I had not set an alarm, but I woke up exactly at 7:00 am on Friday March 8th. It had rained overnight but the sky was clear outside my west looking hotel window with the service for my friend Marc Montray scheduled for 2:00 pm. I dressed for the event and decided to spend the interlude beside the BNSF Cherokee Sub in scenic Catoosa. I arrived trackside just as the local out of Cherokee Yard that serves the Port of Catoosa was starting to back up off the mainline and up the several mile long spur to the port.
I remembered seeing many of Marc’s excellent photos over the years from water level of trains on the bridge over Bird Creek about a mile up the spur. I had never been there before in person and was not sure of the layout, and when I arrived, I saw the railroad bridge was several hundred yards east of the highway bridge. I knew I would never make it on foot as two SD60M’s were rapidly approaching while shoving around twenty cars ahead of the locomotives. Marc would have known all this and been in position along the riverbank, but for me it was time to break out the drone!
I put the drone together quickly while I could hear the train slowly approaching and fortunately no advance FAA clearance was needed to fly here. The sun had been out when I left the hotel, but now there were clouds approaching from the east and one quickly blocked the sun. I took off and flew over to the east side of the bridge, and just as the drone arrived the sun popped out from behind the cloud. I decided this was Marc’s handiwork in showing me one of his favorite photo spots, and I was ready on the shutter button when the locomotives passed over the bridge with their reflections showing in the still waters below.
I thanked Marc for his intervention with the clouds and decided this would probably be my best photo of the day. I brought the drone safely to the launch spot just out of sight in the upper left of the photo before heading back to the Cherokee Sub. Only a few minutes passed before the Tulsa-based local that serves industries on the east side of the Verdigris River passed by with a GP39-2 leading.
Listening to the radio I heard there was a work window in effect and there would be no freight trains until after 2:00 pm. I read my train magazines and worked through what I wanted to say at the service. I am not one to normally stand up at these events, but this was for Marc, and I felt moved to speak of our good times together and say goodbye. Not long before I headed for the funeral home, a huge westbound ballast work train with a 2×1 locomotive configuration came by on its way to dump rock west of Tiger siding as the clouds continued to thicken up.
Here is the cover of the brochure for Marc’s Celebration of Life.
I arrived at the funeral home around 1:15 pm, and it was great to see friends and family streaming in such that by 2:00 pm over 100 people were there causing extra chairs to be brought in and a standing-room-only situation for many others. I was but one of a large number of people to make the trip to the podium and relate their both serious and funny experiences and how glad they were to have known Marc while he was with us. After it was over I was able to talk to Vikkie for a bit and I could tell she was in good spirits over the abundant crowd and sharing of happy remembrances of her husband of 37 years.
When I stepped outside it was now raining heavily. I decided before choosing a restaurant for dinner I would make one more loop by the Cherokee Sub. When I arrived, a green signal was lit for an eastbound train, and I parked at the east end of the long open grassy area by the mainline. When an eastbound intermodal appeared out of the rain it was coming down hard enough that I stayed in the car and just rolled down the driver’s window for this photo.
Now both wet and hungry, I decided it was time to call it a day and went to eat and dry off before arriving back at my hotel for one more night.
