Photo of the Week: First Snow

A couple of weeks ago, Eastern Montana received their first snowfall.  It amounted to just a couple of inches, but it was just enough to blanket the entire area in some white powder and brighten everything up from the fall brown.  Several days later I found myself out working in that fresh snow, and had the opportunity to capture my train, the U-HUTSID0-66T, near Shirley, MT.  We were following an eastbound coal train, which had stopped at the west end of Shirley, to wait for a westbound train to clear the main into the siding there.  We had a red signal at MP 62.4, which is where the eastbound approach signal for Shirley is located.  While we could have proceeded at restricted speed, I decided to just sit tight and wait for an Approach signal, since I knew the train ahead would be moving soon anyway.  Since we had a few minutes to kill, I decided to take advantage of the morning sun and fresh snow, and get this picture.  Also, I had been sitting for a while and this gave me a good reason to get up and go for a short walk along the river, and get the "I've been sitting too long jitters" out of my system.

U-HUTSID0-66T at MP 62.4 on the Forsyth Sub.  Photo by James Ogden.

(I have to admit, I am pretty happy how this turned out.  I do not consider myself a photographer, and this was just a quick shot. :) )