The railroad is a top-notch, efficiently run operation that has several connections with Class I carriers BNSF Railway and Union Pacific. Not only does the railroad’s property compete with many Class I railroads in terms of speed but it is also one of the few smaller lines to purchase brand new locomotives, in this case EMD’s new SD70ACe.
While the Montana Rail Link's system is made up of ex-Burlington Northern trackage its roots actually go all of the way back to BN predecessor Northern Pacific. To give a brief history of the NP it was the first of the three major Northwestern railroads to begin construction. Unlike many other railroads the Northern Pacific did not change names numerous times throughout its existence and would likewise never acquire numerous other smaller roads to form its system. Perhaps what the railroad is best remembered for is its Ying Yang herald and its distinguished flagship passenger train, the North Coast Limited, which used a beautiful two-tone green livery.
Being that Hill held such an influence over the three railroads, including the jointly owned Seattle, Portland & Spokane, the Northern Pacific likely was destined to be merged with the other two roads at some point. The railroads tried for decades to merge but were blocked numerous times by the ICC, mostly citing monopoly issues as the reason. It took until 1970 when the ICC finally granted permission to do so (partly because the Milwaukee Road consented after years of trying to block the merger) forming the then Burlington Northern. The BN, however, would last only 25 years before merging with the Santa Fe to become the Burlington Northern Santa Fe, today known as simply BNSF Railway.
Currently Montana Rail Link has an exceptionally large roster although all of its locomotives are strictly of EMD heritage.
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many areas especially around Missoula, NP and MILW tracks ran next to one another, and parts of the 4th sub used to be milw tracks. so you can do A LOT with this map: NP, BN, MilW, MLR, and BNSF.
Planning on Doing Billings to Paradise, including the Boseman Pass and Mullen pass. mullen pass has 2.2 climb over the continental divide. So mountian railroading
this is very very rough still, A LOT of work to do, i am also playing with eroision in the mountains to make them look more realistic, and the river has A LOT of bends and curving rocky shore to make it look more real as well. I have at least two more weeks of work on this map. it will be a mod free map.
