The westbound Day Gas skirts along a mirror-like reflection pond just east of Plains, Montana on a clear summer morning.

BNSF 5743 leads eastward on Montana Rail Link's 4th Sub just west of Plains along the Clark Fork in the early morning hours of March. Some water fowl is startled from the darkness of the river as ... (more)

Montan Rail Link’s day gas local heads east along the Clark Fork between Weeksville and Plains, Montana, on September 28, 2013. Powering the train is SD40 (SD40-2XR) No. 256 and SD70ACe No. 4312... (more)

A heavy westbound unit grain train rolls down the Clark Fork River approaching Plains, Montana on a crystal clear morning in Big Sky Country.

Passing gas
Montana Rail Link’s day gas local passes the DPU of a westbound BNSF coal train in the siding at Plains, Montana, on September 26, 2013. MRL SD40-2XR No. 256 is 34 years o... (more)

Late on a summer evening, three MRL SD45's lead a westbound manifest through the S-curves along the Clark Fork River approaching the town of Plains on the scenic 4th Subdivision.

Due to spring flooding in North Dakota that washed out portions of BNSF's mainline, several high priority intermodal trains were temporarily rerouted over MRL. On an early July morning, a detourin... (more)

Changing Seasons: The days are getting shorter and snow is starting to dust the mountain tops; winter is in the air in western Montana. In the shadow of those snowcapped peaks, a trio of Mo... (more)

It's called Big Sky Country for a reason! It looks to be the start of a beautiful summer day on MRL's 4th Subdivision as a westbound Roberts Bank-bound unit coal train cruises through the S-curves... (more)

MRL GP9 127 and 120 are seen leading a short Paradise Local returning from Thompson Falls near Plains - 26/09/2014

Flares Down the Fourth: With sets of SD45-2s running on a railroad that hasn't changed much since the 1970s (Note the Northern Pacific cantilever signal and telegraph wires) it's easy to se... (more)

After chasing this train for two afternoons over the MRL, this was probably the last time ill get to see a trio of SD45s.

A trio of BNSF-leased SD45's skirt the Clark Fork River just West of Plains, Mont. with the Kansas City, KS to Spokane, WA high priority manifest in tow.

After meeting an Eastbound manifest, two twenty-cylinder behemoths accelerate back to 35MPH, ducking under the vintage NP cantilever with a hot ribbon rail train bound for BNSF's Lakeside Sub doub... (more)

On May 21, 2011, a westbound BNSF coal train cruises along the Clark Fork just east of Plains, Montana, along Montana Rail Link’s scenic Fourth Subdivision. A matching pair of “Grinstein”-pa... (more)