An eastbound Montana Rail Link helper set of the usual four EMD SD70ACes, drops downgrade out of Weed, Montana, and through Iron Ridge cut on MRL’s main line over Mullan Pass on June 29, 2022. T... (more)

A serendipitous sliver of sunshine illuminates three BNSF coal trains at Converse Junction, Wyoming, on the afternoon of June 25, 2022. Out on the four-track main line is a coal load that is about... (more)

Illinois Central’s SCMI freight operating from Chicago to Memphis, Tennessee, is passing one of Metra Highliner electric commuter trains at University Park, Illinois, on January 21, 1989.

After the passage of a thunderstorm, it’s still raining as a westbound BNSF unit oil train climbs the 2.2 percent grade up Mullan Pass between Austin and Weed, Montana, on the afternoon of July ... (more)

At Union Pacific’s Kansas City Locomotive Facility in Kansas City, Missouri, several UP machinists wrestle with a drawbar after installing new draft gear in the front of UPY EMD GP15-1 No. 697 o... (more)

Orange and gray Illinois Central Gulf EMD GP11 No. 8733 switches a sizable plastics manufacturing plant on the southeast side of Jacksonville, Illinois, in September 1984.

On the afternoon of June 23, 2022, a westbound (northbound) BNSF coal train follows water’s edge of the North Platte River through Wendover Canyon between Wendover and Cassa, Wyoming.

The dark, cavernous hall of Wisconsin Central’s car shop at Shops Yard in North Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, on a quiet Saturday of October 8, 1994. Looks like a boxcar and a bulkhead flat are among ... (more)

A freshly-painted Wisconsin Central boxcar gets finishing touches inside the car shop at the railroad’s Shop Yard complex at North Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, on October 8, 1994. Two painters on sca... (more)

With a new crew aboard, an eastbound Burlington Northern freight is about to depart Whitefish, Montana, amid a light snowfall on March 2, 1989.

Chicago & North Western’s PRITA, a Proviso to Itasca Yard in Superior freight, curves through North Lake, Wisconsin, on the afternoon of March 30, 1991.

The southern throat trackage of Chicago Union Station can get busy as two long-distance Amtrak trains meet, and an inbound Metra commuter train is about to disappear into the dark depths of the st... (more)

Into the storm
With four cars for Helena Yard, Montana Rail Link’s Helena local climbs Winston Hill past milepost 215 and toward some stormy weather east of Winston Montana, on the af... (more)

A pair of Milwaukee Road EMD SD10s power a train through La Grange Park, Illinois, as it approaches the Harding Avenue grade crossing while working southward on the Indiana Harbor Belt/B&OCT main ... (more)

It’s 10:05 p.m. as an eastbound BNSF unit train slinks its way through Lombard Canyon and past illuminated Toston Dam between Toston and Lombard, Montana. Even at this late hour, the pretty suns... (more)