In early September I set off to Price, Utah to meet a friend from Connecticut to chase the Utah Railway. Traffic is fairly light these days, but a good bet was Soldier Summit right after sunrise for the Utah empties. The loads were going up the mountain in the afternoon, and had all 11 of the Utah's six axle units, the MK 50-3's and SD60's. the helpers, a six unit set, come off the train at Colton, a few miles below the summit. In addition to the Utah coal train, there was generally a UP & BNSF train each way, plus an odd extra.
From Utah I went up to Montana to have a look at the west end of Montana Rail Link. Montana was burning, but fortunately most of the smoke cleared after the first day, and I had some fun chasing the gas train, with an SD40-2 and an SD45 over Evaro hill and the 10th sub. I did 453 miles one day chasing. I also chased the Paradise local with a pair of GP9's. Can't remember the last time I got to chase geeps! MRL rarely ventures west of Thompson Falls, so it was all BNSF to Sand Point. I did manage some nice reflection shots near Trout Creek.
Finally, I shot BNSF's Funnel, something I've wanted to do for years. Idaho was smokey too, which helped with a couple of nice sunset shots overlooking the big trestle across Lake Pend Orielle. I did get to meet the BNSF police in Spokane, but no problem. I stopped off at Paradise on the way home, I wanted o chase a train to Missoula and shoot some stills, but there was so much smoke I just came home. Coming down through Utah I had a look at Coral Pink Dunes State Park. Almost 5500 miles for the trip.
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