A BNSF freight crosses 576-foot Fish Creek Bridge at Rivulet, Montana, on June 30, 2019, heading westbound on Montana Rail Link’s Fourth Subdivision

With the former Rio Grande route over Tennessee Pass now dormant since the last Union Pacific train operated over it in 1997, nature has been taking over portions of the route. On the east switch ... (more)

An eastbound BNSF Z train cruises along the Wenatchee River at Dryden, Washington, on BNSF’s route over Stevens Pass on September 21, 2016.

Crazy eights
Union Pacific coal train CEYPS curves past milepost 22 just west of Eisele (Clay), Colorado, early in the morning of February 9, 2015. UP No. 8888, built in 2014, is a heav... (more)

A stout, wooden tie that once supported heavy trains rolling over steel rails is now holding up just a few barbed wires and fencing—and planted into the soil vertically like the tree it once was—s... (more)

Pounding up the 2.2% grade of Mullan Pass west of Helena and crossing Austin Creek Trestle is a westbound BNSF coal train led by GE ET44C4 No. 3890 at Skyline, Montana, on June 30, 2019.

RTD Hyundai-Rotem EMU No. 4035 carries the markers on a two-car B Line train headed to Westminster, departing Denver Union Station on Track 7 on December 18, 2017. A spare train sits on Track 6, t... (more)

A Dakota, Missouri Valley & Western coal train climbs up the horseshoe curve through Lost Lake National Wildlife Refuge just south (east) of Merida, North Dakota, on August 28, 2018. DMVW SD50F No... (more)

Locomotives receive overhauls in the main shop building at Union Pacific’s Downing B. Jenks Shop at North Little Rock, Arkansas, on May 18, 2015. UP SD40-2 No. 3151 is being rebuilt into a SD40N,... (more)

Snaking through the curves after topping Winston Hill, a BNSF grain train heads east past milepost 216 at Winston, Montana, on June 25, 2019.

A view looking up Wells Street shows a Chicago Transit Authority “L” train approaching the junction at CTA Tower 18 that has just crossed the Chicago River after pausing at the Wells & Merchandise... (more)

Electro-Motive Division SD90MAC-H demonstrator locomotive No. 8504 heads west on Union Pacific’s former Rio Grande main line at Rocky, Colorado, for some high-altitude testing on February 3, 1998.... (more)

A Canadian National empty coal train works upgrade on the Luscar Industrial Spur near Cadomin, Alberta, on August 8, 2016. The curious jog in the track 5 cars back is where a switch was once locat... (more)

Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range EMD SD40-3 No. 403, a rebuilt former Southern Pacific SD45T-2 Tunnel Motor, leads a Canadian National taconite ore empty as it hustles past milepost 6 north of Waldo n... (more)

Crossing the Colorado River, a westbound Union Pacific passenger special approaches Burns, Colorado, while traveling westbound over the Dotsero Cutoff on August 3, 2014. Powering the nine-car spec... (more)