QStation

I figured that now is the best time to get into doing Santa Fe drawings. On top of that, this is also my first attempt at a drawing of one of my favorite diesels, the ALCO PA.

Reference Image: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ef5133fe97a1d249ac3fe6b/1593539889738-XTPKNHN9PN6KF7JAKZTL/ALCO_PA_59L_in_Service_May_15_1966_San_Diego_CROP.jpg

every magic mile

Empire Builder and the Izaak Walton Inn

We're in Essex, Montana, as the eastbound Amtrak Empire Builder is seen rolling by the Izaak Walton Inn.

The train, Empire Builder, was named in honor of the founder of the Great Northern Railway, James J. Hill. It ran for that railroad beginning in 1929 and was retained in the Amtrak era up to the present. One can read more about this famous train here.

The Izaak Walton Inn, named for an English writer and fly-fisherman, was constructed for railway crews in 1939 but was eventually turned into a hotel for the public. Here is more information on this historical structure. The place is dripping with railroad history.

Mullan Pass, Part Two

Continued from my previous post—we're now at Blossburg. A weathered sign announces to anyone traveling the line that this point is at the Continental Divide.

By the time I got over the hill and down to the tracks, the westbound train had continued down the western slope of Mullan Pass. The four absolutely filthy pushers (three of them still in Montana Rail Link paint) sat a bit and then retreated through the tunnel and down to Helena for another assignment.

The Continental Divide Trail crosses over the tunnel here. Its length varies (depending upon alternate routes here and there) between 2,700 and 3,150 miles.

Mullan Pass, Part Three

In the third of four posts on Mullan Pas, we now see an eastbound train headed over the peak. Relatively speaking, this train of empty hoppers sped up the hill with me barely able to get in front of it.

In the final shot, the train is curving toward the tunnel at what is known as Blossburg. In the background one can see the area in which a gravel road goes over the pass; this is where the Continental Divide Trail runs perpendicularly to that of the east/west railroad.

This line was that of the Northern Pacific Railway (1883), Burlington Northern (1970), Montana Rail Link (1987), and BNSF (2024).

Mullan Pass, Part Four

In my final post on Mullan Pass, we see the meet of an eastbound train (with autos, approaching the peak and tunnel) and a westbound train loaded with coal. As mentioned in the previous posts, this was originally the Northern Pacific Railway.

I believe this was the route Amtrak's North Coast Hiawatha took over the Great Divide. I was able to ride that train in the summer of 1979, but not at this location. (I rode from Bozeman to Milwuakee.) Sadly, the NCH was discontinued just a month after I rode it—but people in Montana are currently working hard to get it reinstated. One can read about that effort here.

Mullan Pass, Part One

Here's a westbound mixed freight grinding up the east side of Mullan Pass. The location is west of Helena, Montana, on the Great Divide.

I had spotted the train crawling up the hill (with four pushers) and was able to get in front of it here near the top. The train will soon duck into a tunnel and emerge at Blossburg.

As for me, the road from this point up to the top of the pass was sketchy to say the least. I was extremely happy to have not cracked the oil pan on my rental car.

This line was the former Northern Pacific Railway, then Burlington Northern. For a time it served as Montana Rail Link but has reverted to the BNSF. More on Mullan Pass in subsequent posts.

GN Through the Blackfeet Nation

After visiting the Marias Pass area, I headed eastward and then south. Along the way I spotted this westbound stack train moving through the Blackfeet Indian Reservation at Browning. In the third shot one can see the peaks of Glacier National Park in the distance.

If you'd like to read about the Blackfeet you may do so here. For a condensed history of the Great Northern Railway, the only transcontinental railroad in the United States to NOT use public funds, you may do so here.

it identifies you

Christmas decorations on La Fonda Hotel, designed by Dorothy Stauffer, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Photographer: Ina Sizer Cassidy

Date: 1941

Denver and Rio Grande Western narrow gauge train at Santa Fe, New Mexico

Westbound at Joliet

One more early image, taken the same day as my previous post...

The train pictured may be the famed Super-C, a hot TOFC train that ran between Chicago and the west coast. It's westbound near the tower at Joliet once again. The Santa Fe ran parallel to the GM&O at this spot; the train will cross the Rock Island within seconds.

The lead locomotive is an SD45-2 built in May of 1974, so only a little over a year old. It has a 20-cylinder prime mover that produced 3600 horsepower.

The ATSF Just West of Chicago

In this image we see some Santa Fe power at rest—including a splendid FP45, number 5947, tied up to a couple of SD45s, one sporting the older paint scheme.