I decided last minute to spend a few hours on Saturday out on the BNSF funnel.  The weather looked promising in the early morning although the weather report surely wasn't.  I got a late start and the first train I saw was the Z-CHCSSE as it crossed the Latah Bridge in Spokane at 11am (BNSF 4515, 771, BN 7013(patched)).  In Yardley things were pretty much the same as usual.  The M-KFAPAS had gotten into the yard and among the assorted power at the round house was one of their engines labeled KFR 2500.  At the east end a westbound stack train was pulling into the yard labeled the Q-LPCSEA (BNSF 124, 155).  Next I headed out to the BNSF/UP crossover in the valley to catch a northbound UP train.  The detector at MP 60.1 went off and I thought I might catch a over/under but the BNSF train arrived 30 seconds too late!  The northbound UP manifest train rolled by with CP 9570 and a patched SP 6396 for power.

     After a fruitless chase of the westbound BNSF train I headed east to Idaho.  Stopping at Hauser yard I found that there was a lot of power sitting around (BNSF 4874, 4948, 1041, 4184, 4695, 6340, ATSF 691(patched), NREX 5825(ex-CP)).  An eastbound stack and hopper train where on the refueling pad and the hopper train called up to get a signal out.  So I headed for Ramsey to catch it.   In the siding I found a westbound manifest waiting for its arrival (BNSF 858, 1023, 4338, NREX 6462(ex-ATSF)).  After snapping a few shots of the westbound the eastbound hopper train arrived with 3 engines (BNSF 4427, 4771, 7669).  Next I waited around for a little while for the westbound to pull out and head for Hauser, ID for fuel.

     Driving on down to the east end of Ramsey siding I saw a headlight of an approaching train and so I stopped to get a shot.  It was another westbound manifest train and it also pulled into the siding (BNSF 1070, 4915).   I decided not to wait for whatever he was stopping for since it would be awhile so I continued on east to do a bit of exploring.  I passed Athol and then took a side road next to the tracks at the big cut.  I had never followed that road all the way through so I decided today would be a good day.  The detector at MP 24.2 had gone off but I thought that it was the eastbound I had already seen.  So to my surprise when I got out of the car for a minute I saw a westbound heading my way.  It was a loaded coal train with 3 EMDs for power and as it passed it was pulling hard (EMD 9014, 9077, 9005).  I decided that this train was worthy of another shot so I chased it back towards Ramsey.  It met an eastbound stack train just at the end of the double track (BNSF 4002, 7723) then continued on.  I caught up to it and set up for a shot just before Ramsey.

     Next I drove to the BNSF/UP crossover hoping to catch the northbound UP train I had seen earlier.  But in a little bit I heard the horn of another westbound BNSF.  The train turned out to be the H-CSXPAS with a CSX leading it (CSX 8475, GCFX 3091).  After getting a good shot in which the sun actually cooperated I headed farther east/north up the tracks.  I did some more exploring between Granite and Cocolalla but the weather started to cloud up.  I drove back down between Granite and Athol and then in to another cut near by.  I had never been there before so I walked around for awhile before being driven back to my car by the pouring rain.  Next I just sat and waited for a train.  A few minutes later at 3pm a westbound hopper train rounded the corner (BNSF 4627, 5306, 4610, BN 9245(patched)).   I followed this train to Ramsey where it went into the siding for another eastbound.  I set up and waited for a few minutes before it arrived.  When the train came into view though I was surprised and excited to find BNSF 7756 with the new BNSF logo leading the Z-PTLCHC (BNSF 7756, 4316, ATSF 924(patched)).  I quickly got my shot then headed up towards Athol for one more.  I would have followed it longer but I had to meet up with someone at 3:30pm so I left the tracks for the day.  It was a fun day with the highlight being the last train.