Great Northern NW3 #181 in Whitefish, Montana

Displayed at the Amtrak depot in Whitefish, Montana is Great Northern NW3 #181. Built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in March 1942 as Great Northern #5406, this 1,000-horsepower diesel locomotive was the last of the only seven NW3s built, all for the Great Northern. It was renumbered to #181 in 1943. 

On August 30, 1965, the Great Northern sold #181 to Anaconda Aluminum in Columbia Falls, Montana, where it became their #900. When no longer needed, Anaconda Aluminum donated the locomotive to the Stumptown Historical Society in Whitefish, Montana. It was restored to Great Northern colors and placed on permanent static display next to the Whitefish depot on November 19, 1990.

Travel Alberta Visitors Information Centre

The Travel Alberta Visitors Information Centre on Going-to-the-Sun Road in West Glacier, Montana, features visitor information and interpretive displays promoting the Canadian province of Alberta, along with restrooms, telephones, and picnic areas.

Izaak Walton Inn

Adjacent to the railroad yard Essex, Montana, is the Izaak Walton Inn. Named after English writer Izaak Walton, for whom the Walton Ranger Station in Glacier National Park is also named, the Izaak Walton Inn was built on railroad property in 1939 in three months at a cost of $40,000 by the Addison Miller Company, which also operated it under contract for the Great Northern Railway as lodging for railway workers. Measuring 36 feet by 114 feet, the Tudor Revival inn featured 29 guest rooms, 10 bathrooms, a lobby, dining room, kitchen with a two-ton stove, drying room, store room and general store. 

Located at the south end of Glacier National Park 27 miles from West Glacier and 30 miles from East Glacier, it was anticipated that Essex would become a southern gateway to Glacier National Park, however World War II prevented that development. With the inn never living up to its tourism potential, the Addison Miller Company sold it to Harry Stowell in 1965 for $5,000. George A. Walker purchased it in 1968. Sid and Millie Goodrich bought it in 1973. Larry and Linda Vielleux acquired it in 1982. The inn was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 18, 1985, and was renovated in 1995 with bathrooms added to every guestroom.

Glacier Park Lodge

The Glacier Park Lodge at East Glacier, Montana, was built in 1913 by the Glacier Park Company, a subsidiary of the Great Northern Railway, and its design was based on the Forestry Building from the 1905 Lewis & Clark Centennial Exposition in Portland, Oregon. This picture was taken from Amtrak's eastbound Empire Builder passenger train on July 24, 1999.

An American Journey: The Return Home

…Continued from Eastbound.

The Dynasty, May 2004, shortly before loading for the next trip

Fast forward to May 2004.  I had just graduated from MSOE, and without a job was faced with returning to Oregon while I still had enough money to do so.  It wouldn't be until June 1 that I actually got everything taken care of and got the car packed.  As this was a one-way trip, I had to pack everything I had in Milwaukee into the Dynasty, about 1000 pounds worth of stuff.  The car was packed completely full, with just enough room for me, but I got everything in.

I tried to sleep as much as could during the day on the 1st, so I could leave that night and drive all the next day before stopping.  It was difficult to sleep, but I managed it.  It was around 10:00 PM when I left Milwaukee for the last time.  There are no pictures from this trip either, as the batteries in the digital camera had long since died, and I never put in new ones.

I had an almost full tank of gas, so my first stop for gas was Sparta, at the same gas station I had stopped at in January when returning to Milwaukee.  I think the same cashier was working at the counter.  Incidentally, I stopped for gas earlier than I needed to.  With the weight of all the stuff in the car, I was expecting worse gas mileage than I had experienced in the winter.  Plus, the car was sitting much lower in the back than normal, and I was concerned that the fuel gauge might not be accurate.  This stop indicated that my mileage was as good as in the winter (it would actually turn out to be better in the end).

