With all of the MRL semaphores between Superior and Toole, MT going to be torn down around the 1st of October I decided to spend my last weekend before school started railfanning the area.  So Thursday night after work I packed everything up and was out the door the next morning just after 5am.  After arriving at St. Regis I headed up the hwy. toward Paradise, MT.  I figured that I should meet the Paradise local somewhere along the line.  I wasn't disappointed as I heard him leaving Paradise and heading my way.  The sun was out and so the train would be coming out of the sun but I decided to shoot a going away shot of it at one of the semaphores and so settled on MP 205.2.  Pretty soon it arrived with MRL 113 and 133 for power and 13 cars making up the train.  After that I headed back to the car to give chase.

     Easily catching up with it I stopped to wait for it at St. Regis.  After waiting awhile with no train showing up I found out that they had stopped to switch the Tri-Con plant.  So I decided to go exploring on down the line towards Superior.  After finding most all of the semaphores I set up for a shot and waited.  Finally they got their work done and headed my way.  I got a shot as they split the semaphores at MP 193.6 and and then chased it on east.  After getting a couple more shots at Spring Gulch and Superior, MT I continued to follow it out to the Cedars (bark/chip loading) Plant where they worked.  After that I headed on back west hoping to find a good spot at the semaphores for a shot.  But unfortunately I met an eastbound stack TOFC and manifest train between Superior and Spring Gulch.

     I decided to turn around and chase this one back to Superior where I easily got a couple photos of it coming through town (BNSF 4514, 6896, BN 6779(patched) 9205).  After that I headed back to the semaphores but met yet another eastbound stack train before I got there (BNSF 4463, 5104, 792).  By now I wasn't very happy about missing some semaphore shots but turned around and chased both trains down to the Cyr area for some photos.  After that I headed back west to get back to the semaphores.  But on the way I met another eastbound manifest.  I decided that it just wasn't worth chasing and so continued on.  After finally making it back I sat down to wait at the semaphore at MP 190.0.  After 4 hours of waiting the rain set in and I had to abandon my position and head back to the car.

     I figured that now would probably be a good time to go find a place to set up a tent.  About 4 years back my dad and I had camped for a night at a place up towards Paradise and so that was were I headed.  After arriving I set up camp and cooked some supper after the rain quite.  Then around 9pm I heard the distant rumbling of a train and soon enough the night gas local showed up with MRL 702, 703, and 705.  It had 25 gas cars and a MRL box car for a buffer between the engines and gas.  Since it was way to dark for any photography I turned in for the night after that train.  The next morning I awoke to cloudy skies and a train horn to the west (railroad east).  I quickly got up and took off to set up at the MP 210.3 semaphore for the coming westbound.  It was the H-KCKPAS with 96 cars (BN 9284, EMD 9005, BNSF 1032).

     I followed it west getting a picture at Plains and another one along the river near Eddy, MT.  At Eddy it went into the siding for 2 eastbounds.   After grabbing some breakfast out of the trunk I turned around and headed back east to find a good spot to set up.  Just west of Plains is a nice S-curve and so I waited for the first eastbound.  It wasn't much of a wait before the H-PASKCK came around the corner (ATSF 6737, 906(patched), MRL 309).  Soon the dispatcher gave him a track warrant on the 4th sub between Paradise and Superior and so the chase to get to the semaphores was on.  I decided to shoot it at MP 194.8 and managed to barely beat it there.  After grabbing that shot I headed down to the semaphore at MP 190.5 for the second eastbound which I had heard get a track warrant too.

     I was quite surprised though when a CSX nose rounded the corner on the point of the M-PASLAU (CSX 8872, 8201, ATSF 6342(patched)).  After getting my shot I followed it down to Superior to get another shot of the consist.   After that I decided to head back up to St. Regis semaphores and wait.  After about 5 hours I heard a train get a track warrant heading west.  Well great so I just headed on up to the semaphores at MP 205.2 to wait.  At 2:15pm a coal train rumbled past with 118 cars in tow on the C-BKMSPB0-89 (BN 9539, 9285(patched), BNSF 8251).   After getting that shot I chased the train to Paradise to get some roster shots of BN/BNSF coal cars.  After that I headed back down to the semaphores at MP 190.0 to wait for a train.  The lighting was excellent but by 7pm I had been waiting for almost 4 hours without seeing anything.  I gave up and headed back to camp just a little frustrated about the train traffic levels.

     Well the next train that came was the P-TACKCM which arrived in the area at 9:30pm well after dark (BNSF 9277, 7918, BN 9233).  After that I headed to bed with hopes of some more train traffic the next day.  The next morning there was a meet at Toole siding around 5:45am but I wasn't up yet.  By 6:30am it was starting to get light and so I got up and headed out.  A little while later the dispatcher gave a track warrant out to an eastbound so I headed to the semaphores at MP 208.6.  It was cloudy and overcast with a slight drizzle of rain off and on but by 7:10am the H-PASKCK arrived (FURX 7217, EMD 9067, 9014).  After getting this shot I quickly headed to the semaphores at St. Regis to get a shot there.  Next it was down to Spring Gulch for a final shot.  Following that I waited around for a while in hopes of seeing a westbound but nothing came up.  I knew from the dispatcher's conversation that the next eastbound wouldn't be in until around noon so at 11:00am I headed up to Paradise to see what was up.  In the yard the day gas was switching a few cars with MRL 705 and 703.   Next I headed back to the MP 208.6 semaphores to wait. 

     This entire morning had been cloudy giving me an opportunity to shoot this train were I normally would have been shooting into the sun.  Well as my luck would have it the sun broke through the clouds just before the train got there making for some strong backlight.  It was the M-PASLAU with a consist that almost looked like it was one the ATSF before the merger (BNSF 123, ATSF 6347, 6755(patched).   So headed east I caught a nice shot of it at the MP 192.0 semaphores and another at Spring Gulch and Superior.  After that I had to head for home since I had to register for school yet that day.  In Yardley I found the H-KCKPAS just leaving (BNSF 792, BN 6779(patched)).  A westbound stack train was stopped in the yard waiting for a new crew.  On the UP a southbound hopper train was moving through Napa St. interlocking and so I decided to chase this train out towards Cheney for the final shot of the day.   Overall it wasn't a bad trip although it rained and I didn't see nearly as many trains as I was hoping.  I didn't get all of the semaphore shots and so I am planning to take a trip back there in a week for two so maybe I will see you trackside.