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The Milwaukee Road in Montana

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  • Member since
    January 2008
  • From: Big Blackfoot River
  • 2,788 posts
The Milwaukee Road in Montana
Posted by Geared Steam on Sunday, August 25, 2013 12:00 PM

I took the side roads going home to visit family in Montana, searching for some Milwaukee Road Ghosts.

The first picture is along US 12 between Lavina and Ryegate. The floods of 2011 washed out this bridge on the fomer Milwaukee mainline through Golden Valley County. This is east of Harlowton, where the great Boxcabs and Little Joes took the lead to power the trains through several mountain ranges to Avery Idaho.

The second and third pictures are of the Red Coulee trestle severasl miles east of Great Falls. This was located on the northern Montana division that went north from Harlowton, then split east to Lewistown, and west to Great Falls. Permission was required (and granted) to gain access to this location. 

For those interested in the subjects I have much more on my blog links below.

http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/2013/10/milwaukee-road-northern-montana-division.html

http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/2013/10/milwaukee-road-mainline-from-lavina.html

http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/2013/10/milwaukee-road-depot-great-falls-montana.html

If there are any "geared steam" fans, there are 4 chapters (so far) on a step by step rebuild of a shay locomotive in Libby Montana.

http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/2012/02/j-neils-shay-rebuild-sn-1643.html

I hope you enjoy!

"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein

http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • 86 posts
Posted by U-3-b on Sunday, August 25, 2013 2:19 PM

My wife and I did that trip this summer and it never dawned on me to do what you did, so thank you for posting the links to your blog.  

Steve

  • Member since
    September 2010
  • 339 posts
Posted by efftenxrfe on Sunday, August 25, 2013 8:29 PM

When nominations for pictures of RR grave markers are requested, those two pictures, (not photographs) of the trestle/bridge, last in the post, go in first. That's our land alongside, around and under the metal, Classicaly erected starkly, strongly there....there.

Photographically: high quality. Art: without a doubt. Symbolically, a bridge not being crossed there.

Other railroad grave images, of any scale get to me..... but these  gang-tackled me.

Nothing morbid; are there nominee's for a picture(s) of a railroad which has a piece of it that shows what it should have been?

And others....contradictory?

  • Member since
    January 2008
  • From: Big Blackfoot River
  • 2,788 posts
Posted by Geared Steam on Wednesday, June 24, 2015 5:49 PM

Update to this thread, I returned and explored more of the NMD east of Great Falls MT, Red Coulee, Belt Creek through to Denton.

http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/2014/07/milwaukee-road-northern-montana.html 

 

"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein

http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/

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