MRL Blog

On every trip I have taken through western Montana the large Smurfit-Stone liner board plant was easily one of most recognizable landmarks I would see as I neared Missoula from the west.  The large columns of steam could always be seen rising high into the Montana skies.  The MRL’s Shilling Local ran from Missoula to Smurfit-Stone daily to switch the plant and it was an operation I really never took the time to photograph.  I would see the the local once in awhile, usually returning to Missoula but it was never on my list of priorities of something to spend a day photographing.  Now it is too late.  The plant shut down operations early in January 2010 and the last assigned Shilling Local ran on Friday January 8, the last day the plant produced liner board. 

It is my understanding that when the plant opened in 1958 it was served by a Milwaukee Road local from Missoula as it was built next to their main line.  NP built a spur off the main at Shilling to interchange cars with the Milwaukee to spot.

My first time catching the Shilling Local was early in the MRL years.  On 7-15-90 MRL 1744/1926 were on the local headed back to Missoula.

MRL caboose 1001 brought up the rear of the long train.  The 1001 is former BN caboose 10131, originally built for the CB&Q.

Here the 1744 is entering Missoula yard as LMX 8588 leading a BN westbound awaits a crew to take it west.

The next time I would photograph the Shilling Local was 8-14-04 while chasing an eastbound freight with some friends.  The train stopped at Frenchtown to let the local enter the main at Shilling and go to Missoula ahead of it.  We drove up to Shilling and photographed the local there with a pair of GP35’s.

The 1001 was gone replaced by caboose 1006 which is former Great Northern.  Looks like some graffiti had recently been removed.

Now on the main with all the switches lined back the local is headed east.

In September 2009 I drove to Missoula to photograph a special MRL passenger train move that was to run late in the day 9-26-09.  While I was waiting that morning at Frenchtown for an eastbound train I heard the local coming off the main line headed for Smurfit-Stone.  MRL 109 was given as the lead unit so I knew I wanted to photograph it!  I drove over to the railroad crossing on Mullan Road just south of the plant where I saw the local backing my way caboose first.  Here is the 1006 crossing the road at 12:12 PM.  Note the nice paint job on it now.

And the 109/404 backing into the yard.

I explored the spur leading from the main to the yard and saw some interesting locations worth photographing.  I figured the train would be switching most of the day so I went back to Frenchtown.  Not long after the Shilling announced they were ready to go back to Missoula which really surprised me.  Of course I missed the train coming out the spur but I quickly drove towards Desmet and figured I had plenty of time before it would show up.  I was still sitting in the car when I saw the headlight of the MRL 404 coming under the NP signal bridge towards me.  I missed the shot!  Did that ever dog me the rest of the day.

The next morning I was at Desmet photographing trains and waiting on the Shilling local to come west.  I wanted to get some photos of it on the spur and then coming back to Missoula so I could get the shot at Desmet I missed the day before.  However the Shilling left Missoula later than I had figured on.  The 403/404 finally came through Desmet at 12:54 PM headed west.

And the last photo of the Shilling Local is of MRL 1006 at Desmet passing under the classic NP signal bridge. 

I figured there would be other days to see the Shilling Local and I had to head west to Spokane so I left Desmet and got on I-90 leaving the Shilling Local behind.  I did know know at the time this would be my last photo of the Shilling Local as I was not aware that Smurfit-Stone had plans to close down at the end of the year!  I am grateful I did get these photos but it is really sad to see any business close its doors, especially one as large as Smurfit-Stone.  I know it will be hard the next time I am driving east on I-90 towards Missoula as I will look over at the large mill and not see any steam or activity coming from it.  I am not looking forward to that.

On the final day of my September Montana trip, Sunday 9-27-09 I started out by photographing the Missoula Depot from the east end.

Here is a closer view of an NP monad on a corner of the building.

With a morning lull waiting for trains I headed west to Frenchtown for a photo of the NP CTC signals at the east end of the siding.

