In the early 1980s my family and I discovered the Flathead tunnel. Like many of our summer vacations, we were on the hunt for something interesting. Normally that something interesting was railroad related and our adventure into western Montana in 1982 was no different. We stopped by the forest service office in Libby and grabbed a current map which easily showed us the road up to the west end.
An east bound (#92?) is about to enter the west portal of the Flathead Tunnel.
The campsite was just out of site near the trailers.
Driving with our pickup and camper we’d planned to camp someplace up near the tunnel for the night. Conveniently there was an access road off forest road 36 about 1/4 of mile east of the east switch Rock Creek siding. We decided a spot off the road and outside the right of way fence would be perfect to enjoy the show.
I don’t remember exactly how it played out but several trains passed during the early evening which allowed us to get the feel for the location. Unlike the Cascade tunnel, trains blew out of the west end of Flathead doing 50. Wow, this tunnel was nothing like its older sister. 1960s engineering and construction techniques had made this bore a freight moving machine in contrast to the Cascade tunnel.
Rock Creek Campsite. On Forest Service land of course.
As darkness set in things changed. Somehow the darkness made it seem like the trains were moving faster. The wheels banging the frog at East Rock Creek at 50mph was nerve wracking while during the day it was just a noise. Most trains would get into dynamic brake about half way down the Rock Creek siding causing a big slack run in and the associated crashing noise. All of these mysterious noises in the night made you really wonder if something was going to go on the ground. If it did were we camped far enough away?
The original bungalow sign from East Rock Creek. Replaced in 1983 with a standard BN design.
Tuesday this week something did go on the ground at east Rock Creek. According to news reports a westbound grain train spilled 17 or 18 cars there. I haven’t seen any pictures yet to know how close our little campsite was to the wreck but I certainly would not have wanted to wake up in the middle of the night to loaded grain cars leaving the track. Thankfully train derailments are fairly rare and we didn’t have to be there to witness this one.
