MRL's Day Gas local heads eastbound through the small village of Perma, MT along the Tenth Sub. The Thank You Veterans unit is in the trailing position.

A trio of orange units lead a loaded coal train across the Austin Creek Trestle at Skyline, deep in Mullan Pass on Montana Rail Link's Third Sub. This was the first train routed over Mullan after ... (more)

The Day Gas skirts the banks of the Clark Fork River not long after departing Thompson Falls. In the five previous trips I'd taken to the MRL, this was my first time exploring much of the line wes... (more)

Coal loads pause at a farm crossing just west of Jones Junction to wait for another train to clear. In several hundred feet, the train will be off the MRL and on the BNSF Forsyth Sub.

A single DC GEVO leads a train of wrecked boeing cars eastbound through Huntley, MT, taking the connection for the Big Horn Sub to head south and east. These cars are more than likely from the wre... (more)

A pair of Sheridan-based helpers assist a westbound loaded coal train up the grade through Parkman, WY on BNSF's Big Horn Sub. Traffic this day was extremely sparse, with several train running mil... (more)

A pair of Dash-9s lead a manifest west through the interlocking at Pompey's Pillar on the Forsyth Sub. This area is well known for the large rock that Lewis & Clark carved their initials on during... (more)

A new ES44C4 and an SD75I lead a short manifest west along the banks of the Yellowstone River seen from the parking/resting area outside Springdale, MT on MRL's Second Sub.

A pair of MRL SD45-2s lead a manifest westbound between two Northern Pacific era signals just west of Big Timber on the Second Sub. This was the only train we saw with a pair of these gems during ... (more)

A westbound loaded coal train traverses the scenic Lombard Canyon on a beautiful summer morning.

An entire grain train is visible in this one shot. Leading is a former BN executive SD70MAC, followed by a ubiquitous GE Dash-9. Four MRL SD70ACes can be seen in distance helping the train up the ... (more)

A trio of MRL SD70ACes swing through the horseshoe curve at the west end of Austin siding with the daily Laurel to Missoula manifest.

Two older GEVOs lead stacks through a rock cut near Bradley, MT west of Avon on a beautiful summer morning.

Stacks head eastbound through Jens, MT behind a pair of older GEVO models. It's still hard to believe that some of these units are approaching the 10 year mark.

BNSF 8961 grinds up the 2.2% grade of Mullan Pass with a 10,000+ ton loaded coal train. While waiting on this bluff over Austin Road, we could hear the sound of the train approaching, but after tw... (more)