Western Railroad Discussion > 4 Days On The Montana Rail Link

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Date: 06/27/22 09:43
4 Days On The Montana Rail Link
Author: Ohiorailfan

My friend and I took a trip to MRL this past week. We started the trip by driving to KC from Ohio. Spent a day and a half in KC then headed to Sioux Falls for 2 shortlines(different post). We then drove from Sioux Falls all the way overnight to Thompson Falls for the Gas Local. On Tuesday the 21st we caught the Gas Local as well as a ballast extra leaving Missoula with 4404(Essential Worker) unit leading. We followed it to Helena where we then caught 2 trains heading west over Mullan pass. I did photograph a few BNSF trains, but this is an MRL post. LOL

On Day 2(the 22nd) we saw a couple BNSF trains around Helena then heard about the ballas train getting ready to head down the 5th sub. We hightailed it towards Whitehall and followed the tracks to the canyon and got there as the ballast train was entering the canyon. It is always a sight to see a train down the 5th sub. After that we got word of an LM heading west out of Logan. We headed to Townsend and got the LM with a pair of older ACes. We followed it to Helena where it died on the main for 45 minutes before getting recrewed. After the mainline cleared the Helena local headed east. Once he completed his work at Townsend the Helena local with by far one of the best power sets in the country headed west. MRL SD45 #355 and GP9 #109 were in charge

On Thursday(23rd) the goal was the Bozeman local to Livingston and the Laurel to Bozeman local. We eneded up getting the eastbound ML first thing in the morning. After that we chased the Bozeman local to Livingston with a pair of GP35s. They work Livingston on Thursdays only. When leaving town the local followed a loaded grain train west over Bozeman, We then headed to Columbus to wait on the LAUBOZ. A few moments later a pair of SD40-2XRs came with 15 cars. We followed it towards Big Timber before bailing for the westbound LM that was shortly behind him. Leading the LM was the Veterans Unit #4407. Once near Livingston the weather cleared up and we got storm light and a beautiful rainbow.

On Friday(24th) the goal was the Logan Local and Bozeman Local. In the morning we caught the ML with head end helpers coming down Bozeman, I then got stuck in a ditch for a couple hours before being towed out. We then got to logan as the locals were finishing up a few moves before combining power for the run east to Bozeman. Power for the train was 3 GP35s, 2 SD40-2s and an SD70ACe. Enjoy!!!!