The control stand of EWLX 329 shows off its former owner's initials, Montana Rail Link. The SD45 has found new life once again after originating as an SP unit, then MRL. Not bad for a 20 cylinder ... (more)

An Eastern Washington Gateway "Scooter" train is ready to head west to Coulee City, WA from Highline Grain Elevator west of Cheney, WA. Well almost. First a stop of nearly two hours to f... (more)

Engineer Welch has two former SP "GRIP" SD45's bracketing a former SSW SD40T-2 on a 47-car westbound empty "Scoot" train heading towards Coulee City. It was nice to hear a blue 20-645E3 in Run 8 ... (more)

MRL 290, near the end of it's lease by the EWG, finds itself leading the WRIX 8702 and the NIWX 9129 at the head of a scoot/shuttle train. The power has cut off from the train in order to pick up ... (more)

Far from the green trees of Montana, MRL 290, on lease to the Eastern Washington Gateway, finds itself in the midst of sagebrush at the lonely spot of Odair, just outside of Coulee City, WA, en ro... (more)

Union Pacific's Plummer turn is greeted by St. Maries River RR Gp-9-s at Plummer Junction, Idaho... This was once the junction of the Milwaukee roads Freight and Passenger lines, and Union Pacific... (more)

on a cold snowy day, Eastern Washington Gateway SD40 #3000 pulls 50 empty grain cars under the former Great Northern Railway's now BNSF's Columbia river subdivision fly over, near Medical Lake, Wa... (more)

on a cold snowy day, Eastern Washington Gateway SD40 #3000 pulls 50 empty grain cars through a lonely snowy scene, as it crossed Hite road on it's journey west to Odair, Washington setting out emp... (more)

It's early evening in grain country as an eastward train arrives in Almira. Conductor rides the third motor while leaving the train behind to work the spur and pick up a string of co-op barley-lo... (more)

Approaching the outskirts of Coulee City and the end of the line, a former MRL SD45 is leading a mixed group of power and about 50 cars to load there. This unit was built for the Penny in 1968 and... (more)

What lies around the bend?

Winding through freshly cut fields of grain, an eastbound train out of Coulee City is casting long shadows on the plain signaling that the day is coming to a close. On track restricted to 10mph fo... (more)

While the tractors are idled for the day, the Eastern Washington Gateway pushes on to get the train to Cheney before the hours of service law catches the one-man crew. In an irony of economics, th... (more)

Having traveled 108 miles from Cheney over a two-day period, the crew has finally reached the end of the line at Coulee City with 55 cars to spot. They will leave the power here for the night and ... (more)

Pulling out of Davenport after a 45-minute stop to add some lube oil and fine-tune the SD45, it’s 42 miles to Cheney and the BNSF interchange to finish a long day. It’s not easy being a short ... (more)