August 2009

Railroad business is down and this isn’t a surprise to anyone who follows our economy. My next statement won’t surprise you either. Business is down in Central Montana too. Last year at this time BNSF ran daily trains between Sweet Grass, MT and Laurel, MT. This year they are no longer daily and only go as far as Shelby, MT with a local handling the CP interchange to Sweet Grass.

M-LAUSHM, the lone through train on Thursday, crosses Otter Creek near Armington.

Looking at things from a manager perspective fewer trains and different management of power at Shelby probably are more “efficient” for the bottom line. In a tough economy, that’s what you have to do. These changes do mean delays to freight though as cars can sit at Laurel, Shelby, or Sweet Grass for an extra day before being moved to the opposite end of the line for delivery. A calculated decision I’m sure.

The lone through train on Friday, the M-SHMLAU, passes the unused elevator at Windham.

In addition to the reduced traffic cars are stored everywhere. In the back tracks at Armington, Geyser, and Stanford are enough 1970s steel coal cars to make a full coal train. Down at Cushman the passing siding is full of TOFC flats. The Lewistown Sub, which has traditionally been storage, is packed. The most telling sign of our economy is the 120+ aluminum coal hoppers stored on the Central Montana at Moccasin. Modern cars that were part of the constant growth of Powder River basin coal shipping are now just sitting.

Got coal train? Stored coal hoppers at Stanford.

Economic doom and gloom aside there are some positives. Despite being less than daily the trains are running longer than last year which means there is still business. Farming around Central Montana appears on the outside like it did a year ago. The wheat is ripe and being harvested, the cattle are every where and are being shipped for processing, and the grass is green and being cut for winter feed. The Great Falls local pulled a cut of 50+ stored boxcars off the Lewistown sub Thursday an whether they are headed back to service or for scrap it means something good for someone.

Healing the economy will most likely take some time so hopefully by next year’s visit operations around here will be back to normal.

The Shelby-Laurel train approaching Judith Gap.

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, BNSF, Central Montana, economy, farming, Armington, Stanford, Geyser, Judith Gap, Montana

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Never heard of it? You are not alone…

BNSF’s Broadview sub is a new spur into the Bull Mountain mine north west of Billings, MT. The spur was recently constructed as part of an overall upgrade to the Bull Mountain facilities. The line is 35 miles long and leaves BNSF’s Laurel subdivision at a new station called Walter about 2 miles south of little town of Broadview.

South Siding Switch Walter

While exploring the south end of the Laurel sub yesterday I took some time between trains to drive out to the mine and see what a brand new railroad looks like. As you might guess any railroad that will see coal trains will be built ruggedly and this is no exception. There are quite a few grade crossings but there are also a few overpasses and underpasses where the terrain dictates.

Broadview as seen from the overpass at MP 8.8

My goal for this visit was to take some pictures for myself of the completed line. Then a funny thing happened. The Montana branch dispatcher called the BNSF 5214 and asked what time they’d be back to the mainline at Walter. During this discussion it was revealed that the 5214 was leading a geometry train up the branch. I couldn’t believe it, all of my photos wouldn’t be sans trains!

S curve south of the Majerus Rd. overpass

The Broadview sub is easily accessible for the railfan thanks to parallel roads. Some of the roads follow a grid pattern so chasing may be a bit challenging though. Yesterday it helped that the geo train was moving slowly so I could easily leap frog and get to the next location ahead of it. I’m not sure what the final speed on the branch will be, but if its any faster than 25 mph keeping up with a train on the gravel roads will be tough. To see the line for yourself leave MT 3 at 21 Mile Rd. in Broadview. This road takes you to MP 11. Next turn north on Cushman Rd/Gooding Creek Rd then right on Majerus Rd for the rest of the line to US 87.

Crossing the valley at MP 11

I don’t know that I’ve heard a schedule for running the first train out to the mine but from the looks of it the railroad is ready. Chatting with a local yesterday he told me that the geometry train was the first thing other than ballast and rail trains he’d seen. Once the trains start to roll its likely many of us will hear much more about the scenic Broadview sub.

Almost back to the mainline at MP 6

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, bnsf, montana, broadview, bull mountain, coal, mine

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