Maybe "photos and stories" would have been more accurate. At any rate, the BNSF Employee Appreciation Special has been touring parts of the Twin Cities and Montana Divisions, including Glendive, among other locations. The train was open to employees and their families, and tickets were free. I got tickets as soon as they became available, because I knew they would probably disappear pretty quickly. I got tickets for Tuesday afternoon.
We arrived at the Glendive depot a few minutes before the boarding time listed on our tickets. There were already several other people there, nearly all of whom had small children along with them. The train was already at the depot, and some people were preparing it for boarding. I had been advised to ride in a full length dome car by a friend who had ridden on it a few days earlier, so we waited near the door to that car for boarding to begin. After a few minutes, boarding began, and we found seats in the dome, near the center of the car.
When I got on the train, I was actually not exactly sure where it would be going. I figured it would travel west, on the Forsyth Sub, but besides a bunch of rumors, no real information was available on the destination of the train. Ultimately, where ever it went, it would return to Glendive at the end of the trip. There had been dozens of rumors about it though. Just before we departed, an announcement was made indicating that we would travel to Terry and back, a distance of about 40 miles, each way. On a freight train, it takes about an hour and fifteen minutes to get to Terry.
Shortly after the announcements were made and the doors were closed, we got under way. We were travelling in BNSF #31, a Budd full length dome car, named Bay View. It was one of the oldest cars on the train, having been built in the 1950's. The car originally belonged to the Santa Fe, long before anyone had ever even thought of the BNSF. If I had to guess, I would say it was probably the smoothest riding car on the train. It felt like a different railroad to me! It seemed like all the kids on the train were on that car, so it was probably also the loudest!
Once underway, some of the staff on the train came around with drinks and snacks. Actually, they came by a few times, with a lot of food and drinks, and if any of us wanted more, they made it clear that we could go to the lower level and help ourselves. No one left the train hungry, that is for sure! We got up and walked around during the ride, to see what was in the other cars. The other cars were gallery style cars, similar to those used as commuter cars in the Chicago area. They did not ride as nicely as our dome car did! One of them had a small gift shop in it, on the opposite end as the seating. There were also other business cars on the train, which I would have liked to explore, but there were signs making it quite clear that passengers were not allowed in those cars. We could peek in through the end door a little, but the view was not very good. Overall it was a very nice ride. It was nice to get on a train and have no responsibility!
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| This just proves I was there! Sarah and I, with Bay View behind us. |
1 comment:
It sounds like it was a fun ride. Love the photos, too.
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