This is the third installment of a trip I made to North Dakota in 2019. After leaving Forsyth, MT eastbound 8-4-19 I pulled off I-94 at Hathaway, MT to do a little exploring.
There isn’t much at Hathaway but Wikipedia has a little info about it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hathaway,_Montana
NP Place names also has this on Hathaway:
Hathaway [Martin], Rosebud County, Montana
When this station was established in 1882 it was named Martin. This name, however, was changed on May 3, 1883, to Hathaway, the name being in honor of General Forrest Henry Hathaway. As a first lieutenant commanding a large detachment of the Fifth U.S. Infantry he was detailed by his regimental commander to guard several hundred laborers who were constructing the Northern Pacific against the depredations of hostile Indians. The construction camp was named Hathaway in appreciation of his efforts in helping the railroad officials push the construction of the railroad. Corresp and Who’s Who in America, 1910-1911.
There is a railroad siding here on the ex-NP and checking the signals at the east switch (MP 98.2) I noted they were on and a westbound was lined up. I headed east along an old frontage road about a mile or two and turned around when the road dead ended. I went back to an old bridge I had noticed a bit east of the east switch of Hathaway that looked like a good photo opportunity. Both the old road and tracks crossed over Graveyard Creek.. There was a side road to pull off onto and from there i went over to the tracks and photographed this view looking east showing the bridge and milepost bridge marker of 97.8 meaning this location was 97.8 miles west of the division point of Glendive, MT.
I figured this would be a good spot to photograph that westbound so while I waited I took a few more photos. Here is that frontage road where it crosses the creek.
And looking north towards the NP/BNSF bridge that crosses Graveyard Creek.
At 3:33 PM the westbound showed up. It was a loaded crude oil train led by BNSF 8121/7380
I decided to follow the train to Rosebud, MT for another photo so I headed back to I-94 and started west the 12 miles or so to Rosebud. A few miles west of Hathaway on I-94 is a rest stop that is near Joppa on the ex-NP and is a very scenic area. There are also many signs at the rest stop warning of rattlesnakes in the area. But in all my travels through the area I have never seen one luckily. In less than 15 minutes I was driving down to the overpass at Rosebud that crossed the railroad and Yellowstone River at MP 112.4 to photograph the train there.
The train showed up at 3:58 PM seen here on the main with the siding beside it. I am not sure of the third track as it does not show on a 2003 BNSF track profile though it was here in 1995 when I passed through the area. Possibly a track for MOW or bad order freight cars
Back in the train were a couple of buffer cars where MRL helpers would be spliced in between for the crossing of Bozeman and Mullan Pass.
And bringing up the rear was DPU 6975. The west end of Rosebud siding is at the end of the straight track just before the curve.
Before leaving I took a photo looking east on the ex-NP from the overpass. The small town of Rosebud is located around the curve at the east end of the siding. This is such a beautiful area and I enjoy every visit here.
I then headed back towards Hathaway where I decided to check those signals one more time. Glad that I did as they were green for another westbound. Instead of going east I went west on the frontage road about as far west as you could go before it curved away from the tracks passing under the freeway. I then walked along the ROW west around a long curve where the sun angle was more favorable and found a nice tree to frame the scene. The wait was not too long as at 5:20 PM westbound grain loads led by BNSF 9233/7437 (SD70ACe/ES44DC) was passing by.
I figured this location as milepost 102.5 about 5 miles west of the bridge east of Hathaway. Here the DPU’s 4844/6058 (C44-9W/ES44AC) are crossing a culvert just to the east of where I photographed the head end. You can see where the curve ends and goes into a long straight in the direction of Hathaway.
Back to the car I was again on my way east headed towards Miles City for my next stop of exploring.
