Photo ID: 105523 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, August 15, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Helena Helena, MT 1236 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad 3rd Subdivision (MRL) Montana Rail Link The capital of Montana! The depot in Helena, original constructed by and used by Northern Pacific, still stands and looks great. Helena is a crew change point for the Montana Rail Link, so the depot is used quite a bit by the railroad. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105524 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, August 15, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Helena Helena, MT 1477 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad 3rd Subdivision (MRL) Montana Rail Link Waiting for a new crew to be called to take it west, Montana Rail Link's "LM" (Laurel to Missoula) manifest sits in the yard at Helena. All of the haze in the shot is the result of smoke being generated by over 40 forest fires in the state! Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105525 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, August 15, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Austin Creek Trestle Lewis and Clark County, MT 1655 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad 3rd Subdivision (MRL) Montana Rail Link A quartet of SD70ACes cross over the Austin Creek Trestle, just east of Mullan Pass. The units serve as manned helpers to assist in the climb up and over Mullan Pass. The units just helped a unit grain train over the pass and are now returning light to Helena to await their next helper assignment. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105526 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, August 15, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Austin Lewis and Clark County, MT 1319 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad 3rd Subdivision (MRL) Montana Rail Link A quartet of ten year old SD70ACes head east at Austin on their wait back to Helena. The units just helped a unit grain train to climb the steep grades on the east slope of Mullan Pass. After cutting off at the summit, the units return to Helena to wait for the next westbound in need of assistance. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105527 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, August 15, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Austin Lewis and Clark County, MT 1497 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad 3rd Subdivision (MRL) Montana Rail Link The summer of 2015 has been a bad one for forest fires in Montana. Over 40 of them are burning in the state and the smoke is bad! All of the haze you see here is the result of smoke. These SD70ACes are headed back east toward Helena, where the haze is, unfortunately, no better. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105528 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, August 15, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed East Blossburg Powell County, MT 1652 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad 3rd Subdivision (MRL) BNSF, Montana Rail Link This eastbound BNSF manifest is just about over the top of Mullan Pass. It is approaching the east switch of the siding at Blossburg, which is located near the mouth of the west portal of Mullan Tunnel. This particularly manifest is considered high priority by BNSF, and won't be waiting around anywhere for very long. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105529 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, August 15, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Helena Helena, MT 1547 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad 2nd Subdivision (MRL) BNSF, Montana Rail Link After a brief stop in Helena, a fresh MRL crew is now on board to take this high priority BNSF manifest east toward Laurel. The train departed Pasco, WA the day before and is headed toward Kansas City. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105530 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, August 15, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed MP 225 Broadwater County, MT 1340 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad 2nd Subdivision (MRL) BNSF, Montana Rail Link About 13 miles east of Helena, this eastbound BNSF manifest is starting to a slow a little. It is working on climbing the western slope of Winston Hill. While the west slope definitely has a grade, the grade isn't too bad...the east slope, on the other hand, is far steeper. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105531 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, August 15, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed East Winston Winston, MT 1515 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad 2nd Subdivision (MRL) BNSF, Montana Rail Link A westbound loaded grain train is very slowly pulling in to the siding at Winston. The train has nearly made it up and over Winston Hill, the last major climb before reaching Helena. The train is taking the siding because there is an eastbound BNSF manifest sitting on the main. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105532 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, August 15, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed East Winston Winston, MT 1563 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad 2nd Subdivision (MRL) BNSF On a normal day, this shot would have some pretty fantastic mountains visible in the background. Unfortunately, a unprecedented number of forest fires in Montana have resulted in a thick, smoky haze over a good portion of the state. Despite the smoke, trains gotta keep rolling! Here, a westbound BNSF (loaded) grain train crawls into the siding at Winston. An eastbound BNSF manifest prepares to depart from the main after the grain train is in the clear. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105533 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, August 15, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed East Winston Winston, MT 1338 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad 2nd Subdivision (MRL) BNSF After finally making it up Winston Hill, a westbound BNSF grain train slowly starts gaining some speed as the tracks level off through the siding of Winston. Meanwhile, a high priority manifest on the main prepares to depart just as soon as the signal at the east end turn green. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105534 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, August 15, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed West Townsend Townsend, MT 1651 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad 2nd Subdivision (MRL) BNSF, Montana Rail Link A great looking signal bridge still stands at the west end of Townsend on the MRL's 2nd Subdivision. Not entirely sure how much longer it will last as MRL is definitely working on putting some money into replacing older signals. An eastbound BNSF manifest passes underneath the signal bridge on a clear signal. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105535 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, August 15, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed West of Manhattan Gallatin County, MT 1321 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad 2nd Subdivision (MRL) BNSF, Montana Rail Link Between Toston and Logan, MRL's mainline runs through Lombard Canyon. Didn't get a chance to see the canyon on this trip due to time and the haziness caused by forest fires. It takes a train around an hour to make its way through the canyon. This BNSF manifest just made it through and is now pulling east from Logan, headed toward Manhattan. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105536 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, August 15, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Belgrade Belgrade, MT 1298 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad 2nd Subdivision (MRL) BNSF, Montana Rail Link The water tower in the background should give away the location of this photo. This eastbound BNSF manifest is cruising through the town of Belgrade, population just over 7,600. Although not visible in this picture, MRL is working on extending the siding of Belgrade to the east to accommodate longer trains and avoid blocking grade crossings. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture. Photo ID: 105537 Date Shot Photo By Saturday, August 15, 2015 Kevin Morgan Location Times Viewed Bozeman Bozeman, MT 1341 (Add a Comment) Subdivision Railroad 2nd Subdivision (MRL) BNSF This eastbound BNSF manifest is getting ready to start the climb up the west slope of Bozeman Pass. It is currently passing through the town of Bozeman on the main line. The track to the left is part of the Bozeman Yard (serviced by both the 840 and 841 locals) and the track to the right is the Bozeman siding. Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster or add a comment to the picture.

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