Farewell MRL Part 1

Since its founding in October 1987, the Montana Rail Link has plied the rails laid down by the Northern Pacific in the Big Sky country of Montana. It has served as a bridge line for the Burlington Northern and later BNSF between Jones Junction, Montana and Sandpoint, Idaho. In addition to handling main line freight, MRL has provided rail service to many local customers along its 900 plus miles of track utilizing several branch lines.

In January 2022, news of the MRL reaching an agreement with BNSF to end its lease brought many railfans out to Montana to see their beloved regional railroad one last time, not knowing exactly when the end would come. We made several trips in 2022 and early 2023 to capture some of the hot spots at various times of the year and are proud to present this four-part series showcasing Montana Rail Link in quite likely its last years of operation.

Part 1 begins in Missoula and follows MRL’s Gas Local over the 4th and 10th Subdivisions to Pipeline. Then we turn east over the former Northern Pacific’s racetrack to Garrison. Highlights include MRL’s system-wide manifest trains the LM (Laurel-Missoula) and ML, the Bonner Local, both Day and Night Gas trains and a few of the BNSF run-through trains including coal, grain, and crude oil.

This series was created to preserve the memory of this amazing regional railroad. Farewell MRL!

0:00 Intro
6:28 Map
8:11 Missoula
15:39 De Smet
19:55 Lothrop
22:04 Philemon Tunnel 5.5
23:37 Cyr
26:34 Superior
28:18 St Regis
29:22 Paradise
30:02 Plains
32:04 Eddy
35:26 Pipeline
44:33 Thompson Falls
51:57 Paradise
56:00 The 10th Sub
1:09:34 Dixon
1:13:30 Evaro Hill
1:20:13 Marent Trestle
1:22:50 Fire on Evaro Hill!
1:26:41 De Smet
1:28:43 Missoula
1:39:13 Bonner
1:47:01 McQuarrie
1:47:54 Bonita Tunnel 5
1:50:18 Nimrod
1:51:19 Drummond
1:54:04 Jens
1:55:58 Garrison

[locoman.]

Wow, MRL locomotives always look so clean, a result of the terrain they traverse I guess. Thanks for another great video.

[robindenker]

Excellent photography, informative narration and and riveting subject matter! Keep up the good work!

[oubrioko]

As always, excellent video and audio along with detailed information
👍🏿

[WebbmasterGaming]

One thing's for sure. Montana's a beautiful state.

[rogertemple]

This is an awesome sight seeing the trains going through here
with this beautiful scenery all around it and have some last looks
at it before it is no more and I'll be watching all parts thank you.
🚂🚃🚃🇺🇲

[desi_patriot]

The Aussie BHP connection to MRL at 1:57:00 was an unXpected pleasant surprise

[phinsgranpop]

By far the best MRL video you have made (have all your MRL videos but the last 3.
, but that will be rectified before Xmas.) love Mullen Pass . Bit hard to get there from New Zealand.

[screwplanplaybook]

I use to always look over at the round house when I would go through Missoula. Can see it from i90
Very sad to hear about the Contract running out, I have over the years enjoyed seeing mrl train's when I us to visit the Big Sky state.
Hopefully contract will be for Another 60years so No One loses their jobs, our Country has been suffering to much.
Thank you for the video.

[jleveille]

Living the dream having coffee and doughnuts watching this video. Thanks for the explanations it helps a dunce like me to understand. Beautiful scenery if is fun watching on my iPhone 16 pro max. I will close by saying thanks for your work in these videos

[ryeistoasted]

awesome work y'all. hopefully there's more shortline/regional rail on the way soon!

[bowlinerailfan]

Based on the preview at the start of the video alone, I clearly missed out on railfanning a good rail operation in beautiful scenery. Of course, the scenery will still be there in the future, but I would prefer Rail Link blue over BNSF orange.

[alanwbelcher]

Excellent video! Wish I could do 1/10 as well. Thanks for sharing.

[TheChenza]

you Sir, have earned a subscriber in me!

[stateoftexasrailfan]

The cool thing about the Bonita Tunnel shot is that the Old Milwaukee tunnel is right next to it covered by all the trees

[WesleyEast-RRfan]

Hope it'll stick around a few more years. Never seen it but probably one of my favorite railroads. Awesome production

[thomasboese]

I understand why a buffer car is used on the Gas trains. But why did MRL take the time & effort to put a 'man' door on the side of the boxcar? BNSF and others use old covered hoppers and have no access to the inside of the buffer car. What am I missing? @1:00:05 Left of the car's main door, panel to the right of "rail Link". The details of the steps & grab irons would be interesting to model.

[bruce]

I think "Fuel Local" would be more appropriate LOL! Years ago as a young kid travelling around the country I worked at a huge truck stop in West Memphis as a fuel desk cashier. I was inexperienced was saying will you be getting *_gas_* in your *_truck_* and got the evil eye real quick. It's *_fuel_* in their *_tractor_* is the proper terminology! 😅

[Nicola]

Oustanding first part! One question: why do they use a pair of very powerful SD70Ace for the two freight trains gas locals?

[trainmanish]

The siding at the end of this video is already a part of Garrison??

[Alaskan]

A+ production guys…..I purchased the DVD’s…..!