I strongly suggest that you print out this guide to read it. It is detailed and long, It would be a good idea to bring it along on your next trip up here as well. There are also lots of photos that may take a while to download, but it's well worth the wait.

History   While action packed and very scenic, the former Great Northern (GN) "Hi-line" north of Sandpoint still plays second fiddle to the very well known "Funnel". The track between Sandpoint and Bonners Ferry remains a very busy single track section of railroad. And with BNSF continuing to route traffic off the MRL and onto the Hi-line, this line often runs near capacity. Often 30-40 trains will pass through Bonners Ferry on a given day, not counting locals and work trains. Nowadays this section of railroad will usually keep your railfanning busier than the Funnel due to the line's single tracked nature, not to mention all the grades and curves. The Funnel has become a double tracked raceway, but trains still grind over the hills and run from siding to siding north of Sandpoint. So if you are visiting the Funnel, a trip to Bonners Ferry will not be a disappointment.
     While the Northern Pacific built through Sandpoint in the 1880's, railroading north of Sandpoint didn't get started until James Hill built his Great Northern south from Bonners Ferry in 1892. Jim Hill's railroad was nicknamed the "Hi-Line" because it was the northern most transcontinental railroad in the mainland US. Soon after the Great Northern was completed, a branch was built from Bonners Ferry northwest to Porthill on the Canadian border to tap the riches of British Columbia. It didn't take long for the GN to figure out that some of its grades were a little too steep. So the main was re-aligned from Bonners Ferry through Naples to Elmira in 1904. Competition arrived in the form of the Spokane International when it started building in 1905. The SI opened its line between Spokane, WA and Eastport, ID in 1907. The SI connected with the Canadian Pacific (CP) at Eastport and primarily moved traffic between the CP and its Union Pacific, Milwaukee Road and Northern Pacific (NP) connections in Spokane. While the Union Pacific (UP) buyout of the SI did not interest the GN in 1959, big changes were a foot a decade later.
   In 1970, the "Hill Lines" merged to become the powerhouse railroad known as the Burlington Northern. The BN merger assured the former GN Highline of a busy future. Right away transcontinental traffic was shifted from the former NP to the former GN line. The BN continued to de-emphasize the former NP route through Montana and eventually leased that route to the new regional Montana Rail Link in the late 80's. By the early 90's the ex GN route had become so busy with unit grain trains, stack trains and transcontinental intermodal trains that BN started to add and lengthen sidings. But the real trackwork didn't begin until 1995 when the BN and the Santa Fe merged to become the BNSF. BNSF immediately sought to add capacity to the Highline and has spent millions doing so. Hundreds of miles of new double track has been added in the last few years, but unfortunately  shifts in traffic patterns and a slow of the economy just after the turn of the century has turned a lot of the extra capacity that was built in the late 1990's into surplus. Train counts dipped dramatically when BNSF began running longer trains for few destinations. Domestic intermodal is up marginally, with several "Z" trains going east and west every day. International stack traffic has been steady, with a lot of the growth that was predicted for the Seattle and Tacoma ports going north of the border to Vancouver, British Columbia where Canadian National and Canadian Pacific are the key players. Grain traffic was way off from 1998 to 2002 due to the Asian Flu and the emergence of competing grain suppliers. The BNSF merger has definitely made a big impact on what you'll see, like the dozen or so paint schemes and variations on the home road locos not to mention the lease and run-through units. Intermodal trains (both domestic and international stack trains) represent the majority of the trains on the Highline, followed by manifest and grain trains. Coal trains to the Centralia Power Plant are run over the Hi-line.

Sandpoint, ID. Map Link
  Let's begin our trip in Sandpoint, ID, at the depot. The former NP station is just east of downtown on the other side of the Sand Creek Slough. The station grounds are a good place to sit and wait for the next few trains. Just north of the station is where the BNSF and the MRL converge to start the northern (railroad east) end of the Funnel. Westbound trains off the MRL sometimes have to wait for the BNSF dispatchers to clear one or two trains before they can go. If you've had enough fun here, go back downtown and following the road signs to Highway 95 north. After passing a Safeway you will soon see a railroad bridge that comes in from the right and crosses overhead. This is BNSF Highline to Bonners Ferry and beyond. After passing underneath the BNSF Sand Creek bridge you'll see trestle off to the left, that is UP line to Bonners Ferry.
   Both lines cross each other right at the end of the BNSF bridge, but I'll explain how to get there shortly. Continue straight  through the next light and straight ahead is UP's Sandpoint yard. The highway soon crosses two legs of a wye that connects UP's Sandpoint yard to the main. On the opposite side of the mainline from the road you are on is UP's Sandpoint siding, a popular meeting point. If a train is holding here, that means that there will likely be a meet within the hour. Now find a safe place to turn around and head back into town. Go back under the BNSF bridge and make a right at the first light. But if you know a eastbound train is about to take the Hi-Line (as opposed to the MRL), and if it is later in the day, pull off into the wide area just past the BNSF bridge and then walk back toward the bridge where there is a clearing on the hillside. Climb that hillside for a great shot of a eastbound coming across the bridge. After making a right at the aforementioned light, go down to the stop sign and make another right onto Boyer Ave.. The first set of tracks you cross will be the UP's line. Make a right just before the next set of tracks, this is the BNSF line. Find a convenient place to park off to the side of the gravel road and you can walk up to the BNSF/UP crossing. This is a great photo spot from almost any angle for either line. UP trains will call the BNSF dispatcher well in advance if they want to cross, this gives you some time to plan your moves. Opposite the road from the crossing is the Boyer Siding. This is where the Boyer West and Boyer East dispatching territories meet, in fact make sure the Boyer East dispatcher freq. is on your scanner (160.920mhz). The Boyer East DS controls the track from Boyer siding to Whitefish, MT, far beyond Bonners Ferry.

