The crew for the afternoon's westbound Laurel to Missoula manifest heads down the lead to their awaiting train just minutes after a pre-summer thunderstorm soaked the area.
This nose view of engine 1382 creates a sense of geometric concentric circles as the old NP S-4 stands guard over Montana Rail Link operations outside the Helena, MT station.
A westbound unit ballast train climbs out of Helena into the setting sun. The engineer shades his face in order to see the track ahead. A brace of MRL helpers shove hard on the rear as the train ... (more)