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….
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