Rapid Canyon Models

MRL #4318 (SD70ACe) and PRLX 213 (SD75M) lead a local freight into the East end of Missoula Yard late in the afternoon of January 27th, 2019.  Mt Jumbo and Mt Sentinel are seen in the background. To replace my stolen gear, I recently got a Nikon D7200.  The problem though was not getting a camera, but rather getting a couple of lenses on the cheap.  For $200 I managed to get a couple of old F mount lenses from the 1980's and this was a test shot taken with the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AI full manual lens.  Despite being old, the lens is sharp and appears to handle chromatic aberration well.  The colors produced are very slightly warm, but its a pleasant warm. It took all of about 5 minutes of waiting to get this photograph.  My intention was to go down to the Northern Pacific Depot to photograph various pieces of the structure.  While not as impressive as the Livingston depot 300 miles down the line, it has it's own character and charm.  However,...

Still looking sharp in their "executive" paint jobs, BNSF units #9808 and #9778 (both SD70MAC's) roll past snow-covered pines west of Butte, Montana on December 28th, 2018.  The train is a local from Garrison, MT, and will interchange with the Union Pacific in a few short miles. Cold weather should never deter a railroad photographer.  Sometimes, scenes can be greatly enhanced with snow and ice.  Such is the case with this photograph. On the first day of my vacation, I was headed to Rapid City from Missoula.  South of Garrison, I spotted these SD70MACs on a line which I've never had time to photograph before. Taking advantage of the good weather and my new lenses, I exited I-90 and got on the frontage road which follows the tracks closely. The first location was the typical view of a train, the standard since the days of Otto Perry.  In this particular shot, the train forms a wedge shape in the middle of the image, separating the foreground from the back...

#55 Westbound on Jackson Blvd, Rapid City, SD.  Otto Perry, 1933.  Denver Public Library Digital Collections. The story of some railroads are simply too endearing and nostalgic to let pass into the annals of history. This is the case for the Rapid City Black Hills and Western Railroad.  A small railroad that ran from Rapid City to Mystic, all in Pennington County, South Dakota.  This little pike traded cars between some of the biggest railroads in the day, the Chicago Burlington and Quincy, the Milwaukee Road, and the Chicago Northwestern.  Built as a bridge line between three large railroads ensured a long lifespan from when the first spikes were laid in 1893 to the last being pulled in 1948.  As Shortlines go, it was a heck of a life.  It changed hands many times, each time gaining another name. Rapid City Black Hills and Western Rapid Canyon Line Dakota and Wyoming Missouri River and Northwestern Dakota, Western, and Missouri River ...

Crawling into Rapid City, a train headed by Rapid City Pierre and Eastern (RCPE) units: 3456, 3462, 3428, and 3424 (SD40-2's) start off 2019 with a train of bentonite clay and boxcars full of industrial products from the Belle Fourche area. The trestle in this scene crosses Rapid Creek. Sometimes photographing a train requires a lot of thought and an eye on composition, other times the scene is obvious.  In this case, it took all of about 30 seconds to figure out the best angle for this train as I parked the car in a bank parking lot.  This RCPE train came from Belle Fourche starting at about 9:30 in the morning and I had caught up to the train just North of St. Onge.  New Year's day, 2019, was shaping up to be one of those perfect days for photography. The previous two days saw a blizzard and several inches of fresh powder, driven hard by the wind and icy-cold from the frigid temperatures.  While several scenes presented themselves in the ensuing miles, this p...