Eastbound empty grain train at Toston, MT.

After waiting several hours for a train, I was rewarded with this five locomotive consist just below the Toston dam on the Missouri River. A few miles to the west, those extra locomotives will be... (more)

With the collapse of Montana Rail Link’s Yellowstone River Bridge near Reed Point under the weight of MLAUMIS on June 24, 2023, and the subsequent severing of a busy main line, MRL and BNSF had ... (more)

An empty grain shuttle rolls east on Montana Rail Link's former BN/NP mainline through Lombard Canyon just southeast of Toston, MT. The Missouri River winds through the canyon, just downstream fro... (more)

On an early summer evening in Toston, Montana, a BNSF Pasco to Laurel manifest freight makes its way across the Montana Rail Link mainline behind CN, BNSF and NS locomotives. The train is passing ... (more)

For many, many years, Montana Rail Link 50-foot boxcar No. 100982, faded but still adorning MRL’s original logos, has sat on a stub spur at Toston, Montana. It’s still there on July 9, 2023!

Main line severed, but these got through
Nine minutes after sunset at 9:27 p.m. on July 8, 2023, a trio of Boeing 737 fuselages mounted on flat cars and pulled by a lone Montana Rail Li... (more)

Canadian National GE ES44DC No. 2284 leads a pair of BNSF EMDs on a westbound BNSF coal train from Powder River Basin heading for Roberts Bank, British Columbia, on Montana Rail Link’s main line... (more)

A westbound BNSF oil train finds a sliver of sunlight as it negotiates Lombard Canyon east of Toston, Montana, on the morning of June 30, 2018.

Lone BNSF GE ES44C4 No. 8036 leads an eastbound grain empty through Lombard Canyon east of Toston, Montana, on the morning of July 9, 2022.

It’s 10:05 p.m. as an eastbound BNSF unit train slinks its way through Lombard Canyon and past illuminated Toston Dam between Toston and Lombard, Montana. Even at this late hour, the pretty suns... (more)

LM is working its way towards Helena. The lead motor keeps shutting down so the train will be tied down in Townsend to await helpers. This locomotive was originally built as a 4308 for BHP. Cam... (more)

BNSF SD70ACe no. 8514 leads a westbound grain train through Toston, MT while bad ordered Ace no. 9105 looks on. BNSF 9105 had been set out of a prior train with wheel/axle issues. Trackage is part... (more)

BNSF ES44AC 5873 shoves a loaded coal train westward at Toston, MT.

On the morning of July 4, 2018, a BNSF grain train curves along the Missouri River in Lombard Canyon east of Toston, Montana, while working westbound on Montana Rail Link’s Second Subdivision ma... (more)