After leaving Custer, MT in the last update on my Montana/North Dakota trip I got back on I-94 and headed east towards Hysham where I would pick up on the ex-NP main line for the rest of the way to Forsyth.

Hysham is Milepost 151 (distance from Glendive, MT)

Soon I was driving past Sarpy Jct.  I was a bit surprised to learn Sarpy Jct did not exist on the NP in 1968 from looking at the 1968 NP Bridge book and NP Yellowstone Division Time Table 85 dated 10-11-65.  Curious to know know when the coal branch out of Sarpy Jct was built

Just east of Sarpy Jct at MP 145 I spotted a concrete slab railroad bridge I stopped to photograph.

Turns out it may be from after the BN merger as the NP bridge at this location is noted as two 25′ I beam/or girder so the NP bridge was replaced at some time by concrete slabs.  There is a grade crossing just to the east so I took a pic facing west towards Sarpy Jct and Hysham showing Bridge 145.4 and while here I was imagining what it must have been like with NP freight and passenger trains going by..

Which got me wondering when the NP passenger trains were scheduled to pass by this spot.  That NP Time Table from 1965 gave some idea of when they may have been expected if on time.

Both east and westbound Mainstreeter’s pass by in the wee morning hours around 0200 and probably met near here if on time.  The westbound North Coast Limited was due by Hysham at 9:33 AM and the eastbound at 2:25 PM.  Both these trains were daylight but coming out of the sun both ways.  Seems to me there are few photos of the NP between Hysham and Forsyth.

Leaving here for Forsyth I did stop one more time at Bridge 127.1 about a mile and a half west of Forsyth which I believe to be NP built.

The 1968 NP bridge book says this 3 RCT bridge crosses a drainage channel, is 48′ long, 10′ high and was built in 1939.

So no trains seen between Hysham and Forsyth but that would change east of Forsyth when the next part of the trip continues as I make my way to Glendive, MT.