Havre, Montana, in February 2000

I took these pictures in Havre, Montana, in February of 2000 during a trip to Chicago and back on Amtrak's Empire Builder. On the eastbound trip on February 9, 2000, I photographed Great Northern steam locomotive #2584, an S-2 Class 4-8-4 that was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1930 and put on static display next to the depot on May 15, 1964.

Near locomotive #2584 is Hands Across the Border Park. This small park consists primarily of a statue of an American Border Patrol officer shaking hands with a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer. Havre is only 40 miles from the Canadian border, and the Border Patrol meets Amtrak's Empire Builder in Havre, to catch illegal aliens attempting to board the train.

In front of the Havre depot on the street side is a fountain with a statue of James J. Hill. Hill formed the Great Northern Railway in 1889 from the bankrupt St. Paul & Pacific Railroad, and extended it to Seattle by 1893. The commercial possibilities realized in the northern United States due to Hill's Great Northern Railway earned him the nickname of "The Empire Builder."

On the westbound trip on February 13, 2000, I photographed Burlington Northern Santa Fe SW1500 #3442 in the Havre yard from Amtrak's Empire Builder. This 1,500-horsepower locomotive was built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in January 1973 as St. Louis-San Francisco (SLSF, also known as the Frisco) #357. The Frisco was merged into Burlington Northern on November 21, 1980, and this locomotive became Burlington Northern #62. Burlington Northern classified EMD's SW1500s as SW15s. Following the merger of the Burlington Northern and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe on September 22, 1995, this locomotive became Burlington Northern Santa Fe #3442 in February 1998, though it was still painted in Burlington Northern colors.

The depot in Havre, at 235 Main Street, is not only an Amtrak station; it is also a local base of operation for Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight operations and maintenance crews. As a result, it is a large depot for a city of Havre's size. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe was formed on September 22, 1995, when the Burlington Northern Railroad (successor to the Great Northern) and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad merged together. Almost 5 years later, the station still showed signs of its Burlington Northern heritage, leaving it with an apparent identity crisis.