My sunday on October 10, 2004 started out a little later then planned.  I was going to leave home really early in the morning to go out and catch the SP 4449 but I overslept my alarm.  It was making an excursion from Sandpoint, ID to Missoula, MT.  Thankfully it didn't leave as early as it was supposed to so I got there just in time.  On the way I saw a little bit of BNSF action on the funnel.  The first train was a westbound manifest just arriving at Yardley (CSX 7758, EMD 9091).  Then leaving Yardley eastbound with me was a Z-SSECHC (ATSF 920(patched), BNSF 5331, 4860).  I paced him all the way to Hauser, ID where he went into the yard for fuel.  On the way though I met a westbound hopper train at Otis Orchards in 2x2 (BNSF 4437, 5333, 4540, 4687).  Going through Ramsey siding was another westbound manifest (BNSF 5105, EMD 9080, ATSF 6901(patched)).  Next it was all the way to Sandpoint before I saw anything else.  After taking a couple of shots of the steam train at the MRL depot in Sandpoint, ID I headed out along the route to find a good photo spot. 

     After trying several I finally selected one and settle down to wait.  Then about the right time for the steam train to come a BNSF eastbound manifest rounded the corner (BNSF 4086, 8087, MRL 254).  Following right on his block though was the SP 4449 puffing white smoke into the sky.  After getting my shot I hit the road with all of the other cars and headed east.  The next spot I stopped at was the big fill through an inlet of Lake Pend Oreille.  Since there were so many people there already and I wanted to be a little closer to the tracks I opted to just climb a tree.  After shooting her I climbed down from my perch and hit the road again.  The next spot I stopped at was Heron siding.  I found a pretty secluded spot that would give me a good photo and so set up to wait. 

     The train was delayed back up the line by a photo run-by so it was over 30 minutes before I heard the musical whistle as it was blown for the crossing just down the line.  Next up was a quick grab shot at the long low bridge near Noxon, MT.  The steamer had to go into the siding here for a train to run around it so I shot it as it slowly came through the siding at Noxon.  Next I headed down a couple more miles to another good spot to set up for it.  The first train however was the train that ran around it and it was an eastbound hopper train (CN 5654, NS 9662, BNSF 4832).  I liked the consist so much that I decided to chase it for a while instead.  I finally got ahead of it at Trout Creek for a dramatic shot were the sun actually cooperated with me!  Then on down the line I shot it near Belknap, MT.

     I decided to head back to the 4449 now so I backtracked almost to White Pine to get a shot.  After a quick setup it raced around the curve and the cameras and video cameras all started.  Next I headed back to the car and on to Thompson Falls, MT.  It met a westbound hopper train in the siding and I set up on the east end of town.  After it went slowly puffing past I joined the throngs of cars chasing it down.  My next spot was between Thompson Falls and Eddy where it negotiates a series of S-curves.  Unfortunately the sun did not cooperate with everybody on this occasion.  Next up I stopped for a shot at Eddy, MT and then at Weeksville.  After those two shots I decided to try and duplicate a shot at Plains that I had taken just a few weeks earlier.

     So after another race down the highway and a quick stop, I ran down to the shot just in time to set up.  After that shot I didn't catch up with it until I got to Paradise, MT.  Here it stopped to let off passengers.   I decided that so close ups of the engine would just have to forego because there were so many people and I wanted to beat the crowds out to the semaphores.  I first checked out the semaphores at Donlon but didn't really like it so I went down to the ones at MP 205.2.   After a 20 minute wait the 4449 rounded the corner and rumbled passed me.  Originally I had planned on racing down to the semaphores around Spring Gulch for a shot but because of so much traffic I knew there was no way that was going to happen.  So I stuck to I-90 and got off at the Spring Gulch exit.  After setting up there I followed her down to Superior where she met a westbound loaded coal train in the siding.  Since the weather really wasn't that great and since it was already 4pm I decided to turn around and chase the coal train up through the semaphores before heading back to Spokane.

     So I set up at MP 190.0 for the coal train to come.  It didn't take long before it rounded the curve and I popped my shot.   After that it was a long drive back to Hauser, ID via I-90.  I arrived there around 5:30pm and found a westbound coal train waiting for a crew change (BNSF 799, 4761, 4760, 4384).  After getting a shot I headed down to Velox area to wait for it to come.  But the next thing that moved was an eastbound empty coal train (BNSF 8218, 772, BN 9666, 9244(patched), EMD 9090).  Unfortunately the sun set before any westbounds came so I headed on into Spokane.  There wasn't much of anything at Yardley and only six old engines sitting in the UP yard.  Since it was now around 6:30pm I decided I had best just head home.  It was a fun trip although the weather in MT and ID wasn't the greatest!  I hope that everybody else had a fun time chasing the SP 4449 too! 

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