While traveling through Minnesota, I realized the extra weight was causing one problem.  The car was sitting so low in the back that my headlights were now aimed too high.  Also in Minnesota came the one major problem.  A large piece of debris blew across the road right in front of my car.  For the split second I saw it, it seemed to be a large piece of cardboard or thin plywood.  I felt the car run over it roughly, and saw sparks flying from the back of the car.  As I pulled to the side of the road, my fear was a flat tire.  Normally, this would not be that bad, but to get to my jack and spare, I would have to unload most of the trunk, which was packed completely full.  Also, I only had a mini-spare, which would have limited my speed, if it held the excessive weight in the car at all, plus I would end up buying a tire as soon as possible.  As it turned out, it wasn't a flat tire at all.  The debris has ripped the muffler off, which was now wedged under the excessively low back bumper.

I kicked the muffler out from under the bumper and to the side of the road to cool down.  It wasn't a catastrophic problem, but now I had to wait along the side of the road for the muffler to cool so I could put it in the car until I found a place to get it put back on.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I have been too embarrassed to mention this until now, but in the interest of telling the whole story, here it is.  When I got out of the car here, I locked myself out of it!  In Milwaukee, I had developed the habit of locking the driver's door whenever I got out of the car, only this time I had left the car running and the keys inside!  The Dynasty's doors automatically lock at 20 mph, so all the other doors were locked as well.  Fortunately, the door hadn't shut completely, and I was able to flag down a kind truck driver, who provided a metal strap we were able to use to hook the manual door lock and pull it up, unlocking the door.  It was actually very MacGyver-like.  I don't know if that truck driver will ever see this, but I would still like to thank him for his help.  I might have been stuck there all night if not for him.

By the time I got back into the car, the muffler had cooled enough to put in the car, and I was on my way again.  The car was now VERY loud without a muffler, and I was a little concerned I would get pulled over if I happened to pass a police car, but it was too early in the morning to find anything open.  I decided to just continue on to Sioux Falls, where I would have the best chance of finding a place to get the muffler put back on.

It was about 10:00 when I got to Sioux Falls.  I got off the freeway at an exit that looked promising and searched for some kind of garage.  Fortunately, I hadn't gone too far when I came across a muffler shop.  The old muffler was pretty well shot, with a dent in it and all the stuff inside knocked loose, but the mechanic welded it back on for $20.  He said that the muffler itself didn't look like it had been in bad shape before, but the exhaust line leading up to it was heavily rusted.  He asked, "Are you sure you ran over something?  It looks like it just fell off."  I assured him I had.

On the opposite corner from the exhaust place was a Sinclair gas station with gas for $1.919 a gallon.  This was the cheapest gas I'd seen in a long time and would be the low-price leader for this trip.  It was considerably lower that the stations near the freeway.  If you are traveling and looking for the best deal on gas, I recommend getting away from the freeway a little way; the price may drop dramatically.

After lunch in Sioux Falls, I was on my way again.  South Dakota was, as usual, uneventful, however; the bugs were incredibly thick and I found myself stopping at every rest area to clean the windshield.  Also in South Dakota, I began encountering road construction.  Some parts of the freeway were being completely rebuilt down to the base gravel, and as a result both directions of traffic had to use one side of the freeway as a two-lane road in some areas.  I would continue to encounter construction, though usually not of this scale, all the way through eastern Montana.  I also got another rock chip in my windshield, this time on the driver's side, but very low, so not in the way.  To be fair to South Dakota, which I've suggested is boring, I did stop at a rest area in the state with a built in Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center, which was quite impressive and informative.  In the winter, this had not been open.

I stopped for gas and dinner in Rapid City (the address of the gas station was 140 Disk Drive) and left determined to get to Montana before stopping for the night.  My temporarily mis-aimed headlights gave me difficulty through Wyoming; I could see better with my regular headlight than with my high-beams, which seemed only to light up the sky.

