The work the
iron demands.
The former Montana Rail Link mainline through Mullan Pass is one of the great working railroad corridors in North America — a mountain railroad in the truest sense, with sustained grades, dramatic curvature, and tonnage that demands multiple units on every move. This is not a heritage operation or a tourist railroad. This is a live, high-traffic BNSF subdivision carrying coal, grain, and intermodal traffic over some of the most photogenic terrain on the continent.
Bozeman Tunnel cuts through the Continental Divide at 5,548 feet. Lombard Canyon drops in a series of curves that compress beautifully at telephoto. The light in this country — especially in early morning before the peaks pull the shadows off the valley — does things to orange BNSF paint and silver rail that no filter can replicate. We work the territory with field-level knowledge of train schedules, light windows, and access points that only come from having worked this railroad.