On December 27, 2019, Watco's Mission Mountain Railroad, current operator of the former Great Northern branch line from Columbia Falls to Kalispell, Montana, ran its last train through downtown Kalispell. This occurred just 4 days shy of the 128th anniversary of the Great Northern's first train through the town.
This train consisted mainly of stored cars being pulled out of downtown. The plan is that two miles of track will be ripped up and turned into a trail connecting a park with one of the main roads in town. It sounds like the last two customers in Kalispell, CHS Kalispell and Northwest Drywall, both relocated to a new rail park in neighboring Evergreen, making the line through downtown Kalispell worthless. Recently the line had been used only for storage.
Full story: https://flatheadbeacon.com/2019/12/...vQMkLUCeKgzS-1dxOnjHCJNPL-PmGUAvN1WsUgLAnazlg
Matt
This train consisted mainly of stored cars being pulled out of downtown. The plan is that two miles of track will be ripped up and turned into a trail connecting a park with one of the main roads in town. It sounds like the last two customers in Kalispell, CHS Kalispell and Northwest Drywall, both relocated to a new rail park in neighboring Evergreen, making the line through downtown Kalispell worthless. Recently the line had been used only for storage.
Full story: https://flatheadbeacon.com/2019/12/...vQMkLUCeKgzS-1dxOnjHCJNPL-PmGUAvN1WsUgLAnazlg
Matt
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