My previous visit to Marias Pass five years ago did not include a shot here, so I made it a point to add my name to the long list of railfans with a picture of the eastbound Empire Builder on the ... (more)

On a spectacular late summer day, the eastbound Empire Builder is nearly to the summit of Marias Pass. Without John F Stevens' discovery of this legendary crossing of the divide, the privately fi... (more)

On our travel day between Miles City and Helena, the Jimbo had the railroad tied up most of the day around Big Timber. Having completed their work, the 264 puts the train away in Livingston. The... (more)

With their crossing of Mullan Pass complete, an eastbound stack train has pulled to a stop with the DPU locomotives positioned right next to the classic Northern Pacific depot in Helena. The nice... (more)

A massive set of 8 SD70ACe helpers came into town and tied up for the evening in Helena. Unfortunately, the crew told me no westbounds were due until after 11:00 p.m. I was hoping to find a west... (more)

Two GEs lead an eastbound across Skyline trestle on Mullan Pass.

I knew trains would be hard to come by on the former Milwaukee Road across South Dakota, but we caught up to this grain train at Morristown. After grabbing a shot there, we continued west and wai... (more)

I spotted some MRL blue sooner than I expected on my trip to Montana. A former Montana Rail Link SD9, now lettered LOCX 605, resides at the elevator in McLaughlin, South Dakota.

Westbound stacks race across the Sweetgrass Hills of northern Montana. The collection of mountains in the distance are known as East Butte and are one of several island ranges in this area. They f... (more)

A westbound stack train follows the Yellowstone River toward Livingston. They'll come to a stop around Big Timber to wait for maintenance and a parade of eastbound trains to clear before they att... (more)

The steepest part of the descent is behind them, but this eastbound autorack train still has a few more miles to go before it safely arrives in Helena on the east side of Mullan Pass.

The grade out of the Minnesota River valley between Morton and Franklin is steep enough that with only one unit, the crew is doubling their 25 car train up the hill. Here, the first cut of 13 car... (more)

An eastbound on the wooden trestle over Sulphur Lake just west of Morton has been near the top of my list of shots I'd like to capture. Things finally lined up with a sunny morning, a flexible wo... (more)

A single CAT powered GP30C pulls loads from Delhi over the Minnesota River at Morton. Last week when I caught an eastbound here for the first time I had to sprint from my car with only seconds to... (more)

The Twin Cities & Western is celebrating its 25th anniversary this weekend. To mark the occasion they're operating a passenger train along the line to Montevideo. Thursday is designated for publ... (more)