I arrived in Missoula, Montana around Midnight, and searched for a motel room, only to find all the cheap ones were gone.  Frustrated, I decided I'd just keep going and find somewhere to sleep in the car.  I was in need of gas though, and looked for the best deal on gas.  I paid for the gas with my debit card at the pump, but I went into the store anyway in search of something for dinner.  There was a large laminated highway map of Montana on the wall and I noticed a rest area about 20 miles west of Missoula.  I decided to spend the night there.  I bought a pre-made sub sandwich and chatted a little with the nice old man behind the counter.  I think he was the owner.

I drove on to the rest area, at which there were signs warning visitors to stay on the paved paths because of rattlesnakes.  I kept an eye out but never saw any.  I ate my sandwich in the car and tried to get comfortable in the car.  In an effort to hang a blanket to block out a light, I broke the rear view mirror off the windshield.  Though, with the car sitting so low in the back, it was really only giving me a view of the pavement behind me anyway.  I settled in as best I could and went to sleep.

The sun was up when woke up the next morning.  I tried to snooze as long as I could, but eventually ended up moving on.  I stopped at the first Burger King I came to for breakfast and coffee, but as I continued on I realized I needed a little more sleep.  I came across a fairly new, and nice, rest area, where I slept for a couple more hours.  At the rest area there was a group of Kiwanis members offering coffee for a donation, so I had a couple cups to wake me up before moving on.

After a stop in Missoula for gas and lunch, I headed across Lookout Pass.  It is a beautiful drive in the summer when you don't have to worry about the weather.  I stopped at the rest area near Coeur D'Alene, where there was another group offering coffee.  When I told them of my trip, they said "I hope you're going to stop soon," to which I replied, "At this point, I'm almost there."  I stopped at the Washington rest area as well for a pick-me-up.  Free coffee at rest areas is one of the few good things about Washington.

At Kennewick, I stopped at Burger King for dinner, and got my first taste of their great new Angus bacon-cheeseburger.  I also bought the most expensive gas of the trip at a Wal-Mart Mirastar station.

It started to get dark as I entered the Columbia River Gorge, and my mis-aimed headlights caused many trucks to flash their lights at me as if I had my highbeams on, but as it was just my regular lights, there was nothing I could do.  I took I-5 home this time (where I saw Amtrak's northbound Coast Starlight running many hours late), and I also took a quick detour.  Even though it was almost Midnight, I wanted to know how much stuff I had in the car, so once crossing back over the Columbia into Oregon from Longview, I went WEST on Highway 30 to Delena, where there is a small scale installed as a minor weigh station (that is never manned).  I pulled the Dynasty onto the scale and made note of the weight before returning home to Rainier and going to bed.

In the morning, I was curious how low the back of the car was sitting, so I measured some key points before I unloaded it.  After unloading, I measured the same points again, and found the back of the car had been down by about six inches (the rear mud flaps had been only an inch and a half above the pavement).  I also drove back to the scale to weigh the now-empty car and found that the car was 1000 pounds lighter.  Though I didn't take any photos of the car loaded, here is a graphic showing the difference between empty and loaded.

Here is a table showing fuel stops for this one-way trip.

CO-OP C-Store, Sparta, WI

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
10.383	$2.119	$22.00	263.7	25.4

Kings Inc. Sinclair, Sioux Falls, SD

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
13.546	$1.919	$26.00	317.7	23.5

Big D Oil, Rapid City, SD

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
14.509	$1.999	$29.00	345.6	23.8

Holiday Stationstore, Billings, MT

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
14.131	$1.949	$27.54	396.7	28.1

Noon's Sinclair, Missoula, MT

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
14.557	$1.999	$29.10	342.7	23.5

Mirastar (Wal-Mart), Kennewick, WA

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
11.822	$2.199	$26.00	341.1	28.9

Flying K, Longview, WA

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
12.278	$2.199	$27.00	300.6	24.5

The average cost of gas was $2.055 per gallon.  This was about 28% higher than about 5 months earlier!  The least expensive gas was once again in Sioux Falls at $1.919 per gallon, though that station was away from the freeway and closer stations were higher.  The most expensive gas was in the west at $2.199 per gallon.  My total cost for gas for this one-way trip was $186.64.  I estimate that the cost for a round trip would have been about $373.28.  In general, gasoline seemed to be cheaper in the middle of the country, and more expensive in Wisconsin and in the west.  I averaged just over 329.7 miles between fuel stops, and averaged 25.4 miles per gallon.  This was an improvement over the wintertime trip, despite having the car loaded down with 1000 pounds of stuff.  I attribute this to more use of cruise control and more time at highway speeds; these factors are due to better driving habits and, more importantly, better weather.

