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Railfan Sites in Montana

A self-guiding railfan tour

Railfan, railfan--where do you see trains in Montana?

Take a tour on the Great Northern from Whitefish to East Glacier. The tour is here, and the sites listed below which are on the tour are identified with an orange [GN] .

Mapwork: If you're going to be looking for railfan locations, you'll need an industrial strength map resource. I definitely recommend you get a DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer, study it before your trip, and copy pertinent pages for your field work. You can find information here about Railfan Maps that are available.

Cities And Sites

(1) With great thanks to Tim Harris for all these goodies residing on his super MRL unofficial homepage. Tim's homepage is here.

(2) Thanks to Joseph Oates, who winters in the south, and spends warmer times as a camping vagabond, driving around recording railfan site data. We hope to hear more from him in the future.

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EVARO HILL

The March, 2000 issue of TRAINS Magazine has a spread about Montana Rail Link ops between Paradise and Missoula. Evaro is on one of the two routes between those cities, and there's a picture taken at the place ("place", because it really isn't a town, per se). Evaro is actually the crest of some steep grades in both directions, and sees relatively little traffic today. However, it's wide open, and any train over the line would have to work like the dickens, so those would be a sight to photograph and capture on video tape. My advice would be to contact Montana Rail Link and get information ahead of time as to trains routed over the hill.

From Missoula, go west on I-90, and take exit 96 to go north on US-93. Evaro Hill's summit is about 7 miles on US-93 (which is one rough, tough highway, partner).

If you don't subscribe to TRAINS, I highly recommend it.

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GREAT FALLS (August 16, 1999)

This is a big city for Montana, with just under 60,000 folks, and the BNSF runs big city/big sky country trains thru here. Reach the tracks on the south (east) side of the Mighty Missouri River [NOTE: If you don't understand why they call the Missouri and Mississippi rivers "mighty", you weren't there in 1993!], by going 1/2 mile south of I-15Business off 2nd Avenue. Photo ops are wide open here on both sides of the tracks all day.

Thanks to Joseph Oates, who winters in the south, and spends warmer times as a camping vagabond, driving around recording railfan site data. We hope to hear more from him in the future.

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HAVRE (August 16, 1999)

Havre isn't a big city, like New York or Chicago, but for the BNSF and Montana, it's plenty big enough. In the center of this city of some 10,500 bods, the BNSF's (ex-BN, exx-GN) erstwhile mountain goat has had a commanding presence next to US-2 for many decades. With curves at both ends of the yard trackage, shots from the US-2 area are possible at any time of the day from public access. The Great Northern Motel overlooks the engine house!

Thanks to Joseph Oates, who winters in the south, and spends warmer times as a camping vagabond, driving around recording railfan site data. We hope to hear more from him in the future.

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MILES CITY -- TRINITY INDUSTRIES (August 22, 1999)

Trinity is a good-sized firm, with over 390 locations in the United States, many of which are railcar construction and/or repair facilities. The northern-most is in Miles City. Their plant uses what looks to be a 25-ton GE and an SW-something. The facility is in the northeast part of town, off Valley Drive.

Thanks to Joseph Oates, who winters in the south, and spends warmer times as a camping vagabond, driving around recording railfan site data. We hope to hear more from him in the future.

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ST. REGIS (March, 2000)

This is a small town in far western Montana -- Big Sky Country! -- and is home to less than 700 souls. Montana RailLink runs right thru town. There is a picture of the town and its railroad track in the March, 2000, TRAINS Magazine. The old buildings and the mountain backdrop combine to make a very attractive place to take some great pictures. St. Regis is about 70 miles west of Missoula, and is reached via I-90. Take exit 33 into the town.

If you don't subscribe to TRAINS, I highly recommend it.

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