{"id":12653,"date":"2016-06-13T06:42:13","date_gmt":"2016-06-13T12:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=12653"},"modified":"2016-06-13T12:50:35","modified_gmt":"2016-06-13T18:50:35","slug":"train-ride-is-a-wonderful-outing-a-worthy-cause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2016\/06\/train-ride-is-a-wonderful-outing-a-worthy-cause\/","title":{"rendered":"Train ride is a wonderful outing, a worthy cause"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t<div id=\"slides-12653\" class=\"navis-slideshow\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slide-nav\">\n\n\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" class=\"prev\"><\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" class=\"next\"><\/a>\n\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slides_container\"><div id=\"12653-slide1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Big-river-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Big-river-1-771x514.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>On a First Responder Express train ride Sunday afternoon, the bank-full Yellowstone River was the prime attraction.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"12653-slide2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Family-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Family-1-771x514.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Among the passengers were Billings Police Officer (and major train fan) Brandon Ihde and his wife, Carmen, and daughter Finlee.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"12653-slide3\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Obser-cqr-1-771x413.jpg*771*413\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Obser-cqr-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>The observation deck was a popular spot.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"12653-slide4\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Near-Huntley-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Near-Huntley-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Another view of the Yellowstone, on the approach to Huntley.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"12653-slide5\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Hot-dog-eater-1-771x470.jpg*771*470\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Hot-dog-eater-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Four-year-old Marcus Lester, the son of Sheriff's Sgt. Robert Lester, seemed to be enjoying the trip, and his hot dog.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"12653-slide6\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Mom-Lane-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Mom-Lane-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>The trip wore out 9-month-old Lane Lundblad, held by his mother Ashley.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"12653-slide7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Huntley-dam-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Huntley-dam-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>The first responders were treated to a nice view of the  Huntley diversion dam.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"12653-slide8\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Cooney-1-771x452.jpg*771*452\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Cooney-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney chats with a passenger Sunday afternoon.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"12653-slide9\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-BN-Bling-1-771x537.jpg*771*537\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-BN-Bling-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>The last public car on the train was full of BNSF merchandise.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"12653-slide10\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Boxer-suite-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Boxer-suite-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>This elegant sleeping car was once used by U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordan, a director of Burlington Northern Railroad.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"12653-slide11\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Exxon-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Exxon-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Even the ExxonMobil refinery looked somehow attractive from inside the train.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"12653-slide12\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Young-boy-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Young-boy-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>A young passenger plays in an aisle.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"12653-slide13\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-truck-stop-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-truck-stop-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>A truck stops at a railroad crossing in Worden.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"12653-slide14\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Up-and-down-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Up-and-down-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>This bilevel coach had comfortable seating, perfect for viewing, up and down.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"12653-slide15\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Disembarking-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Disembarking-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>All good things must end, and train passengers must eventually disembark.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"12653-slide16\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-train-ready-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-train-ready-1-771x443.