Later in the morning I headed east to Desmet waiting for some trains coming down Evaro Hill.  I grabbed a quick shot of the westernmost signal bridge which has been photographed several times with NP trains passing underneath.

Then I took a few self portraits of myself with the Desmet signal bridge behind as kind of an “I was here” to remember this trip by.

After photographing a number of trains at Desmet I then started west towards Spokane.  I stopped at the ex-NP Noxon Bridge to photograph a westbound freight I had caught up to and passed at Tuscor.  While waiting for it I photographed this pleasant scene along the Clark Fork River facing to the east. 

I then followed that westbound to Kootenai, ID and after it was gone took a few photos of the NP whistle post east of the Kootenai siding.

As far as I know this is the only NP whistle post sign remaining in Idaho.  A closeup shows the crude cutout of the W.  Still, a museum piece such as this on an active railroad is worthy of a photo!

I then drove on into Sandpoint and headed towards Spokane for the night.

Sunday morning 9-27-09 was spent between Frenchtown and Desmet, MT.  I wasn’t really planning to stay around Desmet that long but I heard two eastbounds coming down Evaro Hill after watching a westbound coal train leave headed towards the St Regis line.

After taking a few morning shots around the Missoula Depot I drove west to Frenchtown as there were no eastbounds at Missoula to follow east.  Just a westbound in the yard that was already on duty as well as a westbound coal train just now coming into East Missoula.  I knew there was an H-PASKCK getting close and heard the dispatcher tell them they would go into the siding at Frenchtown to meet the westbound that was now on the move out of Missoula.

After the westbound was by the BNSF 777 leading the H-PASKCK started out of the siding at Frenchtown.

Nice to see a warbonnet leading!  I then drove to Desmet to wait on the 777 and photographed the train coming under the NP signal bridge.

I could hear an the eastbound BNSF 617 up near Evaro rolling up track warrants for a second eastbound about 10 miles behind which was getting new warrants as the BNSF 9393.  Sounded like they might both be worth waiting for.  It was late morning now and the eastbounds were moving pretty slow down Evaro as I waited patiently at Desmet.  Then I heard the loaded coal train was on the move out of Missoula headed my way.  The lighting was still very harsh, quite backlit but it was nice to see a couple of SD70MAC’s leading.

It was just 11:06 and way to early to start thinking about following this train just yet.  I’d just wait for the two eastbounds and then catch up to it, or so I thought.  Finally I heard the BNSF 617 call Missoula Yard for a head in and I was track side with camera in hand as the X-PSAHAS empty grain train approached.  Leading the matched hoppers were BNSF 617/774.

It was 12:27 now and the BNSF 9393 was still 10 miles away.  But I waited and finally at 13:01 the BNSF 9393 came into view with a pair of BNSF SD70ACe’s leading an empty coal train, the 9393/9229.

I waited for DPU’s 9856/9951 on the rear before starting west after the loaded coal train.

I got all the way to St Regis hearing nothing on the scanner and just out of Plains finally heard an eastbound at Thompson Falls calling for a westbounds location.  Around Weeksville I heard the Woodlin detector go off.  It was the westbound coal train.  The two trains met and I was only just coming into Eddy.  I then heard another eastbound west of Childs so I was hoping it would slow down the BNSF 8884 just a bit.  It still beat me to Trout Creek by a few miles.  But I managed to finally get ahead of it at Tuscor when I started planning a good location to photograph it.  A location in my little black notebook not checked off yet was Bridge 73 west of Noxon.  It was quite a drive back there but I decided to give it a go.  I was parked with minutes to spare.  I was quite pleased with the shot.

I had first photographed the BNSF 8884 at Desmet at 11:06 and it was 15:40 now as DPU’s 6039/5831 crossed the Clark Fork River.

