Almost two decades ago, a westbound SP manifest descends the 10 degree horseshoe at Allard. Scanned from a Kodachrome 64 slide.
"Sweet Light" bathes a colorful consist, waiting for the mid-train helpers to cut-out before continuing west on the Montana Rail Link.
An eastbound coal empty descends the east slope of Mullan Pass on the Montana Rail Link.
An ex-SP SD45 plus five more 20 cylinder brutes provide the rear-end muscle to push a loaded coal train up the 1.9% climb.
Four SD45 light helper set drifts downgrade toward Helena for another shove up the hill.
80 cylinders worth of V-20 Thunder shove a westbound coal load up the 2.2% climb on Mullan Pass
Brand-new SD70ACe leads 3 brethern in a helper set, cutting out from helper duty at Elliston.
A heavy Laurel-Pasco (9200 tons) crosses Greenhorn Trestle on the 2.2% climb to the summit of Mullan Pass. This is MRL country at its best!
CNW 8701 leads CNW 8575/8646 on M-SSPR (the last three unpatched CNW units). Nice to see these together!