Railfanning Wyoming and Montana - 1

Hi, Our first full day of railfanning after chasing 4014 was to be given over to the Wind River Canyon. However, we awoke that morning to a grey day and the weather forecast was not promising. We started our day driving over to the BNSF station in Thermopolis, where we spent the night to see if we could get any information on train movements. Thermopolis is about 10 miles from the north end of the canyon and we planned to photograph there despite the weather.

However, the people we spoke to in Thermopolis, all maintenance crew, professed to have no information. So we headed north to Greybull, WY where we knew there was a yard, all the while keeping a close ear to the radio. We heard nothing. A call to a friend of Jim and Bill who had sources withing BNSF netted the info that nothing was called for Greybull, Casper, WY or Laurel, MT. Therefore, likely nothing through the canyon that day.

When we arrived in Greybull we found the two power sets on the left in the photo above and a third power set out of sight to the left. The train on the right is LAUDEN which arrived while we were poking around town.

Bill did get to talk briefly to a PTI van driver who informed us she had an 11 AM call for a crew which she said was for the LAUDEN. Actually it was for the Crowley Local, which after some switching headed north. We caught the train twice along Highway 26 before the road dead ended and the railroad became inaccessible (above and two below).

The next point where the railroad could be easily accessed was Kane, WY. Looking for a photo location along Road 20 in the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation area we came upon a northbound sitting in a siding awaiting a crew (above and below).

About a third of the way back in the train this wrecked Indonesian Railways EMD GT38ACe sat on a flat car.

Shortly the Crowley Local appeared (above and  two below).

As the local stopped in Kane to switch a bentonite plant just beyond the shot above, with the power out of sight, we continued north.

Montana Limestone Company is located on either side of US 310 in Warren, MT. The power used to load trains consists of a pair of former CN SD50Fs. They were slowly loading cars the afternoon we were there (above and below)

Upon arrival in Laurel, MT, our destination for the day, we immediately spotted a short Montana Rail Link (MRL) train heading west with two SD70ACes up front. As Bill had never photographed MRL SD70ACes we gave chase and caught the train at Park City, Columbus and Springtime, MT (above and two below).

At Springtime the MRL train took the siding for a meet with this BNSF eastbound.

Thanks for looking.