Main Street of Big Sky Country

[funnelfan]

When I found out that Drew Mitchem (Amtrak34east) had the last week of June off without any plans for it, it seemed like a perfect oppritunity to catch the MRL "Old School" power of SD45's, SD40's, and SD45-2's in helper service. It's been well known for some time that the arrival of the "Aces" (SD70ACE's) was nearing, and I had been planning a trip to Mullan for June or July. I secured the time off, and Drew and myself spent the better part of a week following the former NP. We covered the part of the line from Glendive to Missoula, exploring beautiful counrty and interesting operations.
The trip proved to be a huge success, so much so that the rain and generally bad weather during the first two days of the trip could hardly dampen out spirits. Colorful consists, multi-train meets, and terrific scenery were the rule rather than the exception. We came away with so many photos that posting every one would be out of the question. Even an exhaustive inital round of selecting photos for posting only narrowed the pool down to 500 possible pics! Subsequent hashing out of the pool has reduced the number of pics to an amount that is fesible to post.
We started out early Tuesday morning for Montana. Bad weather kept us moving east past our original goal of Mullan Pass. It seemed wise to tackle Mullan later in the week when the forecasters were promising better weather, and it was a wise choice indeed. We overnighted in Billings after a small taste of trains on the west end of the Forsyth Sub. The next day we worked our way east to Glendive exploring every nook and cranny of the line. We found plenty of trains and locations to work with. After a night in Glendive, we briefly explored east into North Dakota before turning back to catch the heavy action between Glendive and Forsyth. The whole east end of the Forsyth was getting very close to meltdown status at this point, with too few crews avaible to handle too many trains. The dispatchers had some rather intresting remarks about the situation. Once past Forsyth, no trains were running due to a lack of crews, so we jumped ahead to find MRL's "LM" heading west into a setting sun and building storms. A stay at the Rainbow Lodge in Livingston readied us for Bozeman Pass the next morning. The first train up was a very heavy C-SCMCEC that required two unmanned helpers tucked behind the road power and a five unit set on the rear. Behind the coal train was the first of two M-LAUPAS's that day. We headed west with that train to catch the coal train on Mullan. We spent the rest of Friday and all day Saturday catching a variety of trains tackling the pass. Saturday night we finally headed home wishing that the trip wasn't over so soon.
Soon an era will come a end on Mullan and Bozeman as the SD70ACE's now coming out of EMD bump the older EMD's from thier cherished assignments on the helpers. So here I offer one last look at the storied task of 40 year old EMD's shoving heavy trains up steep grades
In this thread we will generally follow the former NP west from Glendive to near Missoula. Each photo caption will be marked with either TC or DM to indicate the photographer.

Glendive, Montana:
Upon our arrival in Glendive late Wednesday, it wasn't long before we found the depot. The shocker was what still graced the face of the magestic brick edifice to the industry that shaped the land where it was centered. A fully lit "Burlington Northern Railroad" sign. Thoughts of a night photography session were quick in coming.

1. The Glendive Depot has long been a anchor of railroading along the former NP in eastern Montana. TC

2. The depot is also the 24 hour a day heart of the city whose name it bears. TC

3. The face of the depot is a echo of a time that now exceeds ten years into the past. DM

4. The view similar to that seen by a westbound pulling up to crew change. DM


Lots more pics to come

[funnelfan]

Glendive is also the maintaince base for the coal train power of eastern Montana, namely the Oakway SD60's, ex-BN SD60M's, ex-BN SD70MAC's and the ex-ATSF SD75M/I's. It's great to come to the land of EMD's and get away from the Crap-9's

1. The power tracks at the south end of Glendive Yard were somewhat empty Wednesday night save for the BNSF, BNSF, TFM SD70MAC set that had just come off a train. DM

2. That changed the next day as things got busy. Here is a mix of power, some of it ready for the shop, some of it ready to head up a local, and a rotary waiting for a snowy winter. TC

3. The two styles of the BN SD60M cabs. TC

4. The power tracks were filling up by Thursday morning. TC

[funnelfan]

1. On the north side of the Glendive Shops was another rotary and some rotary power (the old F-units). TC

2. The shop goat was a old EMD switcher seen here Tuesday night moving around a SD75I. TC

3. Another view of the Shop Switcher in action. TC

4. The TFM "Mac" was a oddity, but it was in the right place for EMD power. TC

[funnelfan]

After miles and miles of river running on the Forsyth Sub, the Dickinson Sub east of Glendive features several grades that require helpers, the first of which starts in front of the depot! A loaded coal train tied down it's train on the mainline while the head end power was swapped out and rear end helpers were added. Here is a series of pics depicting a loaded coal train leaving town heading east.

1. TC
2. DM
3. TC
4. DM

[jbaakko]

i wanna see more of the rotary and its power sets!

[funnelfan]

1. Some of the NP heritage is on display north of the Freeway in the form of this caboose. TC

2. Some more Hill Lines heritage is displayed in the form of wrecked cars south of town. The cars included four GN cement cars and a couple of Burlington Route coal hoppers. TC

3. The M-LAUDIL working Glendive Yard. It came to town with eight units, and will only leave with two. TC

[funnelfan]

Early Thursday morning we had ventured south of Glendive to catch the M-DILLAU and the M-LAUDIL passing at Colgate. Here the tracks skirt the badlands of Makoshika State Park. The weather was very stormy at the start of the day, but by the end of the day it would be clear skies with distant thunderheads.

1. M-DILLAU. TC
2. M-LAUDIL. TC

[funnelfan]

After catching the two trains south of Glendive, we headed east into North Dakota, but with trains and weather being more promising south of Glendive, we followed light helper EMD3 back to Glendive.

1. EMD 3 passing the elevators at Sentinel Butte. DM
2. And the light helper overtaking the H-CSXPAS at Curry just east of Glendive. The train was being held out of the yard due to congestion. TC

[BCR4601]

Good stuff Ted.Glad you two are having a blast.My fav is the second last one with the elevators and Oakways.

[jbaakko]

I thought there were gonne be pics of MRL units too?