Montana Rail Link's Helena Local heads back to its namesake city. (click to view larger)
I'll be sharing one photo of my trip every week until I head out to Montana once again. I guess I look at it like my way of holding a protest, or going on strike, until I get my way and I depart for Big Sky Country. Along the way, I will try to give everyone some information and other tidbits about each photograph. So come along and join me in my protest! After photographing the ballast train loading at Pipestone Quarry, we headed east to meet our friend near Three Forks. He was coming from the east, and he mentioned that he had peeped the Helena Local switching at Three Forks. He figured the local was finishing up work, and would be returning to Helena any minute. That gave us just enough time for a quick pit stop. We were hoping we could beat the local into Lombard Canyon. After refueling the rental car (and ourselves), we made our way slowly through Lombard and up into the hills. Just then, we noticed the local heading east through Lombard siding. Our goal was to get to a spot that we had photographed the previous year:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tdanneman/5395669351/in/set-72157625763437256
When we first saw the train, it was near milepost 185. The shot we wanted was near milepost 189, so with the local having a 25 mph speed limit in the canyon, we had just enough time to get there. We knew the train was close, so we drove as far as we could on what most people would call a trail. We finally came to a stop, jumped out of the vehicle, and ran to get into position. I was winded from the sprint as the local appeared around the corner. It always takes me a few days to get acclimated to the elevation and the thin air compared to home. Two beautiful MRL SD40-2XRs ushered eight cars, including an interesting flatcar with an orange excavator, past milepost 189. Even though it is subtle, I like the way the front end of the train is reflected in the little pond in this photo. The Lombard Canyon and Three Forks area is our destination for a few days, so more of this area will be next.
Galleries:
Tom's Montana Protest Facebook Gallery
Tom's Montana Protest Flickr Set
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.