On Christmas Eve in 2007, Amtrak’s eastbound Empire Builder passes the small BNSF yard and Izaak Walton Inn at Essex, Montana. Three GE P42DCs power the holiday-swollen consist and are ready for... (more)

BNSF Railway No. 6976 leads an office car special along the southern boundary of Glacier National Park on Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015. On this day, the train made a round trip from Whitefish to Ea... (more)

Two sets of BNSF helpers rest in the yard at Essex, Montana, on a snowy December 24, 2007. These three EMD SD40-2s visible are all closely related—Nos. 6819, 6818 and 6817—all former Burlingto... (more)

Amtrak's Empire Builder crosses the Java Trestle on BNSF's Hi-Line.

Along the edge of Glacier National Park, two BNSF Railway General Electric locomotives leads a westbound stack train on its cross-country journey from Chicago to Tacoma, Washington. The tra... (more)

Burlington Northern EMD SD40-2 No. 7183 and SD40 No. 6304 wait a call to duty in helper service over Marias Pass on the night of October 6, 1997, at Essex, Montana.

Laboring up the long grade from the Flathead River valley to Marias Pass, an eastbound intermodal train is crossing Java East siding.

It is already a week into spring, but you sure couldn't tell by the look of things on Marias Pass! On the last day of March, a westbound unit grain led by a pair of warbonnets drops down the west ... (more)

An EMD F45 converted into luxury lodgings sits on the grounds of the Izaak Walton Inn in Essex, Montana. The locomotive, painted in Great Northern's "Big Sky Blue" scheme actually start... (more)

A BNSF inspection train emerges from Shed 7 on the line over Marias Pass. The train is westbound and will shortly be in Essex.

GN 441, decked out in big sky blue, now serves as a luxury mountain resort deep in the northern Montana Rockies at the Izzak Walton Inn. Though this unit hasn't seen freight service in a number of... (more)

The eastbound Empire Builder slows for its station stop at the Isaak Walton as snow continues to fall.

Clearing snow is a never-ending winter struggle on Marias Pass, especially this year. Here a "mini-dozer" (ballast regulator) clears a yard track at Essex. This machine has a neat attachment to it... (more)

Avalanche! Two days after a series of avalanches closed BNSF Railway's Hi Line Subdivision, traffic is finally getting back to normal in northwest Montana. One of the largest slides... (more)

An eastbound grain train rolls over Sheep Creek Trestle. This area just experienced a major snow slide that filled the bottom of valley and blocked the middle fork of the Flathead River at the bot... (more)