Continue to Epilogue…

An American Journey: Eastbound

…Continued from At Home.

It took me longer to load the car than I had planned, and it was after 8:00 before I was on my way.  By this time though, the remaining ice on I-5 had melted (it had caused a major accident earlier in the morning) and the roads weren't bad...yet.

After passing through Portland and entering the Columbia River Gorge on I-84, the highway gradually got more and more snow-covered.  As such storms are rare, Oregon doesn't have the snowfighting equipment of other states, like huge fleets of plow trucks (there are a few) and deicing salts.  I, like most everyone else, stopped to put on chains (they were required for trucks, and recommended for everyone else without snow tires).  Cable chains are mediocre at best, but they worked.  The most annoying thing about them was the end of the cable wouldn't stay in the clip meant to hold it, and it would strike the wheel well with each revolution of the wheel.  Upon reaching The Dalles a little after Noon, where I stopped for gas and lunch, I stopped at an auto parts store to get some cable ties for $3.99 to solve the annoying chain noise.  As it turned out though, just past The Dalles the road cleared up considerably, and I ended up taking the chains off.

With the roads cleared, I was able to travel at freeway speeds again, but I wouldn't be able to make up my lost time.  Originally I was planning to get to eastern Montana, or maybe even Wyoming, before stopping for the night.  Now, I was hoping I'd be able to get across Lookout Pass and into Missoula.  The roads were good for most of the day, though they were heavily sanded (since Oregon doesn't use salt in winter, it uses liberal amounts of sand instead) and I got a good-sized rock shot into my windshield, resulting in a good-sized chip.  Fortunately, it was on the passenger side and not in my field of vision.

It wasn't until Spokane that the weather started to worry me again, and when I reached Coeur D'Alene, the snow covered roads suggested to me that I shouldn't attempt Lookout Pass till morning.  Apparently, I had caught up to the storm, and felt I'd better let it pass.  This was discouraging, as it was only 6:30 when I arrived in Coeur D'Alene, and I really wanted to keep going, but I checked into a Motel 6 and went to bed early, hoping to get an early start.

The next morning I started up Lookout Pass with the daylight, and found the road covered with snow.  It was mostly packed snow however, and after trying the chains for a while, I decided they weren't doing any good and took them back off, proceeding at near-highway speed.  I caught up to Idaho state plow trucks, and stayed behind them to the summit, where they turned around.  Fortunately, the Montana side had also been recently plowed, and posed no trouble.  Though it was cold outside, the trip remained uneventful through Montana.  Homestake Pass was once again no problem.  As I entered Wyoming, it began to get dark.  I made up my mind not to stop in Wyoming unless I absolutely had too.  I wanted to start Sunday in South Dakota if at all possible.

It was 7:30 PM when I stopped for gas in Sheridan.  It might be a late arrival in Rapid City, but I was confident I could make it.  As I passed Gillette, I was tempted to spend the night at the motel I had stayed in just two weeks before, put instead I plunged on.  It was starting to snow lightly, but wasn't a problem.

Unfortunately, as I headed toward South Dakota, I realized I had caught up to my storm once again as the weather got worse; however, I couldn't readily tell how much worse.  With almost no other traffic, snow sticking to the road, and nothing else around, I hadn't realized how much visibility had dropped.  I was aware that my visibility was reduced, and thus wasn't traveling anywhere near the 75 mph speed limit.  I was, however, in the 50s.

