Leaving the Great Plains behind and climbing the foothills just west of Clay, Colorado, is a westbound Union Pacific coal empty as the sun rises high into a morning sky on January 25, 2007.

Great Northwest Railroad (Watco) Ayer Turn rumbles along the basalt cliffs along the Snake River at Joso, Washington, on September 21, 2015. The northbound (eastbound) train led by WAMX GP35 No. 3... (more)

Three GE C30-7s and a pair of KCS SD40-2s power a westbound Burlington Northern coal train departing Guernsey, Wyoming, on the Canyon Subdivision on July 4, 1988. The empty train is headed back to... (more)

A westbound Union Pacific coal empty threads the Flatirons west of Plainview, Colorado, on the morning of February 28, 2011. The rear of the train is still exiting Plain and passing through Tunnel... (more)

As a Union Pacific coal train slowly proceeds westbound on the main, an eastbound BNSF manifest freight meets the train in the siding at Tolland, Colorado, on October 22, 2012. Some early snow acc... (more)

Montana Rail Link's daily LM (Laurel-Missoula) manifest freight cruises along the Yellowstone River towards Livingston, MT. The train seems to draw little attention from a couple of deer feeding i... (more)

Late afternoon turn at Osier. While the patrons of the Friends Maintenance of Way Charter enjoy a late lunch in the distant Osier Dining Hall, the crew of the 463 has turned the train to fa... (more)

BNSF’s MDENSTO (Denver to Stockton manifest) curves over a bridge over Forest Road 149 (Rollins Pass Road) just west of Tolland, Colorado, on June 6, 2001. The train is led by a faded GE C44-9W,... (more)

Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad K-27 No. 463 leads the eastbound passenger train No. 216 from Chama, New Mexico across the trestle at Los Pinos, Colorado on July 22, 2015.

D&RGW Work Extra 463 West. A D&RGW MOW Extra works its way west toward a construction site near Sublette, NM. In the consist today are Pile Driver OB and Derrick OP, as well as a number of... (more)

Ansco’s Rio Grande Ski Train just met an eastbound Union Pacific coal train at Clay, Colorado, on the morning of February 10, 2001. The westbound passenger train is now back on single track west... (more)

Rounding the broad curve leaving Maxwell, Utah, is Union Pacific’s LJP45 “dirt train” on a pretty May 4, 2004. On this day, three Rio Grande “Tunnel Motor” SD40T-2s bracket a yellow SD60... (more)

A westbound Union Pacific Z train passes the colorful cliffs of Echo Canyon, Utah, on March 18, 2009. The fast train is powered by a pair of EMD “flared” SD70Ms.

As the rear of an eastbound Union Pacific coal train heads through Rocky, Colorado, below—an eastbound BNSF manifest freight passes through Tunnel 1 in the background on August 11, 2015. The rea... (more)

Along the Flathead River, Montana Rail Link’s gas local heads east on the Tenth Subdivision near Dixon, Montana, at McDonald on September 24, 2007.