I quickly left Noxon and wanted to try for east Kootenai to get the train passing the NP whistle post sign.  I arrived there with plenty of time to set up (about 3 minutes) for this last shot of the BNSF 8884/9463 at the west end of the MRL and about to get onto the BNSF Funnel for the run to Spokane.

I followed the coal train west to Hauser where it stopped and I continued on to Spokane for the night before heading home the next morning.  I have to say it was another great trip to the MRL!

During a September trip to Montana I photographed a few things NP along the MRL between Frenchtown and Missoula.  All these photos  were taken September 26, 2009.

While waiting at Frenchtown for an eastbound train I took some photos at both switches since the signals here were installed by the NP.  East switch Frenchtown is Milepost 136. (Missoula is 119)  The two signals on the other side of the crossing look to be replacements.  I was told there may have been a derailment here some years back that took those signals out.

Two miles to the west are the west switch CTC signals at MP 138.  As mentioned in a previous post these are original NP, pretty much unchanged since the day installed.

Later at Desmet I checked out this signal bridge. 

I had never really spent a whole lot of time here but now realize these are also original NP.  This easternmost bridge at MP 125 shown here controls westward movements onto the Evaro Line (track on the right) and the St Regis river line. (track on the left)  There is a photo of it on page 192 in the Northern Pacific Diesel Era book by Schrenk and Frey with an NP U28C passing underneath.  However in that photo there are six signals mounted on it compared to only three now.

I then continued east for a view looking east from the pedestrian bridge in Missoula.  The depot is on the right and engine facility is on the left.

Next I drove up to the depot to look at the steam locomotive on display.  NP 1356 is a class S4 4-6-0 built in 1902.  Other than that basic information I know very little about the 1356.  I will have to do some research.

Later in the day MRL moved some of their business car fleet out to the Missoula depot for a special run to Gold Creek and back.  The two former NP domes were included in the move.  MRL 104 is the ex-NP 552 built in 1954 for the Vista Dome North Coast Limited.  I am sure it paused here in front of the depot many times when painted two tone green.

The other dome was in the shadows so I waited alongside the road east of town at a large open area (with no trees!) for the train to leave.  Moving slowly I was able to photograph the MRL 105 as it passed by.

MRL 105 is the former NP dome 553 also built in 1954 for the NCL.

MRL must have realized the historical value of these two former Northern Pacific dome cars to purchase them and continue to operate them on the former NP main line in their business car fleet.  I have photographed them, now my next goal will be to ride them someday.

Back in May I heard MRL would be running a Camp Mak-A-Dream passenger special from Missoula to Gold Creek, MT on 9-26-09.  I figured the two ex-NP domes in the business car fleet would be a part of the train so I made plans to be in Missoula on Saturday the 26th of September. 

Before leaving home I learned the train would be called for 1500 with a 1700 departure which was good info to know.  So on Saturday  morning September 26, 2009 I was at Missoula, MT checking out the engine facility where I found a variety of MRL power including GP9 113, SD45 331 and ex-SDP40 290.  The 113 is former NP and the 331 is ex-SP.

The 290 is the ex-GN 321 and these are some of the first rear end shots I have taken of the former passenger unit.  Note MRL 127 in the second photo, another old Great Northern locomotive.

There were no eastbounds in the yard but I knew there were some coming from the west so I started towards Superior to try and intercept them.  Coming into Lothrup I could see the rear end of a moving westbound freight which was an unexpected  bonus.  There were Boeing cars behind the power so I figured this was an H-KCKPAS.  Not many places to shoot a westbound this early in the morning but I thought the sweeping curve west of the Plateau Tunnel might look nice.  It turned out to be a decent broadside.  BNSF 7282/5338 were leading.

The three Boeing 737 fuselages reminded me of big green fish for some reason.

I could hear two eastbounds coming and a meet with the H-KCKPAS at Rivulet about to happen.  I have a small booklet I carry with me of locations I would like to photograph and Cyr was in it.  So I waited by the station sign for the first eastbound to show.  It was an empty grain train with units 4604/1119.

