had almost zero sunlight, so my grainy shot of GN caboose X708 just east of Culbertson will have to do: After a quick pit stop at the local stop & rob for a soda, we were back on the hiway. Just west of town, the signals were red over red--oncoming traffic! Yehaw! Well, the red signals were red for Maintenance-In-The-Way! Crud! Just a few thousand feet west of the maintenance guys was this stopped grain train:
While the snow stopped falling, it was still breezy--the sun was completely gone, and trains were stopped. Aww, man! All was not lost--with MOW in the way, the whole railroad was stackingup behind that grain train. A couple blocks behind (west) the grain empty was this doublestack and TOFC train, impatiently awaiting favorable signals: A few more miles later, we passed this stack--hurry-up & wait, pal!
The tiny towns that we saw these trains around escape my memory now, but about Hinsdale, MT, we scooped this WB loaded grainer awaiting a green signal: DPU: Head end: After several miles of watching the tracks disappear, Saco, MT appears, as does another grain load (and some sun!):
