Montana Rail Link built a short section of track on old Milwaukee Road branch line right-of-way at Bonner, Montana, to help facilitate cleanup of the Milltown Dam site in 2009. Years of mining activities upstream at Anaconda created a huge amount of sediment, or “dirty dirt” at the site on the Clark Fork that was hauled to a long-term disposal site at Opportunity (near Anaconda). In this view on September 20, 2009, a MRL dirt train led by EMD SD40-2XR No. 263 passes the Milwaukee Road caboose on display in Bonner as an eastbound BNSF freight races by overhead on the MRL’s Third Subdivision main line.
