Uploaded September 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This program was originally released on DVD in 2011. Our goal was to cover the MRL main line (hence the title) and give you the experience of being trackside. Because of this, a majority of the trains have BNSF power, although we did shoot MRL power whenever possible.
Rolling on over 900 miles of former Northern Pacific track through Montana, Idaho and Washington State, the MRL served as a bridge line for BNSF between Laurel, Montana and Spokane, Washington. BNSF trains make up the majority of traffic although they are operated by MRL crews. In Part 1 of our two-part video series, we cover the First and Second Subdivisions between Jones Junction and Helena, Montana. The railroad follows the Yellowstone River west to Livingston, climbs over Bozeman Pass, snakes through Lombard Canyon, and over Winston Hill before arriving at Helena.
The highlight of the program has to be the sight (and sound) of genuine 20 cylinder SD45’s shoving heavy unit trains over Bozeman Pass!
Shot in summer and winter, this video features a great combination of great scenery and raw horsepower battling mountain grades.
Shot in January and July of 2011.
This program is available on DVD and Blu-ray at 7ideaproductions.com.
7ideaproductions.com/products/mrl-montana-main-line-part-1?_pos=6&_sid=4fc948662&_ss=r
0:00 Intro
2:40 Map
3:29 Jones Junction
10:34 Billings
13:04 Laurel Yard
15:02 Rapids
16:27 Columbus
18:26 Yellowstone River Bridge (Reed Point)
21:26 Big Timber
23:15 Elton Bluff
25:34 Northern Pacific Train Approaching Signal
27:14 Livingston
36:39 Bozeman Pass (east side)
1:04:59 Muir
1:12:32 Bozeman Tunnel
1:16:42 West End
1:19:04 Trail Creek Road
1:20:46 Bozeman
1:23:00 Belgrade
1:25:25 Logan
1:27:38 Trident
1:31:01 Totson Dam
1:32:45 Townsend
1:35:17 Winston Hill
1:40:57 Winston
1:48:02 East Helena
1:51:17 Helena
This program was originally released on DVD in 2011. Our goal was to cover the MRL main line (hence the title) and give you the experience of being trackside. Because of this, a majority of the trains have BNSF power, although we did shoot MRL power whenever possible.
Rolling on over 900 miles of former Northern Pacific track through Montana, Idaho and Washington State, the MRL served as a bridge line for BNSF between Laurel, Montana and Spokane, Washington. BNSF trains make up the majority of traffic although they are operated by MRL crews. In Part 1 of our two-part video series, we cover the First and Second Subdivisions between Jones Junction and Helena, Montana. The railroad follows the Yellowstone River west to Livingston, climbs over Bozeman Pass, snakes through Lombard Canyon, and over Winston Hill before arriving at Helena.
The highlight of the program has to be the sight (and sound) of genuine 20 cylinder SD45’s shoving heavy unit trains over Bozeman Pass!
Shot in summer and winter, this video features a great combination of great scenery and raw horsepower battling mountain grades.
Shot in January and July of 2011.
This program is available on DVD and Blu-ray at 7ideaproductions.com.
7ideaproductions.com/products/mrl-montana-main-line-part-1?_pos=6&_sid=4fc948662&_ss=r
0:00 Intro
2:40 Map
3:29 Jones Junction
10:34 Billings
13:04 Laurel Yard
15:02 Rapids
16:27 Columbus
18:26 Yellowstone River Bridge (Reed Point)
21:26 Big Timber
23:15 Elton Bluff
25:34 Northern Pacific Train Approaching Signal
27:14 Livingston
36:39 Bozeman Pass (east side)
1:04:59 Muir
1:12:32 Bozeman Tunnel
1:16:42 West End
1:19:04 Trail Creek Road
1:20:46 Bozeman
1:23:00 Belgrade
1:25:25 Logan
1:27:38 Trident
1:31:01 Totson Dam
1:32:45 Townsend
1:35:17 Winston Hill
1:40:57 Winston
1:48:02 East Helena
1:51:17 Helena
![BNSFs Columbia River Sub [Wentachee to Spokane Washington]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/AFZMTNN7GnY/mqdefault.jpg "BNSFs Columbia River Sub [Wentachee to Spokane Washington]
Travel to Eastern Washington State and tour a lesser-known rail line that connects Stevens Pass with the busy Funnel. The Columbia River Subdivision begins at Wenatchee, which garners the nickname “Apple Capital of the World” and continues through orchards, coulees, and wheat fields to Latah Junction in Spokane. This was part of Great Northern’s route constructed by the “Empire Builder” James J. Hill and today serves as BNSF’s Northern Transcon.
This is your trackside seat to watch trains race along the banks of the Columbia River and sprint through the heart of Eastern Washington’s Wheat Belt. One of the highlights is Trinidad Loop where trains climb to the top of the Columbia Plateau near Quincy. We have included several fantastic aerial views of long trains snaking around the loop.
Besides BNSF trains, we will visit nearby short lines including the Columbia Basin Railway and the Washington Eastern. Both railroads sport classic EMD power from SD9’s to a snoot nose tunnelmotor and 20-cylinder SD45!
