Western Railroad Discussion > MRL Trip 2011 - Day 2 'Let it Snow'

Continued from... http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,2374535

January 12, 2011 (corrected dates from previous report, I was off by one...)

Woke up in Missoula, MT on the second day of the trip to an inch of snow on the ground and more falling. The Missoula West DS was pulling his hair out because he had trains left and right but no rested crews to run them. The yard was filling up and the longer trains were being tied down east and west of town. There were a few trains still rolling but shooting through snow flakes is not my specialty...

1-2. We caught the second of two loaded grain trains pulling into Missoula past the old NP depot near downtown. My brother reminded me of the younger brother in 1980s film "A Christmas Story". Heck it had warmed up to 20 degrees that morning.

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The DS was on the horn with maintainers every few minutes wanting to get track & time to clear the fresh snow from switches, grade crossings, and signal detectors. This along with several slow orders were making for a difficult morning.

3-4. We headed west of Missoula towards Shilling to catch the eventual departure of the loaded grain train.

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We wanted to get out of the snow so we headed east trying to get ahead of the front towards Mullan Pass. Between Avon and Garrison, MT we caught up with of of MRL's MoW cranes putting along the main westward to clear for an approaching coal train. I never did figure out what he was doing out there.

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8-10. At Elliston, MT we caught up to the westbound coal loads. With BNSF 6105 up front, a five pack of MRL ACe helpers cut in, and a pair of BNSF ACes on the rear.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/11 18:53 by MrMRL.

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11-12. The helpers were cut off to the siding at Elliston. I wanted one last shot of the coal train rounding the curves west of town before we attempted to photograph the departing helpers back towards Blossburg.

More to come...

Mr. MRL

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Seriously fun stuff... looking forward to tomorrow.

Very nice winter photos.

All great stuff. Thanks.