The whole time we were in flagstaff freight trains went by, seemed like nearly on the hour. The cross bells always banged and flashed. Stacked double with containers from the Pacific ports, or tanker trains endless as some early composition like Philip Glass. The scale of the freight operation was grotesque and impressive almost as much as the canyon. Strange to think so much of America acts like rail is antiquated and irrelevant. At least here it obviously is not.