James Hill's Great Northern mainline has withstood the tests of time and nature and today remains one of the vital arteries for moving freight traffic between the east and west. One thousand, sev... (more)

BNSF's Orin Subdivision was unusually quiet at Reno Junction on this late-spring evening as a BNSF helper set idled away on the setout track. However, there was a good reason for the lack of acti... (more)

Drama had been building for a few minutes as I could hear the sound of laboring Geeps echoing through the remote canyon that the STMA's ex-Milwaukee Bovill Branch twists through between Lotus and ... (more)

Tri-Met's WES commuter rail service operates through a number of communities in the I-5 corridor south of Portland. I happened to be in the area last August while testing of the signal system was... (more)

When it gets really cold in Washington in the winter, the perpetual clouds vanish and leave behind a brilliant blue sky. Late on such a glorious Friday afternoon, an empty grain train follows the... (more)

In a timeless image that could have been taken at any point in the last two decades, a gorgeous summer morning finds a pair green Geeps easily handling a 19-car empty Boeing train eastward ... (more)

Some 44 years and change after Tom Sink's recently-posted photo, I found myself at the same location, only I was sur... (more)

Ride the Wave... The brilliant sun beams at dawn on a winter morning turn the blue waves adorning the flanks of Sounder's passenger cars into a shimmering stream of liquid gold. There may... (more)

Shortly after departing Missoula, MRL's Schilling Local heads west out of DeSmet with a cut of logs trailing the power. Barely visible in the distance are fellow RP member Railroad: Montana Rail Link
Locomotive: EMD GP35
Location: DeSmet, Montana, USA
Locomotive #: MRL 402
Train ID: Schilling Local
Photo Date: September 06, 2008

"Hey Rex, where's the 5012?" "Over Thera." // The PCC's lone GP50, built for the C&NW in 1980 and now owned by Webb Asset Management, is shut down on the elevator track at Thera, snoozing away on ... (more)

The first rays of sunlight on a winter morning combine with the deep blue paint of CSX's current paint scheme, the long shadows cast by Ben's Bridge and a low cloud deck to turn this photo of near... (more)

A verdant patch of cultivated crops conspicuously contrasts with the natural brown color of the the eastern Washington "desert." Lying between the irrigated Columbia Basin Project lands and the f... (more)

After chasing MRL's Gas Local to Missoula, I went to get lunch only to hear the dispatcher give nearly-simultaneous ... (more)

Washington's Cascade Mountains are well-known in the railfan community for both acting as a picturesque backgrounds for flatland locations Railroad: BNSF Railway
Locomotive: EMD GP38
Location: Lawrence, Washington, USA
Locomotive #: BNSF 2276
Train ID: L-NWE6441-19T
Photo Date: July 19, 2008

Who says big-time yard operations are an ugly unphotogenic mess? The very first rays of sunlight on a sub-freezing winter morning glaze the east Receiving Yard ladder at Selkirk Yard with a golde... (more)