Last week my fiancée and I hired fellow RP contributor Ross Fotheringham to take some family engagement photos in a fie... (more)

When a bird chirping loudly outside your bedroom window wakes you up at five in the morning and you crack your eyes open to see clear skies, it kind of makes sense to throw on some dirty clothes a... (more)

A typical winter day in Montana: Big skies, frigidly cold, impressive mountains looming on the horizon, and a wind-scoured landscape with drifts of snow piled in the lee of every contour. Throug... (more)

On a late-winter evening with the wind chill cutting into the teens, a herd of horses are oblivious to the roar of an eastbound empty grain train climbing out of the Two Medicine River valley as t... (more)

Red at night, railfans' delight. An incredible sunset provided a spectacular end to an incredible day spent by a group of Northwesterners on BNSF's Needles Sub on February 25th. This was ... (more)

Late on a stormy summer afternoon, Deseret Power Railway Units 1, 2 and 3 sweep past acres of sage brush and exposed outcrops at 27 Mile, about halfway between the Utah border and Bonanza Power Pl... (more)

The spout hanging down from above rarely, if ever, loads rail cars anymore, but the elevator at Winona, Washington, on the west edge of the Palouse region is still a hub of activity for local farm... (more)

In the blue gloom of a winter evening's twilight, the headlights of an eastbound stack train illuminate the west portal and interior of Cascade Tunnel. Ahead, pierced only by the light carried by ... (more)

Shortly after meeting an eastbound freight around the corner at Merritt, Amtrak's westbound Empire Builder crosses Nason Creek and enters the narrow confines of the Slot on the 2.2% climb t... (more)

Dwarfed by mountains that resemble a massive pile of sugar-coated pastries -- Dunkin' Donuts Munchkins, anyone? -- hotshot Z-SSECHC6-19A shatters the mid-day quiet in Skykomish. At left is parked... (more)

Sometimes, you just gotta shoot a boring ol' grade crossing wedgie. With the sun breaking through thinning clouds, snow falls as the morning South Seattle Z whisks past westbound S-STPTAC3-16A at... (more)

This time of year, once the sun heads south, temperatures drop and moisture-laden storms start stacking up in the mountains, the Evergreen State becomes anything but. After the first big snowfall... (more)

The very first rays of sunlight glint off the flanks of a quartet of MRL's massive SD70ACes as they assist Prince Rupert-bound coal loads through the "loops" at Austin; shortly, the head end will ... (more)

Grinding up the 2.2% grade of Mullan Pass, Roberts Bank-bound coal loads pass the foreshortened Skyline siding and curl across Austin Trestle on a glorious summer afternoon. Visible just before t... (more)

Early on a summer morning, a train of export coal bound for Prince Rupert, B.C. begins its ascent of Mullan Pass behind a pair of big CP GEs, with a four-pack of MRL SD70ACes tucked in two-thirds ... (more)