After the train was by at 10:09 I moved east a few miles to the sweeping curve between Cyr and Plateau Tunnel and photographed the second train at the MP 159 grade crossing.

This was the H-PASKCK.  I started east after it but a red signal stopped the train at Lothrup.  Here it sat for over an hour as a maintainer hi-railed between Frenchtown and Lothrup looking for the problem giving the red signal.  Nothing was found.  While I waited the Shilling Local left Missoula so I drove over to check it out.  I found caboose 1006 leading on a reverse move into the yard.

The 1006 is the former Great Northern X99.  MRL 109/404 were on the other end of the train.  Always nice to see my favorite MRL GP9, the 109 (first NP GP9 I ever photographed)

I then looked for some locations for the H-PASKCK which was finally leaving Lothrup and decided to check out Desmet just missing the MRL 404 heading back to Missoula!  I was not expecting the local to return that quickly.  But I knew the 5983 was coming so I waited by the signal bridges.  Of course just as the train arrived a truck stirred up some dust in the nearby parking lot.

But this was just the second photo I had taken at this signal bridge, odd for me as I know it was installed by the NP.  But in NP photos it has five signals rather than the three on it now.  I knew nothing else was coming so I went into Missoula and spent a bit of time around the depot.  MRL 109 was separated from the 404 and took a spin on the turntable.  My first photos of the turntable in action.  And turning a former NP GP9 to boot!

I could see a headlight moving to the west so I drove to the pedestrian bridge and watched as the BNSF 4604 approached with the empty grain train and did some switching.  They went back and forth a number of times.

Switching complete the 4604 left Missoula and headed east.  Back at the depot the MRL 403 soon arrived with it’s four car passenger train.  Dome 104 was spotted out in the open and I got some good photos.  It was built as the NP 552 for service on the North Coast Limited.

Alan Burns was called for the Night Gas but stopped by to see the train first and we chatted for a bit.  It was great to see him.  I’d hoped to see Dave Franz too but he had a wedding to attend this evening.  Near departure time I moved to a more open location just east of Missoula and waited.  The train left the depot right at 17:00.  It was rather backlit but as it was eastbound at 17:00 that was to be expected!

The other MRL dome 105 is the former NP 553 and I got a decent roster of it as well as it passed by. 

My main mission to get rosters of both domes had been accomplished!  Now the chase was on.  Before leaving on this trip I had asked Dave where an eastbound could be photographed after 17:00 with sun on the front.  He mentioned Bonner and Clinton.  The passenger train was moving a lot faster than I had expected (those former Rio Grande GP35’s really get up and go!) so Clinton was really my only chance as I was side by side with it through Bonner.  Turns out Clinton turned out to be the winner as the light here was even better than Bonner.  To me this was the money shot of the trip.

And the four MRL business cars, 103/104/105/101 behind GP35 403.

Back on I-90 I eventually passed the train again near Nimrod and pulled off west of Bearmouth for this shot of the eastbound MRL 403 at the MP 86.5 grade crossing.  The 403 was built as the D&RGW GP35 3039.  I am guessing it probably did not pull many special passenger trains solo on the Rio Grande!

And here is the going away shot. 

I just love those domes!  Too bad I was not up in one of them.  (but then I would not have photographed them either)  I was pleased with my photos but I wanted an overhead shot too if possible.  The bridge west of Jens was the best location for that I figured.  Coming into Drummond the smoke from a fire to the northeast was filling the skies causing kind of a golden glow.  The curve west of Jens was very backlit (I expected this) but the shot worked for what I wanted.

The last photo of the evening had to be of the two ex-NP domes.  They were the reason I was in Montana this weekend.  Nice to see them working home rails where they were once wore the slogan “Vista-Dome North Coast Limited” proudly on their sides.

Then it was back to Missoula for the night.