  If you want to chase that northbound BNSF train that just went by, jump back in the car and continue heading north on Boyer Ave. again until it T's into another road. Make a right and head to the stoplight on Hwy 95. Make a left and keep heading north. The tracks run through the woods for a bit north of Sandpoint but soon come alongside the Hwy. There is a detector a couple miles north of the Boyer siding at MP 1398.4, but the tracks are rather secluded at this location. The next siding north of Boyer is Colburn (Map Link). This siding is right off the highway and it has some photo spots along its length. A cantilevered signal bridge is still in place at the north end (railroad east) of the siding. There was a sawmill at this location, but it was torn down a few years ago. Just around the bend to the north is another mill though.

    A bit further down the highway the road jumps over the tracks and you'll see the tracks clinging to the side of a hill on your right.  A simple steel girder and concrete pier bridge spans the Pack River, unfortunately the only usable parking that exists is on the north side and offers a good view of eastbounds. A westbound would require you to hike along busy Hwy 95 to obtain a good photo of the bridge. But the bridge has a superelevated curve across its deck and lends itself to photography late in the day.

Elmira, ID. Map Link
    The next siding is Elmira. The tracks are right along the roadway and there is plenty of room to park. I should make it clear that the signals on the sidings are always lit, so don't get too excited if you see a red aspect on the siding signals. This sidings are unbonded on the GN, so trains get a lunar aspect when routed into the hole. The mainline signals on-the-other hand are approach lit, so if they are on, it means a train is nearby. The UP's former Spokane International line lies some 50 feet beyond the BNSF tracks in this area, opposite the highway. You stand a chance to see some UP Armour Yellow or CP Action Red through the trees.

    Shortly after Elmira the road dives away from the tracks and towards a lake and a small dam. The road passes by the dam and starts to climb a hill, make the first right. You'll turn onto a gravel road (country road #3) with the BNSF tracks to your right making a sweeping reverse curve (Map Link). This is where the BNSF and UP lines enter opposite sides of the same valley. In fact the gravel road was the GN line before a 1904 line change. The spot just after you turn off the highway is a excellent location to photograph westbounds. The curve is superelevated allowing for some good "bank" shots. If you know a westbound is coming, I'd hold up here and wait for it. You don't see the tracks too much between here and Naples which is at the other end of this valley. The BNSF and UP both have detectors at Naples, and they will alert you to any westbound trains heading into the canyon.

Continuing down the gravel road the GN line drops to the valley floor and crosses the creek several times. Some locations are accessible by side roads, but the area is heavily forested making some angles difficult if you don't happen to have a chain saw in the trunk of your car :^). All bridges in this area are the deck girder kind with wooden trestle approaches. There is one scene with a red barn that made it into the BN calendar in the early 1990's along this road. Following the gravel road through you will again come to Hwy 95, make a left onto the highway and make the next right a very short distance later.

Naples, ID. Map Link
This is the old highway and you will shortly pass through a silver steel truss bridge that spans the BNSF tracks and the creek. At the north end of the bridge are the UP tracks. To your right is the current Hwy 95 bridge that spans the whole valley including both the BNSF and UP tracks. The road comes up to and then turns away from the UP tracks just before entering Naples proper. The town (read wide-spot-in-the-road) is at the south end of the siding. A BNSF detector lies just south of town at MP. 1382.2.  The UP also has a detector just  north of town while the general store in town will provide you with drinks and snacks. Photo opportunities abound, and the old highway bridge is a terrific spot to catch BNSF and UP trains. Traffic on the old road is fairly light allowing you to chase trains with relative ease. Both BNSF and UP trains going south here are working hard up a grade, although the BNSF grade has slacken somewhat from further down the canyon.