Suddenly, I saw taillights appear in the snow ahead of me, and I was closing on them fast.  I tapped the brakes and quickly realized that in the snow they weren't going to stop me in time, so I moved into the snow-covered left lane and coasted past a short line of cars.  I slowed down to pace the line of cars, and found they were going less than 30 mph: excessively cautious, even for this weather.  The two cars at the front of the line had license plates I didn't recognize, and I had become familiar with the plates of the nearby states.  These people had probably never seen snow before.

I passed the line of cars, and sped up into the 40s, which I considered reasonable, so long as I didn't encounter any more slow-movers like those.  Other drivers, probably more used to snow, passed me by, stirring up the snow and reducing my visibility considerably.  Once this happened on a curve, and I was completely unaware of where the road was until I saw the guardrail out my right side window.

It was almost Midnight when I finally arrived in snow-covered Rapid City and checked into a Motel 6, though I had gained an extra hour crossing into Mountain Time when entering Montana, so to me it was more like almost 11:00.  Still late in any case.

After breakfast and gasoline (which I didn't really need yet, but I wanted a full tank to make it to Sioux Falls) I left Rapid City at about 9:00 the next morning.  I had to make it back to Milwaukee by tonight, but on my westbound trip I had gone farther in one day, so I was sure I'd make it.  It just might be really late if I caught up to my storm again.

The trip across South Dakota was uneventful, except that I found that my bottle of Windex had frozen solid in the car overnight, so no unscheduled window cleaning.  Though I put the bottle under a heat register in the car, it remained frozen for the rest of the trip.  I stopped at Sioux Falls for gas and dinner at McDonalds (my only stop at McDonalds, I usually prefer Burger King or Arby's) and again for gas at Sparta, Wisconsin around 8:00, though I was now in Central Time, so it was more like 7:00 to me.

As I approached Madison in the dark, the weather turned bad again.  Turns out I wasn't going to get break for the home stretch.  The weather didn't get quite as bad as my approach to Rapid City, but it was close, and the roads were worse.  Wisconsin's road salt kept the roads slushy and slippery.  Milwaukee itself had the most difficult roads of the trip.

I finally arrived back at my apartment at around 11:00.  I learned there had been a huge accident on the freeway in Madison due to the weather, but somehow I had missed it.  I never did take any pictures on the return trip.  Either the weather and/or roads were too bad for me too worry about pictures, or I already had taken pictures of the area on the westbound trip.  Plus, I had realized how much the pictures from the camera sucked anyway.

Here is a table showing fuel stops for the round trip.  The last two columns show the miles driven since the last refueling and the average gas mileage for those miles.

Brookfield Square, Brookfield, WI

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
13.253	$1.629	$21.59	216.9	16.4

Marion Gas Mini Mart, Rochester, MN

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
13.075	$1.499	$19.60	260.1	19.9

Kum and Go, Sioux Falls, SD

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
12.405	$1.459	$18.10	232.4	18.7

Badlands Trading Post, Philip, SD

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
13.019	$1.599	$20.82	268.2	20.6

The Rock Stop, Sheridan, WY

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
13.008	$1.499	$19.50	316.8	24.4

Thriftway, Butte, MT

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
15.144	$1.519	$23.00	354.2	23.4

Templin's At Tokio, Sprague, WA

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
13.625	$1.689	$23.01	374.1	27.5

Flying K, Longview, WA

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
13.369	$1.459	$19.51	353.6	26.4

Astro, The Dalles, OR

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
12.507	$1.639	$20.50	277.7	22.2

Tesoro 2Go, Coeur D'Alene, ID

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
13.007	$1.599	$20.80	308.6	23.7

Exxon Town Pump, Butte, MT

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
12.182	$1.519	$18.50	295.0	24.2

Texaco, Sheridan, WY

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
15.212	$1.479	$22.50	355.3	23.4

I-90 Standard, Rapid City, SD

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
10.672	$1.499	$16.00	248.6	23.3