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>The First Responder Express had locomotives on either end, a necessity for a back-and-forth trip.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><script>jQuery( document ).ready( function() { loadSlideshow( 12653, 'https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2016\/06\/train-ride-is-a-wonderful-outing-a-worthy-cause\/', 16 ) } );<\/script>\n<p>Jeremy Lundblad, a Montana Highway Patrol trooper who lives in Laurel, went on the first train ride of his life Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t a terribly long trip\u2014Billings to Pompeys Pillar and back, in about two hours\u2014but it was an enjoyable, memorable ride.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI normally work weekends because that\u2019s when all the fun stuff happens,\u201d he said. \u201cBut luckily I was off today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So were dozens of other law enforcement officers, firefighters, EMTs and other first responders and their families\u2014about 250 people all told\u2014who were guests of BNSF Railway. They came from towns all over Yellowstone County.<\/p>\n<p>The special 15-car train, pulled by freight locomotives, was dubbed the First Responder Express. Andrew Johnson, assistant vice president of state government affairs for BNSF in Fort Worth, who was on the run, said the event grew out of the railway\u2019s Holiday Express for members of the military and their families.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_12671\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"addboard wp-image-12671 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Trooper-1.jpg\" alt=\"Lundblad\" width=\"336\" height=\"240\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Jeremy Lundblad looks out at the Yellowstone River aboard the First Responder Express.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Johnson said the Holiday Express started nine years ago and has been used by 20,000 military personnel and their families. Last year, BNSF decided to do something similar for first responders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe wanted to extend that theme of recognizing service,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u2666 \u2666 \u2666<\/p>\n<p>Newspaper work isn\u2019t particularly heroic, but reporters are first responders, too, in a way, and when I was invited to ride the special train on Sunday, I couldn\u2019t resist.<\/p>\n<p>I first laid eyes on Montana, in the summer of 1973, through the open doors of a boxcar. I was a recreational hobo for many years after that, usually riding freight trains west out of Missoula, but also from Missoula to Laurel a few times and all along the Hi-Line on several occasions.<\/p>\n<p>But I hadn\u2019t been east of Billings on a train since Amtrak discontinued service on the southern Montana route in 1979. I took Amtrak from Missoula, where I was going to school, to the Twin Cities, where I\u2019m from, quite a few times in the \u201970s, and made nearly as many trips in the other direction.<\/p>\n<p>So I\u2019m a sucker for trains, and fell in love with them all over again on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u2666 \u2666 \u2666<\/p>\n<p>Brandon Ihde, a Billings police officer, is also a big fan of trains. He was riding Sunday with his wife, Carmen, and 2\u00bd-year-old daughter, Finlee. Before joining the BPD, Ihde said, he was a firefighter in Glendive, where many of his colleagues were railroad men.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<h5>And a big check, too<\/h5>\n<p>Inside the Billings Depot before the trip began, Worden Fire Chief Lance Taylor was handed a $10,000 check by a representative of the BNSF Railway.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor, who is also president of the Yellowstone County Fire Council, said the money will be used to buy new radios and otherwise improve communications between members of the council.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You can&#8217;t believe what this does to jumpstart what we&#8217;re trying to do,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>He subsequently met a lot of people from Montana Rail Link on the job in Billings, he said, and just for fun he\u2019s been on runs from Laurel to Helena, riding in MRL locomotives. And on their honeymoon, he and Carmen took trains from Montana to Seattle and then down to Sacramento, partly because he wanted to visit a railroad museum there.<\/p>\n<p>The Ihdes were two of many people on the First Responder Express musing about the comeback of passenger rail service in southern Montana. Would they support it if it came back?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe would use it because her parents are in Missoula,\u201d he said, pointing to Carmen.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u2666 \u2666 \u2666<\/p>\n<p>Just about any sort of railway accommodation can be a thrill\u2014even the \u201cporch\u201d on a grain car, I can say from experience\u2014but the special train put together for the First Responder Express was about as good as it gets.<\/p>\n<p>There were several lounge cars, a dining car, a few sleeping cars, a coach with an observation deck, and an unusual bilevel coach with comfortable easy chairs facing big picture windows on the lower level.<\/p>\n<p>That was the main attraction on nearly all the cars\u2014the ability to face the world and look out on it from a comfortable perch. In all the hullabaloo about the coming of driverless cars, we forget that they are already here, more or less, except that in these cars you can get up and go exploring. (And there is somebody driving, but you don\u2019t see that person.)