   Naples is at the south end of a very scenic stretch of track. You will want to catch several trains in this area for sure. Both the road and the tracks curve back and forth crossing the creek multiple times. And all the railroad bridges are right off the road  with enough clearing to make photography fairly easy. Westbounds are going up grade through the canyon, so depending on their horsepower per ton ratio, some trains will fly through the canyon and some will be down on their hands and knees. Eastbounds will coast down the grade but will make a storm of screeching as the wheel flanges attack the curves. Toward the lower end of the canyon the tracks cross over the creek and the road, then they plunge into the short curved bore known as tunnel 10.2. Tunnel 10.2 is a  479' long hole at milepost 1376.2. Since you are on the east side of the tracks in much of this area, morning light works best. But also, since you are in a canyon, light will come later and disappear earlier than other areas.

 This area is the place to make those impressive photos to show all the fellow railfans back home, with a bridge and a tunnel in the middle of a forest, how can you go wrong. Tunnels 10.2 and 10.1, which is a couple more miles northeast, came into existence in 1904 after a major line change. The original construction of the Great Northern was held up for quite a while at Bonners Ferry while James Hill decided between two surveyed routes. One followed Deep Creek in a narrow twisting canyon, the other followed Brown Creek up a straight but steep canyon and required that a small lake be bridged. Hill decided on the Brown creek alignment which would cost less to build but would be an operational drain. The problem with the grade was resolved in 1904 after the line change occurred. The new line was impressive in the amount of cuts, fills and structure work involved. The new route hung to the side of hills for several miles and included two short tunnels and numerous bridges. The new route also went through the Deep Creek canyon route which was rejected earlier. The SI when building north in 1906-07 was all too happy to use the recently abandoned GN route between Naples and Bonners Ferry.

Deep Creek, ID. Map Link
    Continuing past the tunnel you'll make a sharp turn and enter the town of Deep Creek. The UP tracks cross the road in the middle of town (and I use the word "town" loosely). Pull up to the tracks and look in each direction for any UP freights, and you can see quite a ways in either direction. To your right is where UP crosses Deep Creek and beyond that is where BNSF crosses over the UP.  The BNSF crossing of UP resembles a tunnel more than a bridge and its a good place to shoot for over-under photos. After getting your fill here, you can keep heading north. The road follows the BNSF from below as the tracks are on a shelf halfway up a hill side. Any photos in this area are either going to be a distant telephoto shot, or require a good climb. But there are some areas that provide great broadside photos later in the day as trains pound up the grade.

    But it isn't long before you come upon tunnel 10.1. This 610' bore is curved as well and passes inside a protruding part of the hill. An access road leads to the north portal, but this side is normally shaded most of the year. There is an access road that does go around the hill that allows for great shots of westbound trains exiting the south end of the bore.  It's possible to get photos of the northside, but it means climbing up the side of the fill and remaining below track level. The tracks come out of the tunnel and onto a fill and remain up there for a bit. But before long the tracks come back down to earth and then some. There are several good spots to get photos in this area, it's only a matter of stopping the car and walking over to the tracks. Soon you'll come upon the short siding of Moravia. Occasionally carloads of fertilizer are emptied here. Just beyond the siding the track swings east into a shallow cut. Photos of trains can be had in both directions at this location, next to a tree farm.

    The road drops downhill and makes a long turn to the right. Soon you'll see the tracks on a fill above you. The road passes under the tracks a short distance later and splits a golf course (for you railfans who like golf as well, this may be your new favorite course :^). In this area the tracks are making  a huge sweeping curve, and photos spots abound from the roadway. Looking back as you climb the hill past the golf course, you'll see a nice panoramic view of the huge sweeping curve, but trees do make a nuisance of themselves. This is a good spot for a telephoto lens and a eastbound. At the end of the road is Hwy 95, make a left and head on in to Bonners Ferry. As you follow Hwy 95 into town. The road goes straight for a while before turning to the right across from the forest service office. Right in front of the office turn left and head straight down the gravel road that heads into a gully. Follow this road down and it will take you to the BNSF tracks below just at the western end of the double track. Often westbound trains hold here for eastbounds. In fact the track between Bonners Ferry and Elmira is a real bottle neck for the railroad, and the dispatchers often try to fleet trains each way by placing several westbounds on the double track between Bonners Ferry and Crossport. Also looking to the northwest out across the flood pain is a long low fill where the UP comes across. Looking directly north is UP's Bonners Ferry siding, another popular meeting point on the UP. Once you are done here, run back up the road to Hwy 95 and continue north into town.

