Nostalgia & History > Depot Friday+: Havre to Great Falls MT 12/6/18

Yesterday I drove from Havre to Great Falls MT on U.S. 87 and allowed enough time to check out the current status of the ex-GN secondary main between those two cities.  My first stop was Big Sandy, and from what I could see from the highway, there wasn't a single car on line between Havre and end-of-track just south of Big Sandy.

Image 1) Big Sandy depot, now the Big Sandy Historical Society looking SW.  The temperature was 8 degrees.
Image 2) Looking NE from the same vantage point.

While I was standing there taking these shots, a nice lady stopped and asked me if I needed a ride... you gotta love Montana folks!

 

---

---

My next stop was Loma MT.  This is in the segment where the tracks were removed and apparently the depot was long gone too.  However, there were several old style grain elevators still standing and in use.

Image 3) Looking south with the ROW, now an access road, to the left.
Image 4) An elevator with the General Mills logo still intact.

---

---

Next stop was Fort Benton.  I wanted to follow up on the reported demolition of the town's "modern" depot and found that the process had already commenced.  The sun was all wrong for these sad shots, but I thought it was an important event to record.

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,4676671,4676789#msg-4676789
 
Image 5) Looking north with the depot on the right.  It does not appear that rail cars have been spotted at these elevators for some time, although they are still used for storage, based on the continuous procession of grain trucks while I was there.  Two unit train load-outs have been built just south of town.  

Images 6) & 7)  Two more views of the end of the Fort Benton depot.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/18 13:15 by terrybaker.

---

---

---

On to Carter and Great Falls.  I was surprised to find the Carter depot alive and reasonably well although moved off-line.

8) Carter MT depot

Just trying to pass through N. Great Falls enroute to Hwy. 200 but did find a couple of subjects to aim the phone at.

9) CB&Q and NP (Route of the Vista-Dome North Coast Limited) box cars
10) BNSF969 + 1 coupling up to a Shelby-bound train 

That's all...
 

---

---

---

Great photos taken in interesting locations.
Bob

Oh dear. You may have missed the GN Loma depot on the north edge of town?

https://goo.gl/maps/2CAGzttzxJm

Dave in Msla

monaddave Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Oh dear. You may have missed the GN Loma depot on
> the north edge of town?
>
> https://goo.gl/maps/2CAGzttzxJm
>
> Dave in Msla
===============================================
Looks like those trees pretty effectively blocked the view driving south from Havre, although I wouldn't have been looking for it at that location anyway.  Wasn't the station name Chappell?

Also curious if a depot-appearing structure in a field west of the tracks on the north side of Box Elder is the real deal.  It appeared to be in pretty rough shape.

Thanks for this!  So very intersting, and any more, the type of historical railfanning I like to do!

Lee Hower - Sacramento

terrybaker Wrote
>
> Also curious if a depot-appearing structure in a
> field west of the tracks on the north side of Box
> Elder is the real deal.  It appeared to be in
> pretty rough shape.

Yes. That is/was the Box Elder depot. I remember traveling up to Havre to see my great uncle years ago and seeing the depot alongside the tracks in Box Elder.  It apparently had its own living quarters.  It is located to the north and west of its original spot along the tracks.

Surprised to hear the tracks are empty now of stored cars.  This last late spring the line was full of cars of various design stretching all the way to Big Sandy.

Thanks for sharing your recent adventures along the old GN-BN line between Havre and Great Falls, MT. With reference to your #9 photo of the CB&Q and NP boxcars, I stopped at that location a number of years ago. It's just north of Great Falls on the frontage road alongside I-15 on the east side of the highway (northbound I-5). The entire property is outlined with old "Hill Road" boxcars (NP, GN, CB&Q, SP&S) and BN boxcars plus a few Frisco boxcars, all of them 40 footers. There were more boxcars in the middle of the proerty as well. It seems the old gentlemen that owned these classic 40 footers ran some sort of a salvage business at this location. These old boxcars that he purchased from the BN (I would imagine at salvage) became his "warehouses". When I inquired about entering "the grounds" to photograph these classic old boxcars, the old gentlemen thought I was crazy. He was actually a little paranoid, thinking I was out to try and steal something. To say that he was very reluctant to allow me access was an understatement. I quite literally begged him as some of the cars were real gems and images of them would eventually aid some of my model railroading efforts. The old man finally gave the OK, but ordered his son (?) maybe nephew (?) to accompany me around to make sure I didn't lift any "merchandise". I spent a fun couple of hours photographing everything. I was shooting print film at the time. I still have the prints but sure wish I knew what I did with the negatives . . . .

Tim Dickinson
La Verne, CA