UP and CP have long had a run-through power arrangement for international trains crossing the border at Eastport, Idaho/Kingsgate, B.C. For a time during the 1980s, when things were not nearly as busy as today, the daily manifests would often swap power at the border, so you'd see a southbound set its red SD40-2s off to the side and yellow SD40-2s couple on for the run into the U.S. But it was not uncommon to have CP power continue south at least as far as Hinkle, Oregon, especially when the grain rush was on.

By the late 1990s, the amount of manifest, unit grain, and unit potash traffic soutward through Eastport exploded, and this traffic had to rely more on run-through CP or Soo Line units, as well as leased CEFX SD90/43MACs and AC4400CWs. The CEFX SD90/43MACs were especially plentiful, and it became common to the 124-car potash trains handled by two of these big burgundy beasts on the front and two more mid-train.

The last several years have seen UP SD90/43MACs really take over on the international trains, giving us plenty of nice-looking, solid-yellow consists after so many years of multi-colored mish-mash. For example, this evening before dinner, we drove a few miles out near Coeur d'Alene Junction and caught a southbound grain train with two SD90/43MACs on the front and one on the rear, passing wheat fields that were in the process of being harvested. I'd guess this train would have been rolling by your photo spot at Fernie somewhere between 6am and 9am this morning.