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After visiting Glacier National Park, I resumed my journey eastward on the Empire Builder from Whitefish. Got a kick out of seeing all the folks madly waving at us from the Isaak Walton Inn, as I had just stayed there two days earlier. (it was 36 degrees, and snowing !)As we climbed up to Marias Pass, there was a sight that I never expected to see - a train wreck. Cars were lying on their sides, and some had tumbled down the bank. A large crew was busy working at the site. We were told that high winds had caused this derailment. Grain was being vacuumed up. I found it hard to believe, but the story was that they used to leave it on site, but found that it fermented, and caused a problem with drunken bears staggering around on the tracks. In any case, it was a great trip. Food was good. Also enjoyed the wine and cheese tasting. Arrived MSP on time.
Posts: 133 | From: Canaan, CT | Registered: Dec 2004
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What a pity that the bears don't get a wine and cheese tasting........with their fermented corn being vaccuumed up they'll just have to stay straight and sober!
Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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BNSF has been taken to court by the animal rights Nazis for leaving grain around the track thereby attracts bears, resulting in the occasional bear being killed by a train. They are demanding extremely low speed restrictions in the areas frequented by bears.
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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Well there's a bit more to the legal action than that, but it's true that grain spills can be a major problem especially in these months (before winter).
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DK82 - Thanks for the interesting article from the Missoula Independent. I was surprised to hear that 20 cars were deliberately toppled to get them off the tracks. Also, it was interesting to read about the Karelian bear dogs that were guarding the site. Here a link on the dogs: http://www.beardogs.org/kbds/index.html
To get back to the subject of Amtrak, I was very impressed at how BNSF consistantly gave the Empire Builder priority over freight. Why are relations so bad between Amtrak and Union Pacific ?
Posts: 133 | From: Canaan, CT | Registered: Dec 2004
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BNSF and UP are opposites when it comes to Amtrak. BN has a history of treating Amtrak very well (and is the only host railroad to consistently get its Amtrak on-time incenctive payments), while UP causes the typical multi-hour delays on the Sunset Ltd and Coast Starlight. Some of it is financial (why not put their own trains first?), and part of it is simply that BNSF has had a much much more fluid network over the past few years. UP has improved since last year, as has the performance of the Amtrak routes that rely on them.
Posts: 5 | Registered: Sep 2005
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dk82, If you have ever experienced the differences between the plaintiff's filing and reality, I seriously doubt there is. I know the claim is on the order that BNSF is deliberately and maliciously targeting the bears, but then I once got sued in a traffic accident, and it read like I had spent hours driving all over the city looking for this particular person so I could run into them.
BNSF's lines are as heavily trafficed as UP's in many instances, and from traffic density maps I have seen the traffic on the "Hi-Line" is as great as the Sunset Route. It is just that BNSF appears to know a lot more than UP about how to get trains over the line. They do it for their own and Amtrak also benefits. They also do appear to honestly give Amtrak priority. My one experience in recent years was on the San Jonquin line, where the only trains we waited for were the opposite direction Amtraks. In evern case where we met a freight, and there were several, whether we held the main or took the siding, there was almost no delay and no complete stop.
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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Here is a link to two photos I took earlier this week. The first is of the Empire Builder passing the Isaak Walton Inn, Essex, Montana. The second is of the grain train wreck near Marias Pass. It is a bit fuzzy as it was shot through a dirty and wet train window.
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