Looks like Jay sold out day one and the railroad said
a day two is an option. See also the J. Fanz link below.
Really nice photos from the September trip.
Contact Jay direct if you're interested. -k-


From: "JAY850@aol.com" <JAY850@aol.com

This is to announce a second Photographer’s Freight Train excursion on the Montana shortline known as Central Montana Rail, following the enthusiastic response to the first trip run in 2012.

I do not expect this trip to be repeated again.

Central Montana Rail is a little known and seldom photographed shortline created from parts of the Milwaukee Road’s former Northern Montana Division and the Great Northern’s (BN) Moccasin-Lewistown branch line. It is a spectacular railroad in the wheat-growing country and has some long, high steel trestles and a tunnel along with some remaining old-fashioned country grain elevators. It is a very attractive railroad to photograph with a roster of six unmodified ex-GN GP9’s for power painted in an attractive blue and while paint scheme.

The problem is the railroad is out of the grain-hauling business since a May 2011 flood washed out and caused major damage to one of the huge steel trestles (the Milwaukee one over the Judith River) and slightly damaged another (the GN trestle also over the Judith River), as well as washing out parts of the line on the Arrow Creek Hill (a former helper district). The railroad has applied for loans to fix the Milwaukee Judith River bridge (several million dollars), but if that effort is not successful, the future for this line may not be very bright.

For now, 30 miles in the center of the line are operational and are used for a seasonal dinner train. That will be the route of the freight excursion (passengers will ride in the caboose to carefully planned photo stops), from Denton west to Arrow Creek and east to Ware. The trip is planned for Saturday, June 1, 2013, but that trip is sold out already. The railroad said they would run the trip again the next day, Sunday, June 2, if we can gather enough passengers. We need 21 to make this happen, and two are already on the list.

The cost per passenger is $150 and will include a night photo session on Saturday and a box lunch on Sunday. You are also welcome to join the Saturday passengers’ night photo on Friday night and chase the Saturday train, if you choose. It is not an easy line to photograph by highway, and all the local roads are gravel (or if wet, mud). Maps and a condensed profile of the line will be furnished once it is certain the Sunday train will run.

If you fly to Montana and rent a car, the best airport to use is Great Falls. The railroad headquarters at Denton (population 255) is 87 miles east of Great Falls. The closest other big town is Lewistown, population 5900, 37 miles east of Denton. (Yes, big for Montana.) This is a beautiful, but desolate part of the state. Full information on where to stay, eat, and find fuel will be furnished once the trip is a certainty.

Some hill climbing will be required to reach some of the photo locations, and, just so no one is surprised, this is rattlesnake country.

Please contact me by email between now and May 1st and I will put you on the list. I will give everyone on the list an update on the reservation numbers periodically and will confirm the trip as soon as we make the limit so you can plan your travel.

To see an album of photographs of the trip in 2012 and get an idea of what the country and railroad is like, take a look at the following excellent views provided by Justin Franz.

Central Montana Rail by Jusin Franz[s][/s]

[www.flickr.com]

Thanks for your interest,

Jay Lentzner