The morning of our final full day in Montana dawned bright and clear, as had the previous days. With no set goals for this last day, we were free to do whatever we desired and thus set out without a definite plan. We headed for West Glacier, and ended up on a little road trip up the west side of Lake MacDonald and back down through the National Forest to the Columbia Falls area. Surprisingly, while not able to approach the scale and drama of the scenery inside Glacier, the National Forest had its own charm and beauty with the North Fork of the Flathead River cutting a deep canyon along the road. There was also abundant wildlife in evidence.
Back in Columbia Falls, the Flathead River funnels between two mountains spaced close together. The railroad, river, and highway share this narrow pass and there are some neat views of the BNSF across the river. I was lucky enough to catch a westbound train as it traversed this narrow mountain pass and grabbed a shot from across the river.
Pay attention to the consist-you haven't seen the last of it.
Following the passage of this train we ran back to Whitefish to watch it pass the depot, then I was inspired to chase it west. We traveled through a beautiful mountain valley and ended up in the tiny village of Olney, where the tracks go through a cut in the foothills. The sun was wrong for a head on shot, but a stack train passing through town offered the chance at a going away shot and I grabbed this one of the same train I had shot earlier across the river:
The line is single track in Olney, and the likelihood of an eastbound was nil, so back to Whitefish it was. I decided to stop at the depot, and worked Rocky the goat into a shot of local power.
At this point, I was feeling kind of melancholy about the trip, as we had had a great time and the thought of it ending was getting me down. At the same time, while I was very happy with the shots I had got on the Pass, I still had the nagging feeling that "something was missing". I couldn't put my finger on it, but it was there.
Knowing that the odds of making it back to this area with this kind of weather in the forseeable future were not high, I decided (after consultation with Mrs. L4T) to run back towards Belton and try for that one missing shot. And so we were back on the road again, making the now familiar trip between Whitefish and West Glacier. This time I was lucky enough to locate a great vantage point over Tunnel 4.0, a classic photo location. With Mrs. L4T and her busy bag of magazines settled in the Rav4, I decided to stake out this location until a train showed up or the sun disappeared. I hoped as hard as I could for a westbound, and was rewarded with three in quick succession, the only problem being that they were of the inflatable variety, on the river. But as the final raft loitered in the tailwaters of the rapids while two fly fisherman tempted the trout, I heard the unmistakeable screech of flanges complaining about being forced around tight curves as they descended the west side of the pass. Eureka! I cried. I unlimbered my trusty Canon and started shooting. The most appealing image, to my eye, was this one:
I knew I had caught the train I had been waiting for, the one "missing shot" that had been nagging me. Now, I could return home in peace, knowing that this moment had been recorded for posterity for me to look back on and remember. If you click on the image and look closely, you can see the trout fishermen continuing their efforts while the train rolls by.
The next morning we boarded an on-time #8 at the Whitefish depot for the 20+ hour trip back to Staples. Montana is a broad state, and after a few hours we arrived at Havre for a short stop where passengers are allowed to detrain. I took the opportunity to make a photo of the statue of the original "Empire Builder", James J. Hill, in front of the Havre depot. After having viewed some of his handiwork, I could honestly say that "he done good".
A few stops and hours later, we de-trained for about 15 minutes in Minot. I took the opportunity to try a couple of night shots of the Amtrak train as we waited. I was actually pretty happy with the way they turned out.
We arrived in Staples about an hour late. All in all, it was a GREAT trip. I would do it again in a second. Mrs. L4T was not as enthused about Amtrak as I was, but I can understand that given that 20 hours in coach is fairly tough duty, especially during the night hours when there is nothing to see. She was a great partner for the trip and never uttered one word of complaint about the long hours in coach.
In case you decide to visit the Marias Pass and Glacier Park area, a couple of invaluable resources for new fans to the area are here and here. Feel free to contact me if you have questions-I would love to discuss the area with any interested railfans.
We had so much fun on the trip that we were buying maps of the southwest within two week of arriving home, and starting to plan another trip that would bring us to the Grand Canyon and the Santa Fe trans-con line. Hmmm...careful planning might allow one to get there via the Powder River basin....who knows what next fall holds?
Jim, out.
