The Milwaukee Road in Montana

Classic Trains General Discussion
1

I took the side roads going home to visit family in Montana, searching for some Milwaukee Road Ghosts.

The first picture is along US 12 between Lavina and Ryegate. The floods of 2011 washed out this bridge on the fomer Milwaukee mainline through Golden Valley County. This is east of Harlowton, where the great Boxcabs and Little Joes took the lead to power the trains through several mountain ranges to Avery Idaho.

The second and third pictures are of the Red Coulee trestle severasl miles east of Great Falls. This was located on the northern Montana division that went north from Harlowton, then split east to Lewistown, and west to Great Falls. Permission was required (and granted) to gain access to this location.

For those interested in the subjects I have much more on my blog links below.

http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/2013/10/milwaukee-road-northern-montana-division.html

http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/2013/10/milwaukee-road-mainline-from-lavina.html

http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/2013/10/milwaukee-road-depot-great-falls-montana.html

If there are any “geared steam” fans, there are 4 chapters (so far) on a step by step rebuild of a shay locomotive in Libby Montana.

http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/2012/02/j-neils-shay-rebuild-sn-1643.html

I hope you enjoy!

2

My wife and I did that trip this summer and it never dawned on me to do what you did, so thank you for posting the links to your blog.

Steve

3

When nominations for pictures of RR grave markers are requested, those two pictures, (not photographs) of the trestle/bridge, last in the post, go in first. That’s our land alongside, around and under the metal, Classicaly erected starkly, strongly there…there.

Photographically: high quality. Art: without a doubt. Symbolically, a bridge not being crossed there.

Other railroad grave images, of any scale get to me… but these gang-tackled me.

Nothing morbid; are there nominee’s for a picture(s) of a railroad which has a piece of it that shows what it should have been?

And others…contradictory?

4

Update to this thread, I returned and explored more of the NMD east of Great Falls MT, Red Coulee, Belt Creek through to Denton.

http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/2014/07/milwaukee-road-northern-montana.html