Re: Railroading east of Butte, Montana
Author: ex-BN
Date: 06-11-2014 - 22:01
George Andrews Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The line you saw over Homestake Pass is a part of
> Montana Rail Link, however it has been out of
> service for many years. It was built as part of
> Northern Pacific's original line to the Pacific
> Northwest. As you have noted, the line is quite
> twisty and slow, with a curved steel trestle on it
> as well. NP would later build a better line
> between Logan and Garrison through the State
> Capitol of Helena; this line is currently a part
> of the MRL mainline. After the Helena line was
> built, the Butte line remained in use primarily
> for passenger trains. I rode over this line on
> Amtrak's North Coast Hiawatha in August, 1979,
> just 2 months before this train was discontinued.
The MRL mainline through Helena was the original NP mainline. The line from Silver Bow and Butte to Garrison was built by the Utah and Northern and was narrow gauge. It is still owned by UP but was leased to NP for 999 years. Later the NP built from Butte to Logan to shorten the distance for Butte traffic headed east. The line did host the North Coast Limited, NP's premier passenger train, and later Amtrak's North Coast Hiawatha. Until the start of Amtrak Helena hosted the Mainstreeter, NP and BN's secondary train.
The line over the top of Homestake Pass has mostly been out of service since Amtrak cut the NCL in 1979 but Amtrak did run a test train a few years later when considering reopening the route.
Railroading east of Butte, Montana
|
Jim G. |
06-11-2014 - 19:29 |
Re: Railroading east of Butte, Montana
|
BN Oly |
06-11-2014 - 20:56 |
Re: Railroading east of Butte, Montana
|
George Andrews |
06-11-2014 - 20:57 |
Re: Railroading east of Butte, Montana
|
George Andrews |
06-11-2014 - 20:59 |
Deadmen tell no tales
|
pdxrailtransit |
06-11-2014 - 21:21 |
Re: Railroading east of Butte, Montana |
ex-BN |
06-11-2014 - 22:01 |
Re: Railroading east of Butte, Montana
|
Rich Hunn |
06-12-2014 - 09:19 |
Re: Railroading east of Butte, Montana
|
trackwalker |
06-14-2014 - 21:33 |
Re: Railroading east of Butte, Montana
|
David Smith |
06-15-2014 - 09:13 |
Re: Railroading east of Butte, Montana
|
Jim Speaker's Third Cousin Twice Remo |
06-15-2014 - 16:59 |
Re: Railroading east of Butte, Montana
|
Rich Hunn |
06-15-2014 - 17:16 |
Re: Railroading east of Butte, Montana
|
EPA Inspector |
06-16-2014 - 03:52 |
Re: Railroading east of Butte, Montana
|
Rich Hunn |
06-16-2014 - 09:29 |