Under a plethora of stars on a clear Montana night, the Northern Pacific-era cantilevered signal announces the dispatcher’s decision to route a BNSF train west on Montana Rail Link’s main line... (more)

On a pretty July 5, 2018, morning, Montana Rail Link’s MLAUMIS manifest freight climbs the last bit of grade on Winston Hill approaching Winston, Montana.

Coal loads work their way up to Muir.

A well-powered "LM" is sinking its teeth into the grade heading up to Mullan Pass. While there were initially only two Aces on the train, a helper set was added not only to assist in dr... (more)

Well now. So, here, a helper set is actually headed east on the rear of the SPOLAU from Logan back to Livingston with, of all things, a GP9 added. It evidently died on the 844 local and was repl... (more)

It's about 20 degrees below zero as the sun rises over the mountains and the first rays of light cast a warm glow on the outskirts of Whitehall, Montana. The engineer of the MRL's Whitehall Extra ... (more)

Blue thunder
One of the visceral treats of Montana Rail Link’s route over Mullan Pass is listening to a heavy unit grain or coal train assault the hill from a location near the top of... (more)

The Bozeman Local is making a run east today into Livingston with 30 cars. They alternate directions and duties out of Bozeman during the week and I am told they only venture into Livingston once... (more)

April 1 was no joke. With the 4404 bouncing back & forth on the "LM/ML", it would take a great deal of luck to find them...or so I thought. The previous day, the ML got to Laurel at sunr... (more)

A whopping total of ten MRL Aces are represented here....six up front, four on the rear. Two unexpected events brought this together. The LM lost their lead motor after leaving Livingston and clim... (more)

Helpers on the rear of the "LM" going up the grade to Muir. MRL has always been a huge draw, dotted with more than numerous photographers over the past year, documenting the famous blue... (more)

The Laurel to Missoula freight has 117 cars in tow as they crawl their way west on the 2nd Sub. The train fights gravity as they approach Winston on this 1% grade. The train is short on time and w... (more)

The Laurel to Missoula road freight is trying to get up to speed after leaving Toston siding following a coal train after meeting 1. The train rolls along between highway 287 and the Missouri Rive... (more)

An MRL Whitehall Extra crew has a train of stored coal hoppers and intermodal well cars in tow as they descend Bozeman Pass and cross the Flynn Creek fill on the way towards Livingston, Montana. T... (more)

A pair of Montana Rail Link SD70ACe's lay the hammer down as they approach Arlee, Montana with the MRL Day Gas job in tow. The train of tank cars kick up the fresh snow from the night before as th... (more)