Shop 'N' Cart, Brandon, SD

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
15.082	$1.459	$22.00	348.7	23.1

CO-OP C Store, Sparta, WI

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
15.007	$1.599	$24.00	310.2	20.7

The average cost of gas was $1.599 per gallon.  The least expensive gas was in or near Sioux Falls, South Dakota or at home at $1.459 per gallon.  The most expensive gas was in The Dalles, Oregon at $1.689 per gallon.  My total cost for gas for the round trip was $309.43.  There didn't seem to be a trend for gas prices based on the part of the country.  I averaged just over 300 miles between fuel stops, and averaged 22.5 miles per gallon, though the first mileage figure is almost all driving around Milwaukee.  Removing that figure puts my average for the trip at 23 miles per gallon.

My three nights in motels cost a total of $101.46.  My cost of gas and lodging for the trip was $410.89.  There was also a cost for food that I wasn't able to keep track of.  I don't include the cost of supplies, as those were things I would have needed for the car anyway.

Continue to The Return Home…

An American Journey: Westbound (Part 2)

…Continued from Westbound.

The next morning, I watched The Weather Channel for a while before checking out of the motel, hoping to determine what I'd run into in the mountains of Montana, but it wasn't much help.  It did however, show that the routes through southern Wyoming and Colorado had been hit hard with snow, so it seemed my route was the best choice, at least. Watching The Weather Channel had delayed my departure from Gillette, and it was almost 11:00 when I bought gas at The Rock Stop in Sheridan.

The Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming

I traveled through eastern Montana without incident.  It wasn't until I approached Homestake Pass that things got interesting again.

Beartooth Mountains (I think) in Montana

 

Driving toward the mountains in Montana 

Homestake Pass, located just east of Butte, Montana, is I-90's pass through the Rocky Mountains.  The pass crests the mountains at an elevation of 6,375 feet.  It is also the crossing of the Continental Divide.  It surprisingly does not look that imposing from the east, though it is significant.  I had passed through Bozeman, about 80 miles east of Butte, with what I thought was plenty of gas.  However, as I climbed Homestake Pass, my Low Fuel light came on.  Not knowing how far I could go with the light on, I began to imagine running out of gas as I neared the top of the pass.  Fortunately, that didn't happen.  I crested the pass and coasted down the other side into Butte, using as little fuel as possible.  I filled my tank in Butte, putting just over 15 gallons of gas into the Dynasty's 16 gallon tank.  This experience did finally give me an indication of the car's range, however; I had gone over 350 miles on that tank.

It was nearly 4:00 when I arrived in Butte, so I had dinner there.  While in Butte, snow started to fall.  It wasn't quite sticking, but I knew I had another pass yet to cross.  I decided this was a good a place as any to buy tire chains.  A gas station pointed me toward a Wal-Mart, where I bought some fairly cheap cable chains, just in case.  They cost $24.82. The search for tire chains made it well after 5:00, and getting dark, before I left Butte.  Snow was falling, but not heavily.  I discovered that rest areas in Montana had speakers installed playing the National Weather Service radio broadcasts, which helped a little. Thanks to Mountain Dew, I wasn't tired as I passed through Missoula, and I kept on toward what would be the most treacherous part of the trip: Lookout Pass.

Lookout Pass is not as high a pass as Homestake Pass.  It is only 4,725 feet high, between the Coeur D'Alene and Bitterroot Mountains.  However, while I had crossed Homestake in daylight with fairly good weather, I faced Lookout in the dark, and in a snowstorm.  Lookout, while not as high as Homestake, does seem to be steeper climb.  As I climbed, my headlights, covered with winter dirt and dust, were barely of use, and I found myself following the taillights of a Jeep Cherokee in front of me.  It had no vehicles ahead of it, so it could use its highbeams/foglights to cut through the weather, which was a help.  The Cherokee's better vision made its driver more confident than me though, and I occasionally found myself going a little faster than I really wanted to in order to keep up with the tail lights I was depending on.

