FL9

After leaving the peaceful banks of the Flathead River, Judy and I drove all the way west to civilization at Belton where the tracks emerge from the canyon on their way to Whitefish.  We had lunch and fueled up, and then I walked across the street to get a photo of the Amtrak depot that also serves West Glacier.

As we were getting back into the rental SUV, the radio came alive with a train passing a detector a few miles to the west.  As nothing had come by us so far, I figured it had to be an eastbound.  We drove west a little bit and discovered the west switch of the Belton siding, and it looked like this spot had potential.  As I got out to look it over, I could now hear a horn approaching from the west, so I knew this was going to be the place.  Shortly the BNSF 7778 East came past me with an intermodal train.

He called the signal as yellow, and listening to the radio confimed there was a westbound train coming into the siding.  In a few minutes the BNSF 7632 popped around the corner leading a grain train back onto the main.

A roster shot was imperative as it probably will never be this clean again.

A long stream of brown grain hoppers rolled by, and soon a regular chugging noise announced the approach of the two-unit DPU bringing up the rear.

Tomorrow we will see some of the beauty of Lake McDonald.