Riding Rails From Opheim To Plentywood As A Kid Was Indeed Thrill Of A Lifetime

It was either the last two days of July or the first day of August in 1974 and I was a month away of entering sixth grade at Irle School in Glasgow, which is located by the Pioneer Museum and Bundy Park. My dad was a railroad conductor for the Great Northern Railway, later becoming Burlington Northern Railroad and eventually today’s Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.

At the time he, the engineer and the two brakemen were working on the north branch. It departed the main line at Bainville and traveled through McCabe, Froid, Homestead, Reserve, Antelope, Plentywood, Redstone, Navajo, Flaxville, Madoc, Scobey, Four Buttes, Peerless, Richland, Glentana and ending at Opheim. I have loved trains ever since I was a kid and he asked if I would want to ride up by car to Opheim with the train crew, hop on the train and head over to ...