Climbing toward the pass, the highway narrowed to one lane in each direction, a wall of snow filling the other.  The pass was open, but only one lane was plowed each way.  I passed a chain-up area without stopping.  No one else was in it, and I really didn't want to stop in these conditions.  After cresting the pass, which is on the Montana-Idaho border, everything quickly cleared.  As I sailed down toward Coeur D'Alene, I listened to a cassette of 1950s & 60s surfing music.  Oddly, it just seemed appropriate.

I passed through Coeur D'Alene, stopping only at a rest area (where it was so cold the sidewalks had all iced over, making them incredibly slick and forcing me to walk in the frosty grass), and into Washington.  I considered spending the night in Spokane, but I wasn't tired yet, and now being in Washington, I felt I was too close to stop now.  So, I continued on.  Not far out of Spokane, however, the fog began to set in, and I began to feel tired.  I came across a rest area, and pulled in for a nap.

After a short nap in the rest area, I realized that being back in Washington, the rest area might have free hot drinks.  Sure enough, it did.  I wasn't in the mood for coffee, and had a hot chocolate instead.  The chocolate and sugar made me ready to plunge back into the fog.

I was getting low on gas, and decided to start searching for a station.  The first one I found had closed down for the night, though it looked open, and the pumps didn't take cards, so I continued on.  I finally found one near Sprague, at a place called Tokio.  Most of the lights were off, and the fog was thick, but the pumps took cards, so I filled up and cleaned my windows and lights.

Now after Midnight, I remained in the fog as I left I-90 for 395 into the Tri-Cities.  The cities themselves were confusing but relatively fog-free, though when I started down I-82 toward Oregon, I encountered the thickest fog I had seen.  Barely able to see the lines on the road, I proceeded carefully, being passed by cars at freeway speeds that I thought couldn't possibly see where they were going.  Finally, I broke out of the fog and into Oregon.

I stopped at a couple of no-frills Oregon rest areas, mainly just to nap.  I ended up coming through Portland just before the morning rush hour.  Somehow, I'd had enough freeway driving, and drove on into Rainier on familiar Highway 30, finally arriving home about 7:00 in the morning, about 50 hours after leaving Milwaukee.

Continue to At Home…

Trains in Havre, MT

Here are some pictures of Amtrak's Empire Builder and BNSF freight trains in and around Havre.

Amtrak P40DC #816 stopped at the Havre depot with the westbound Empire Builder in March 2000.

Amtrak P42DC #152 stopped at the Havre depot with the westbound Empire Builder in May 2003.

BNSF SW15 #3442, still in Burlington Northern colors, switching cars in the Havre yard in February 2000.

BNSF SW15 #3441, in full BNSF paint, rests east of the Havre engine shop in December 2002.

BNSF B40-8 #8615 rests outside the Havre engine shop in December 2002.

BNSF B40-8W #507 rests outside the Havre engine shop in May 2003.

BNSF Warbonnet C44-9W #4716 is being serviced at Havre before proceeding with its westbound freight train in May 2003.

This concludes the original content of my Havre PLACES page. To see any additional blog entries about Havre, click on the Havre label.

Statue of James J. Hill in Havre

In front of the depot on the street side is a statue of James J. Hill. Hill formed the Great Northern Railroad in 1889 from the bankrupt St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, and extended it to Seattle by 1893. The commercial possibilities realized in the northern United States due to Hill's Great Northern Railway earned him the nickname of "The Empire Builder."

Continue to Trains in Havre…

Railroad Depot, Havre, MT

235 Main Street

The depot in Havre, at 235 Main Street, is not only an Amtrak station; it also a local base of operation for Burlington Northern-Santa Fe freight operations and maintenance crews.  As a result, it is a large depot for a city of Havre's size.  The Burlington Northern Santa Fe was formed in 1995 when the Burlington Northern Railroad (successor to the Great Northern) and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad merged together.  The station in Havre still shows signs of its Burlington Northern heritage, and though the situation seems to be improving over time, an apparent identity crisis remains.