This is a continuation of my trip to Missoula, MT and will cover NP sights photographed between Missoula and Superior the afternoon of July 11, 2009.

Back at Missoula from Nimrod I caught MRL GP9’s 123/115 headed towards the engine service tracks. The light was very harsh but as the MRL 123 was former NP GP9 351 I would settle for any shot I could get of it.

I went to the west switch of Frenchtown to wait on a westbound military train with TFM 1613 leading. After it passed I took a few photos of the CTC signals. Note the siding signal between the main and the siding tracks, a hold over from NP days.

Then it was back to the car and after that westbound. My next stop was Plateau Tunnel east of Cyr and after the train passed I took a few photos of the west portal made famous by NP’s 1966 calendar photo of NP U25C 2508 West exiting the tunnel.

Plateau Tunnel at MP 157 has a 1923 date and is 305′ long.

My last stop was Superior where I photographed the depot which actually may or may not be NP built. Something I will have to investigate. According to the MRL it is just a Section House now.

And this old tool shed is similar to others seen in Washington state along the former NP main line.

From here I continued west to Sandpoint and Spokane but as the high clouds were increasing took no more NP subject photos electing to wait until another trip.

Here are some of the NP sights I photographed on Saturday July 11, 2009 from Missoula in the morning to Superior in the afternoon.

Morning at Missoula with good light on the depot and ex-NP turntable.

While waiting for my first eastbound to depart Missoula I get a few photos of the NP signal bridge at MP 118 just west of the Van Buren street overpass. You can walk right up the fence line for this nice angle on the south side.

And this shot is pretty much right off Van Buren street on the north side.

After the BNSF 5262 East had left Missoula I photographed it at Bonner crossing this bridge. After it had gone I took a photo of the bridge itself. Located at MP 113 this 322′ long bridge crosses the Big Blackfoot River. It was built in 1908.

I continued to the east switch of Bonner located at MP 111 and photographed the NP CTC signals here.

Then it was on to Bonita Tunnel where I photographed the east portal of the 896′ long bore at MP 94. It was built in 1908 and was once double tracked.

Just east of the portal is a former NP searchlight signal which I photographed before continuing on.

Just past Nimrod Tunnel is a girder bridge crossing the Clark Fork River. Built in 1909 this bridge is 312′ long and consists of 4 75′ spans.

And just east of the bridge is the west switch of Nimrod siding at Milepost 90. This photo shows the westbound mainline signal and the dwarf controlling the siding.

This is as far east as I got and turned back towards Missoula following a westbound freight train.

Saturday morning July 11, 2009 was bright and sunny at Missoula but some high clouds were on the western horizon.  First thing I did was check out the engine facility around the turntable where a couple of SD45’s sat along with GP9’s 113 and 127.  MRL 331 was facing into the sun and looking real nice with the 330 trailing it.

On the scanner I could hear the BNSF 5262 East and a PASKCK in the yard.  The 5262 was going to come out first so I waited for it at Van Buren Street as I wanted a photo of it passing under the NP signal bridge.  They identified themselves as the U-MBABVM which turned out to be a unit ballast train from the Missile Base pit in Eastern Washington.  Leading was BNSF 5262/7255.

My next planned location was at Bonner crossing the Blackfoot River.  The train crossed BR 113 at 08:27.

And shoving on the rear was BNSF DPU 4969.

I knew that the H-PASKCK was going to follow the ballast train so I waited at the east switch of Bonner for them to leave Missoula.  They passed Bonner at 09:24 with BNSF 7432 leading a couple of other BNSF GE’s.

I could hear on the scanner a westbound TFM 1613 working its way west towards Garrison but I did not know exactly where it was.  I continued to follow the H-PASKCK and shot it again at Bonita Tunnel.

