Western Railroad Discussion > PNW Trip - St Maries River Railroad

I just returned from a week long trip to Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Thanks to some of the fine folks on this board we had a succesful trip. One of our prime targets was the St Maries River Railroad. This was our first trip here and we made a rookie mistake or two - just an incentive to return again. They ran M-W-Thursday last week and we headed into St Maries early Thursday morning. We heard a crew switching at Potlach and were out of position before we realized it was not the road train. We arrived at Benawah Trestle as the tail end disappeared into the woods. We still managed a few quality shots.

1. Their two GP9s made a glorious sound, smoke, and light show as the train crossed the Peedee Trestle at 8:56 in the mist.
2. The cloudy, misty day was appropriate weather to photograph a logging railroad.
3. Another pair of railfans led us to this spot somewhere between Peedee and Plummer. 9:27 AM.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/19/21 13:46 by JayK.

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4. As the train left Plummer we got our only sunny shot. The eastbound had eight empty centerbeam cars. 9:56 AM
5. We immediately headed for the east end of the Benewah Trestle. We drove to a locked gate in the park and had a nice 10 minute walk along the lake on a well maintained trail. The train arrived at about 10:40AM.
6. After a wide angle view from the same location it was time to head to our next destination - the BNSF Lakeside Sub.

Jim Kleeman

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A successful trip indeed. Excellent photography and locations.

Robert Morris
Dunsmuir, CA
Robert Morris Photography

Great images of the STMA, Jim.  Looking forward to more from the trip.
GK

Excellent reflection shot over the trestle.

Nice shots.  Is that an optical illusion, or is the Benewah trestle sagging under the rear of the train?

It's great to still be able to see former Milwaukee Road GP9's running trains on a former stretch of Milwaukee mainline in the west.   When those GP9's were new, they were the big power on that stretch of mainline.   I'm still amazed to see them running there 41 years after the Milwaukee left the west.   

Thanks for sharing your experience with us here.  

billmeeker Wrote:
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> Nice shots.  Is that an optical illusion, or is
> the Benewah trestle sagging under the rear of the
> train?
No. There is an uphill grade on the west end of the trestle.

Posted from iPhone

Great shots!

Excellent series!!

Larry

Good stuff, good fall colors.
Any signs of log cars being used?
Folks say this is too far out of the way for most photographers. I passed by a couple of years ago so I'm getting closer to a visit to the ex-Milwaukee operation.
t4p.

TCnR Wrote:
<<Any signs of log cars being used?  >>

Sadly, those were all scrapped several years ago. Only one was saved for a museum and trucked off property.
Dave in MT

Fantastic series!

Photos 5 & 6 are fantastic.

Posted from iPhone

Thanks for sharing. It must be a viable operation, since the track looks good.

Victor

Very nice..!!