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Hands Across the Border, Havre, MT

Near locomotive #2584 is Hands Across the Border Park. The small park consists primarily of a statue of an American Border Patrol officer shaking hands with a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer.  Havre is only 40 miles from the Canadian border, and the Border Patrol meets Amtrak's Empire Builder in Havre, to catch illegal aliens attempting to board the train.  As a result, there are often Border Patrol vehicles parked at the station.

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Great Northern Locomotive #2584, Havre, MT

On display next to the depot in Havre is former Great Northern Railroad 4-8-4 steam locomotive #2584.  A sign next to the locomotive tells its history:

This Northern type locomotive, survivor of the last steam engines acquired by the Great Northern Railway for main-line passenger service, was placed on permanent exhibition here on May 15, 1964.

A powerful and speedy locomotive, this engine now looks every bit the aristocrat that it was during the yrs. of its pre-eminent association with the Empire Builder and the Oriental Limited. The Empire Builder was inaugurated in June, 1929, and was pulled by a Mountain type locomotive, but popularity of the train led to addition of cars to the consist, and this necessitated more powerful engines.

In 1930 Great Northern acquired 14 Class S-2 steam locomotives from Baldwin Locomotive Works for service on the Empire Builder and the Fast Mail trains. This engine – No 2564 - is the last of the 14 engines. Samuel Vauclain, President of Baldwin described the Class S-2 engines as "the finest, most powerful steam passenger locomotives ever built up to this time." These engines were operated in freight service after the Empire Builder was streamlines and diesel powered in 1947, and were retired in 1955.

Locomotive and tender are 103 feet 3 inches long, weight 764,680 pounds, and height from rail to top of stack is 16 feet. No 2584 was an oil burner and developed 58,305 pounds of tractive effort. Each of the 8 drive wheels is 80 inches high.

The track on which No 2584 stands is laid to Great Northern main line specifications. The creosoted ties are supported on a sub-ballast consisting of 6 inches of crushed rock chips and a ballast consisting of 6 inches of crushed pink quartzite rock. Both of which are quarried by the Great Northern in Montana. Welded rails fully tie plated and anchored, weight 115 pounds to the yard.

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“Welcome to Havre” Sign, Havre, MT

A sign near the Havre railroad depot tells the story of Havre's early days.

WELCOME TO HAVRE
(pronounced Have'er)
The naming of Havre, according to William T. Cowan's memoirs.
The coming of the railroad in 1887 and '88 brought many workers and their families to Bull Hook Bottoms, later called Havre, according to William T. Cowan's memoirs.
The name Havre came from the following story:
"Two French-Canadian squatters on Bull Hook Bottoms were French Gus Descelles, a little sawed off man, and Joe De Mars, a very large, strong man.  They got in a fight over the affection of a charming girl and Joe De Mars got the best of the struggle.  Little French Gus reportedly said 'you can have her' and this is how Havre supposedly got it's name." The Great Northern Railway was the main supply line for Fort Assinniboine, located 5 miles southwest of Havre.  The railroad is still one of the main economic forces in the community.

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Havre, Montana

Havre is Montana's eighth largest city, with a population of about 9600 people. The city was incorporated in 1893. It is in Hill County, on the Milk River, U.S. Highway #2, and the former Great Northern, now Burlington Northern-Santa Fe, transcontinental rail line. Havre features a yard and engine terminal facility for BNSF freight trains. It is also a major station stop for Amtrak's Empire Builder. Havre is a service stop for the train, so it spends more time at Havre than at most other stops. There is also extra time built into the train's schedule, so it sometimes arrives in Havre quite early. I have been through Havre several times on the Empire Builder, and the station stop here can range from about 20 minutes up to almost an hour. During these stops, I have had time to explore the area around the depot.

“Welcome to Havre” Sign
Great Northern Locomotive #2584
Hands Across the Border
Railroad Depot
Statue of James J. Hill
Trains in Havre

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