Then I continued to follow it until I got to Bearmouth where I saw the westbound TFM 1613 leading a Military train slowing down for a meet!  I could not turn around and ended up going all the way to Drummond before I could head west again!  The 1613 was way ahead of me and I did not see it again until Missoula.  Just a few minutes too late for a decent shot but I did get one arriving shot at least.

Power for the train was TFM 1613/KCS 3946/MRL 115/MRL 123.  Too bad it switched to the far track!

At Missoula the two MRL GP9’s were cut off and moved under their own power to the engine facility.  The 123 is ex-NP GP9 351 while the 115 was ex-CNW.  I concentrated on the 123.

Another GP9 at Missoula was the 130.  While I was hoping it was former NP it was actually former CNW 4309 built as M&StL 608 in 1957.  From the long hood end it still looked good.

The two gray SD70M’s got back on the Military train and were headed west just before noon.  Harsh lighting but not a train you see every day.  My first photo of it was at Frenchtown.  Nasty light and the sky was starting to turn white as the high clouds advanced eastward.

The back shot was the one I really wanted.  The CTC signals are NP all the way.  Frenchtown was the last CTC siding on the NP until Paradise and these signals are pretty much unchanged including the siding signal being placed between the main track and siding. 

One of my goals this trip was to photograph these signals.  I’d say “Mission Accomplished”.  My next planned photo location was Plateau Tunnel.  I wanted to duplicate the NP 1966 calendar photo with NP U25C 2508 with TFM SD70M 1613.  Not much in common really but still a good location.  Arriving at the west portal I saw the sun had not quite come around here yet.  It would be backlit.  Still very pleased with the results.

And some of the Military hardware coming out of the tunnel.

I continued west to Superior to wait for the TFM 1613 near the depot.  Still not sure if it is a former depot as MRL calls it a section house.  The westbound was still backlit when it showed up.

The sun angle was better between St Regis and Paradise but the sun was pretty filtered through the high clouds.  I caught the train again crossing the Clark Fork east of Quinns at BR 210.

What I really wanted now was an overhead shot of the train from a highway overpass and that meant the MT 200 overpass at Woodlin just east of Thompson Falls.  I was not disappointed.

My next location turned out to be a spot discussed not long ago on the NP Yahoo group list.  The Noxon Rapids Dam access overpass at MP 66.  I tried my best to duplicate the shot of two NP GP9’s shown here.

The going away shot from the bridge was just as nice.

Once I was in Idaho I waited at Hope for the Military train to show for one last photo of it.  Not much sun but at least the NP cantilever signal is in the shot.

The back shot shows the 1613 and its rather uninspiring paint scheme.  TFM lettering seems to be missing!  Kind of ironic for this “stealth” unit to be on a Military Special don’t you think?

The train left Missoula about noon Mountain Time and this last photo was taken at 15:45 Pacific Time so it took about 5 hours to run from Missoula to Hope.  It was a pretty good chase.  Once I left Sandpoint I followed the BNSF to Spokane where I spent the night.

Here is the continuation from my trip to Montana July 10, 2009 and some “NP things” I photographed between Woodlin and Thompson Falls.

Yellow NP fouling point signs still protect each end of Woodlin siding.  I photographed this one at MP 28 near the west end of the siding.  Note the MRL detector in the background.

Continuing east just west of Eddy I passed this slide detector fence and noticed the very NP looking pole at MP 23.8 and thought I had better photograph it.  I could not see any wires running to it so I get the feeling it may not be in use anymore. 

I also recognized this location as one I had photographed many years before.  There was an NP searchlight signal on the other side of the tracks but it was removed around 2000.  The base of it is still in place on the far right.

Next on my list of things NP to photograph was a bridge just west of Plains located at MP 9.  The grass was shoulder high but I managed to make my way over to the sunny side for some photos.  I was thankful I had not run into any “critters” here.  That tall grass looked like a great hiding place.  Lynch Creek passes underneath the bridge and I managed to get a little of the creek in this first photo.

