by Steve Eshom on June 29, 2007
Thursday’s family expedition was a trip to Malta, MT to see a local museum that contained several dinosaur skeletons. That was of course quite interesting. To top it off the museum was right across the street from the Hi-Line so I was able to capture a couple of the trains whipping through town. In this first photo an eastbound stack train passes underneath Malta’s version of the ubiquitous grain elevator. I’m not sure if the banner on the leftmost elevator (Break The Habit) was pointed at railfans or potential drug users?
Break The Habit
East of Malta is the Bowdoin Wildlife Refuge which includes a 15 mile driving tour around the refuge. We spent nearly an hour and a half viewing wildlife in this fantastic location. Wouldn’t you know it, but the railroad cuts through the southern third of it. During the time we were there Amtak 7 and 8 passed along with an eastbound Z and the Z-CHCPTL (hey a piece of home in MT). I chose to capture the eastbound Z at one of the rural crossings in the refuge. If you like wildlife and trains, this place has it all and it is priced just right for the railfan (free!).
Bowdoin Crossing
Technorati Tags: bnsf, malta, montana, photography, trains, railroad, big sky country, phillips county museum, bowdoin wildlife refuge
by Steve Eshom on June 27, 2007
As I’ve mentioned in my two previous posts there are two regular trains on the Laurel Sub. Last night the sky was clear which made for great sun and allowed me to get some nicely lit photos of the M-LAUSWE from Judith Gap up to Stanford. The daily M-SWELAU didn’t arrive in Stanford until after dark (sort of) however.
Depending on where you stand in the Judith Basin you can see for miles. In this first photo from Moccasin, MT the Big Snowy Mountains providing the backdrop are around 18 miles away! The town of Moore, MT is just out of the photo to the left and is 20 miles away by rail (via Sipple). What a view!
Moccasin and the Big Snowys
In this photo taken at 10pm shows the M-SWELAU rolling through Stanford. I know it doesn’t get dark very early in Vancouver in the summer, but here in Big Sky Country it seems twilight lasts for hours. It was still light enough out that I could work the camera without any additional light.
Montana Elevator Co. – Stanford
That covers the regulars, now to the local. Today the ‘local’ was a Moore turn out of Great Falls. The train consisted of 5 geeps and 52 empty grain cars for the elevator at Moore. Moore is located on the Lewistown sub about 7 miles east of the junction at Sipple, MT. For all of you history buffs, here’s a question. Who was the original owner of the line segment BNSF calls the Lewistown Sub? BN doesn’t count because it is too obvious. If you know, post a comment.
In this photo of the local the southbound local is crossing the Judith River at Hobson with the Little Belt Mountains providing the backdrop. The scenery never stops here!
Moore Turn at The Judith River
Technorati Tags: bnsf, stanford, montana, photography, trains, railroad, big sky country
by Steve Eshom on June 26, 2007
On the radio yesterday morning a welder recieved track and time to do a weld north of Stanford. As typical he asked the dispatcher how much time he’d have. The DS told him “oh, until 17:00″. That pretty much sums up the trains that passed through town during the day!
Around 19:00 things started hopping. First a northbound from Laurel rolled through. In this first photo I captured it just south of Stanford as the herd was ‘moooving’ back to the feeding area.
Moooving. The M-LAUSWE crosses Skull Creek south of Stanford.
At 19:20 a southbound arrived and picked up 3 ballast cars that were then going to be set out 7 miles away. Needless to say the crew wasn’t too happy. I choose to chase the northbound because the lighting would be more appropriate. I shot it several times north of Stanford including at the west portal of the Wayne tunnel.
Exiting the Wayne Tunnel, the M-LAUSWE is just a few minutes from Great Falls.
Technorati Tags: bnsf, stanford, montana, photography, trains, railroad, big sky country
by Steve Eshom on June 24, 2007
Over the past two days my family and I have trekked east from Vancouver to my mother-in-law’s home in Stanford, MT. What do Stanford and trains have in common? BNSF’s Laurel subdivision. The Laurel sub is the is ex-GN line that runs roughly northwest from Laurel, MT (Mossmain for the NP fans) to Great Falls. The Great Falls sub then continues north to Shelby and the Hi-Line. The area around here is on the down slope of the Rockies and is primarily rolling hills covered with grass. The railroad climbs in and out of various rivers canyons, crosses many trestles, and includes 5 tunnels!
On our arrival here today I heard the BNSF 7923 get a track warrant from Great Falls to the south switch Judith Gap. Doing some estimating I figured the M-GRFLAU into Stanford around 6pm. After eating I dashed out to the grain elevators north of town and caught the train in mixed light.
Stanford Elevator
I drove south towards Hobson partially to scout and partially to get out from under a thunderstorm forming west of Stanford. In this photo the train is descending from Moccasin (junction with the Central Montana) to the crossing of the Judith River at Hobson.
Hobson
On my return to Stanford the Montana Branch dispatcher passed on a tornado watch to the train from MP 95 to MP 45. It certainly turned into quite the storm.
Severe Storm
Look for more from Stanford throughout the week….
Technorati Tags: bnsf, stanford, montana, photography, trains, railroad, big sky country
by Steve Eshom on June 22, 2007
Around the summer solstice I find it fun to look back on winter photos as a reminder of what the weather in January was like. Whew, I’m glad summer is here.
With a skiff of snow on the ground a westbound manifest train glides into the Stevenson siding for a meet
Technorati Tags: BNSF, stevenson, washington, snow, cold, railfan, photos, trains, photography
