Here’s a few miscellaneous photos from around the Central Montana…

Grain is ready and so is the train.  August is harvest time for grain and the harvest is in full swing in Central Montana.  With some dry days later this week farmers will be at it from sun up to sun down.  Grain trains are being positioned and one is expected at Grove on Friday.

Downtown Stanford.  Another busy day is in progress in Stanford, Montana with folks coming to town do their business.   Most residents don’t even notice the M-SHMLAU as it blasts through town.
Benchland depot.   The Benchland, Montana depot is no longer next to the track but is still in existence which is not all that common out here.

Moonrise over Benchland elevator.  Like many small elevators in Central Montana the Benchland elevator still stands but is unused.  Farmers now take their grain to the large elevators at Grove, Moore, and Carter where BNSF supplies full trains for loading.

The Laurel sub doesn’t follow rivers like many railroads do.  Instead it crosses them.  There are some significant rivers it crosses like the Musselshell,  Missouri, and Judith but there are many like Skull Creek, Sage Creek, and Hauk Coulee that are not as notable.  Yesterday while chasing the M-SHMLAU with Haley I decided to photograph the train in a couple of these drainages.

Sage creek eventually turns into something more significant and forced the Milwaukee Road to construct a large structure to get across.  The GN got a bit luckier because it is closer to the headwaters and was able to cross on a short trestle but in trade it had to climb out of the Sage Creek valley on both sides.  Despite appearances the grade here isn’t over .5% and the SHMLAU is blasting up grade at nearly 40 mph.  The track curves to the left just past the locomotives and reappears above the two red boxcars.  The top of the elevator above the cement cars is up at Benchland and is at the top of the grade.

Between Hobson and Sipple is Hauk Coulee.  Hauk Coulee itself isn’t that significant however it does join with the Judith River downstream from the BNSF.  The Judith too forced the Milwaukee to build a large structure to get across but again the GN got off easy with a three span plate girder bridge and some culverts for tributaries.  Today the Milwaukee is operated by the Central Montana but not as a through route.  The GN is still in place with regular freight traffic.  So who made the best decisions about crossing drainages?

The Laurel sub may be a mainline but it is not the transcon when it comes to the track structure.  Right now it takes most trains nearly the full 12 hours to go the 225 miles between Laurel and Great Falls thanks to various permanent and temporary slow orders.  No big deal though since this railroad isn’t used to speed trains from one point to another.

Yesterday I chased a train north from Moccasin to Stanford.  I passed the train at Windham and expected it would arrive in Stanford within 10 minutes.  What I forgot about was the 10 mph slow order in the tunnel south of town.  I headed to Geyser for my next photo and had made the 15 minute drive (at 70 mph) before I heard the detector just south of Stanford go off.  I waited around Geyser for more than 45 minutes before I heard the train say they were approaching Geyser….at 10 mph.   Yep, more 10 mph slow orders.  The good news is the section crew spent most of the day between Stanford and Geyser with a tamper and regulator so hopefully some of the 10 mph slow order were lifted.

M-SHMLAU passes through Stanford at dinner time.

Rough track.

Here’s the last round of  my middle of the train series.   These are some miscellaneous favorite “middle” photos that depict the great fun cars can be for a photographer.

A long stack train winds along the Columbia River east of Washougal, Washington.

Grain cars on the Columbia Drawbridge at Vancouver, Washington.

An empty grain train is stopped on the eastward main at the Downs, Washington elevator while preparing to make a set out.

A westbound Z train passes over the Wentatchee River under the threatening skies of an afternoon thunderstorm.

Ok, so I’m aware it is August, but some of my favorite car photos were taken in the middle of the winter.  Brrr, fast moving trains and blowing snow make for a cold but rewarding experience for the photographer.  So, here is the middle of train from the middle of winter.

With a string of SP’s legacy behind, a southbound UP manifest pulls a string of laden boxcars up the Cascades near Heather, Oregon.

A northbound UP manifest makes blowing snow in Crescent Lake, Oregon.

With the mercury hovering in the single digits a northbound UP manifest blows into Chemult, Oregon

With a light dusting of snow on the ground a UP stack train glides around the curve at Vancouver, Washington.