This program is also available on DVD and Blu-ray by visiting 7ideaproductions.com. https://www.7ideaproductions.com/products/bnsfs-columbia-river-sub
0:00 Intro
2:29 Map
4:28 Wenatchee
9:55 Malaga
11:25 Rock Island
13:47 Rock Island Dam
16:53 Albus
23:23 Trinidad
38:25 Trinidad Loop
50:50 Crater
58:33 Quincy
1:07:55 Winchester
1:09:34 Ephrata
1:11:27 Adrian
1:13:11 Columbia Basin Railway
1:17:58 Stratford
1:24:01 Wilson Creek
1:30:17 Marlin
1:32:36 Odessa
1:34:01 Lamona
1:35:58 Harrington
1:42:08 Bluestem
1:46:52 Canby
1:49:54 Eastern Washington Gateway
1:53:52 Espanola
1:54:42 Latah Junction")
![Trains Below Sea Level! [Union Pacifics Yuma Sub]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BMi9tPk6Bk4/mqdefault.jpg "Trains Below Sea Level! [Union Pacifics Yuma Sub]
Join us for this fantastic adventure over Beaumont Hill and along the Salton Sea!
Running nearly 200 miles between Colton, California and Yuma, Arizona, the Yuma Subdivision is a part of the former Southern Pacific’s Sunset Route, which today serves the Union Pacific as an important rail corridor. It is part of the second Transcontinental Railroad built in the late nineteenth century connecting southern California with Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, and Mexico.
The Yuma Subdivision is a diverse piece of railroad with steep mountain grades and high-speed desert running. It climbs over Beaumont Hill through San Timoteo Canyon, and drops down along the shore of the Salton Sea at an elevation of 204 feet below sea-level. It races over the arid desert to a meeting with the Colorado River at the Arizona State line.
This busy piece of railroad is mostly double-tracked, seeing a number of high priority intermodal trains along with manifests traveling to and from West Colton Yard. Long stack trains with both DPU and manned helpers out of Indio dig in for the climb over San Gorgonio Pass.
This program is available on DVD and Blu-ray at 7ideaproductions.com. https://www.7ideaproductions.com/collections/frontpage/products/union-pacifics-yuma-subdivision
0:00 Intro
2:44 Map
5:44 West Colton
15:23 Colton Diamond and New Flyover
23:40 Redlands
26:58 Ordway
31:41 El Casco
41:49 Hinda
49:50 Beaumont
53:40 Apex
55:37 Robertson
1:00:00 San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farms
1:02:23 Palm Springs [Garnet]
1:12:49 Indio
1:17:32 Coachella
1:20:35 Mecca
1:26:24 Salton Sea
1:29:02 Mortmer
1:30:43 Eagle Mountain Railroad Grade
1:35:51 Bertram
1:39:58 The Niland Geyser at Wister
1:43:07 Niland
1:48:42 Regina
1:54:54 Vipers vs Train
1:56:33 Mesquite
1:59:12 Imperial Sand Dunes
1:59:31 Glamis
2:02:09 Clyde
2:05:41 Cactus
2:11:57 Araz
2:13:32 Winterhaven
2:16:17 Yuma")
![Union Pacifics Lordsburg Sub Part 1 [Tucson, AZ to Steins, NM]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DK4cJwXvw6E/mqdefault.jpg "Union Pacifics Lordsburg Sub Part 1 [Tucson, AZ to Steins, NM]
Today’s Union Pacific trains roll through the desert country of the American Southwest on a three hundred mile journey between Tucson and El Paso. As part of the legendary Southern Pacific’s Sunset Route through Arizona and New Mexico, it is known as the Lordsburg Subdivision. This double-track main line connects ports in southern California with eastern destinations like New Orleans, Chicago, and Houston, as well as, south of the border into Mexico.
In part 1 of this two-part series, we will cover the western half of the subdivision between Tucson and Steins near the New Mexico state line. Trains crest four different summits including Mescal, Dragoon, Railroad Pass, and Steins Pass west of Lordsburg.
Monster stack trains over three miles in length are common on the Lordsburg Sub. There are plenty of mixed manifest and unit grain trains to keep things interesting. This is also the route of Amtrak’s Sunset Limited which makes a tri-weekly run over the line.
In addition to main-line traffic, we will visit the San Pedro Valley Railroad at Benson and the Arizona Eastern which serves the large Morenci Copper Mine near Clifton.
This program was shot in April 2024
Available on DVD and Blu-ray at 7ideaproductions.com. https://www.7ideaproductions.com/collections/frontpage/products/union-pacifics-lordsburg-subdivision-part-1
0:00 Intro
2:30 Map
5:28 Tucson
11:47 Vail
26:17 Cienega Creek
39:56 Pantano
51:42 Mescal
1:05:07 Benson
1:11:35 Fenner
1:14:11 Sibyl
1:17:30 Dragoon
1:22:25 Apache
1:29:07 Cochise
1:29:50 Wilcox
1:40:28 Raso
1:41:41 Bowie
1:51:20 Karro
1:52:52 Steins")
![Arizona Copper Mine Railroad [Freeport McMoRan Industrial]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DdZAEgyspEY/mqdefault.jpg "Arizona Copper Mine Railroad [Freeport McMoRan Industrial]
A unique collection of diesel locomotives power trains over a 5% grade in Arizonas Morenci Copper Mine. The Freeport McMoRan Industrial serves the copper mine and interchanges with the Arizona Eastern out of Lordsburg, New Mexico.
This program is part of our series on Union Pacifics Lordsburg Subdivision which is also available on Youtube, DVD and Blu-ray. Visit 7ideaproductions.com. https://www.7ideaproductions.com/collections/frontpage/products/union-pacifics-lordsburg-subdivision-part-2")