The bridge itself was built in 1902 and reinforced in 1929.  It is 30′ long and 19′ high.  Here are a few more photos of this bridge.

Driving into Plains I headed straight for the depot.  Hard to say if this was a former NP depot at one time.  Could be shortened from the original possibly.  MRL added a large shed at the west end that does not compliment it at all.

In old NP photos a siding is shown in front of the depot.  I do not know when it was removed but you can see where it once was in this photo.  It was to the right of the main line.  This is looking east.

Turned around at the same spot facing west the old siding is still in place but ends just before the grade crossing.

It also appears there may have been another siding (or depot house track) on the other side of the main line. 

Dave Franz had told me about some tracks he’d seen rusting away in the weeds behind the Town Pump at the east end of Plains so I decided to investigate.  I found about 100′ of some very old track in the weeds leading to nowhere but I am guessing they may have served some kind of industry in NP days.  There were ties under the rail too.  Note the trees growing up around the old tracks, one was actually growing between the rails at one spot.

The track ended just beyond this dirt grade crossing.

That was all there was to see in Plains so I headed back to the car and drove on to Paradise.  The local with GP9’s 127/113 was tied up outside the Paradise depot with good light on it.  The 127 is former GN but the 113 is ex-NP so I set up for some photos of it.  Built as the NP 291 in 1957 it was renumbered 1729 after the BN merger and I photographed it working the Paradise Local during in 1986 just before MRL took over.  The 1729 went to the MRL and became the 113 as it is today.

Except for the chopped short hood this is still very much a former Northern Pacific GP9.

Before leaving for Missoula I took this photo of the Paradise Local framed by this old NP switch stand with its yellow target in the yard.

Then it was time to leave and head on to Missoula for the night.

Driving east from Sandpoint early in the afternoon of July 10, 2009 I was looking for things NP to photograph on my way to Missoula, MT.

The NP signals at the east switch of Hope are easy to photograph.  The cantilever signal bridge has always been a favorite.  Location is Milepost 102. (miles west of Paradise)

I drove on into Montana with the plan of stopping at Heron to photograph the cantilever signal bridge at the west switch.  This cantilever signal at MP 82 is very lucky to still be standing.  In October of 2001 a freight train derailed at the west switch and somehow the derailing cars missed knocking it down.  It took me eight years to finally decide to get photos of it.

I knew there was a westbound train coming so I crossed the Clark Fork at Noxon and drove down the old road to the ex-NP Noxon Bridge located at MP 73.  Before the Noxon line relocation the NP ran on this side of the river and parts of the old roadbed can still be seen.

The new Noxon bridge was built in 1957, is 973′ long and 74′ high.  It is comprised of eight 120′ DPG. (Deck Plate Girders) NP used this bridge many times for publicity photos.

After the train passed I headed back towards the highway but stopped before crossing the bridge as I noticed I had just crossed where the old line was located.  Time for a few photos.  This is facing west and the old road is still used it appears.

Facing east you can make out where the line once ran.  This might be worth exploring some day.

Then it was back to the highway and again I started east on MT 200.  My next planned stop was Tuscor to photograph the NP cantilever at the west switch.  The signals here at MP 62 were dark meaning no trains were nearby. 

Just west of Tuscor the NP crossed Swamp Creek at MP 62.  An old wooden No Trespassing sign from NP days still protects the bridge at the east end.  It does not exactly warn anybody of anything as all the lettering faded away years ago!  Still it is a great photo prop!

I have photographed many trains crossing the bridge at MP 62 but I don’t have any photos from this angle down near the waters edge at the east end.

Part of the NP’s 1957 line relocation, Bridge 62 was built that year.  It is 262′ long with 5 Deck Plate Girders.  Three are 70′ long, one is 40′ and the other 50′.  No height was given in the NP’s Pocket Bridge List.

I then headed back to the highway and drove on towards Thompson Falls where this report will continue.