Bonners Ferry, ID. Map Link
    Follow the highway through town. The first part of Bonners Ferry lies on top of the hill south of town, but as you'll soon see, the rest is on both sides of the Kootenai river. As you descend the hill toward the river make the first right, it will take you off the highway and down next tot he tracks. Once you are on the level, make the first left which will take you across the tracks and keep turning left so that you pass back under Hwy 95 and into downtown Bonners Ferry. Once you pass under the highway bridge, look up at the signal bridge for any indication of an approaching train. If the signal for the northern track is lit for any aspect, it's highly likely a westbound is approaching. Once you are done looking around here, turn around and retrace your steps back over the tracks. Make a left and continue heading east.
    This is a section of double track that extends east to the far side of the wide valley to East Crossport. Midway in this section of double track is CP13663 (it is also referred to as Crossport), this is where a set of crossovers and a detector lies at milepost 1366.3. If you follow the road along the tracks, it roughly follows the tracks all the way to East Crossport. The road doesn't follow the tracks real closely though abut there are several selected photo spots. But continue to follow the roads along the tracks until you go over a forested hill and then come out in a field where you can see the tracks disappear into a canyon with a sheer cliff in the background. The road should turn sharply away from the tracks and then follow the base of the mountain. Don't despair, continue down the road and make the first left onto a paved road. You should begin to climb steeply, and if you keep following this road up the hill it takes you to a awesome overlook at the very top of that sheer cliff, were the UP tracks are directly across from you and the BNSF mainline is at the bottom of the canyon. Once you've had your fun, return to Bonners Ferry. As you come into town, cross the tracks once more and head downtown. Go to the second street after passing under the highway bridge, make a right and continue until the road ramps up onto the river levee. Make left onto the road atop the levee and continue to the UP crossing. I will end the tour here and let you explore the rest of the area for yourself.

  So you've made it all the way to Bonners Ferry (I'm guessing that you didn't get tied up with a bunch of trains around Naples), and you are wondering where these lines go. The BNSF follows the bank of the Kootenai river for several miles past East Crossport, but it is virtually inaccessible if you don't have a boat (Map Link). BNSF maintains a dock and a couple of boats at East Crossport for this very reason. When BNSF built several miles of double track in the river canyon during the summer of 1998, the heavy earth moving equipment had to be brought in on flatcars and lifted off with a crane. This is a really rugged section of track, and offers some of the best photography possibilities anywhere, but you need a good boat to do it. No wonder I can't recall seeing any photos published of the canyon.  If you continue north on Hwy. 95 to it's junction with US 2 and follow that highway east, you'll finally cross over the tracks just west of Troy, MT. But from there to Libby there is a great section for photographs along the Kootenai river including the impressive Kootenai River Falls. The falls was a major attraction during the first part of this century, often promoted by the GN.
    The UP on the other hand faces the difficult task of climbing out of the river valley. The tracks assault the hill with a heavy grade and two tunnels just below Moyie Springs. US 2 passes over the UP tracks just before spanning the Moyie river on a very high and very impressive arch bridge (don't look if you are scared of heights :^). I hope to cover the UP north of Bonners Ferry to Eastport in more detail with a upcoming railfan guide on the former Spokane International line. Your best bet now is to backtrack and catch a few more trains and then head on to Funnel and Marshal Canyon.

Disclaimer: Nothing in this guide or anywhere on this website, expressed or implied, gives you the right to trespass or tamper with private property. You are simply liable for your own actions!!!

   Generally speaking, trains run north (railroad east) and south (railroad west), so westbounds are preferred for best light. But in reality the tracks twist and turn so much that it depends mostly on where you happen to be. Even if the light isn't good for that approaching eastbound, just go around that next turn and chances are that you'll find a decent spot. Also don't be afraid to hike in for a pic as well, you probably won't get chased out of the woods by a shotgun toting hick that lives in a one room log cabin (but if you do, disregard that last line  :^)
    Trains tend to run in spurts, so if one goes by be on the lookout for another couple on its tail, but if there is enough of a gap, opposing trains will try to run between sidings. Luckily the game plan is usually worked out over the radio, so a scanner can be useful. The DS tries to get fleets of trains to meet each other on the double track between Bonners Ferry and East Crossport. but the DS is rarely so lucky, and Naples will usually have a eastbound waiting on a fleet of westbounds. In fact the single track between Naples and Bonners Ferry is a bottle neck and a good place to hang out. The fact that this is the most scenic part of the line doesn't hurt either. The detector at Naples and Crossport will keep you informed of what's moving. And the UP detector at Naples is useful as well, but the UP also uses track warrants issued over the radio making easy to keep track of their trains. The four trains a day or so, plus the local out of Sandpoint will keep UP rails shiny for the most part. The biggest selling point on the UP is that their trains feature a lot of CP and CEFX (leased) power and some long consists on occasion.
  I hope that you trip in north Idaho produces excellent results and keeps you wanting to come back.

                                                  Sincerely,
                                                        Funnelfan (Ted Curphey)