<\/p>\n<p>Once the train cleared the city of Billings, it hugged the south bank of the Yellowstone River for most of the way. And I mean hugged. The train almost seemed to be in the river at some points along the way, an illusion abetted by a strong spring runoff that has the river high and muddy.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s what Marcus Lester, a sergeant for the Yellowstone County Sheriff\u2019s Office, liked about the trip.<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"well\"><div class=\"dfad dfad_pos_1 dfad_first\" id=\"_ad_652\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/mjhWkW\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/201703_capeair_variable.jpg\" alt=\"CapreAir_Variable\" width=\"510\" height=\"180\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18069\" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div>\u201cIt was awesome,\u201d he said as the train neared Billings at the end of the ride. \u201cYou really get a different perspective. I\u2019ve driven all these roads for years. It\u2019s neat to see them from the railroad\u2019s perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He was riding with his wife, Julie, and their four young children. Did they enjoy it, too?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, yeah,\u201d he said. \u201cThey had a blast.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u2666 \u2666 \u2666<\/p>\n<p>Jeff Schmid, who worked for BNSF for 40 years and in five years of retirement has been working part-time as the special operations coordinator, said one of the most elegant cars on the First Responder Express was specially renovated to accommodate one person.<\/p>\n<p>That would be the late U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordan, a pre-merger member of the board of directors of the Burlington Northern. Built in 1955, the car was remodeled to be accessible to the disabled in 1991 because Jordan\u00a0was by then in a wheelchair. The car features a long conference table and Jordan&#8217;s\u00a0deluxe sleeping quarters and roll-in bathroom.<\/p>\n<p>Schmid said the train used for the first responders is also used for employee-appreciation trips. This was the only First Responder Express that will visit Montana this year, one of six or seven such trips that will be made across the BNSF network this summer.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_12673\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"addboard wp-image-12673 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/BN-Matt-and-Larry-1.jpg\" alt=\"Molt\" width=\"336\" height=\"238\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Matt Jones, right, director of BNSF&#8217;s State Government Affairs in Montana, chats with Larry Larson of Molt.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Asked whether there was any chance of passenger rail service coming back to southern Montana, Schmid said, with a faint smile, \u201cThat\u2019s pretty much up to the states and Amtrak.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No Amtrak officials were on board, but Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney was, so I asked him whether the issue was something the state might get involved in.<\/p>\n<p>Coincidentally, he said, he was at a meeting in the Flathead Valley last week, where a man broached the same subject with him. The man said there ought to be a passenger train that could run from Fargo, N.D., to Sandpoint, Idaho, where the southern and northern lines converge, then double back to Fargo along the Hi-Line.<\/p>\n<p>Cooney, who used to ride the train from his home in Butte to visit his cousins in Miles City, said it was a \u201cshame\u201d that the southern line is defunct. Passengers trains are still thriving in Europe, he said, but \u201cwe have thrown in the towel somewhat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But he wasn\u2019t sure there was a role for the state to play.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs there an interest or a desire?\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u2666 \u2666 \u2666<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s hard to believe, after rolling through the Yellowstone Valley on a beautiful late-spring day, with the countryside as green as it gets and a blue sky streaked with fleets of white clouds, that there isn\u2019t more interest in passenger trains.<\/p>\n<p>On the East Coast, where Amtrak is most viable, passenger trains can be an efficient and economical way to get around. Out here, where the miles are endless and cities are few, it\u2019s a whole different dynamic. Out here it\u2019s probably more of a tourist attraction than a viable travel option.<\/p>\n<p>But if more people could just see it, experience it, live it, maybe that interest and desire mentioned by Cooney would achieve critical mass. That\u2019s another reason to hope that BNSF continues to honor soldiers and the hometown heroes known as first responders.<\/p>\n<p>They get some heartfelt thanks and we lovers of trains gain a few more allies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jeremy Lundblad, a Montana Highway Patrol trooper who lives in Laurel, went on the first train ride of his life Sunday afternoon. It wasn\u2019t a terribly long trip\u2014Billings to Pompeys Pillar and back, in about two hours\u2014but it was an enjoyable, memorable ride. \u201cI normally work weekends because that\u2019s when all the fun stuff happens,\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16,14],"tags":[979,1491,4524,4122,4525],"class_list":["post-12653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diversions","category-montana","category-news","tag-billings-depot","tag-bnsf","tag-first-responders","tag-mike-cooney","tag-yellowstone-county-fire-council","prominence-category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}