The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over 32,200 miles (51,800 km) routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, with which it shares a duopoly on transcontinental freight rail lines in the Western, Midwestern and West South Central United States.
BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, 33,400 miles (53,800 km) of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that provide rail connections between the western and eastern United States. BNSF trains traveled over 169 million miles in 2010, more than any other North American railroad.
The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 692 miles (1,114 km) long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountains and high plains of southern Montana and northern Wyoming, and stretching east from the Rocky Mountains in the vicinity of Yellowstone National Park. It flows northeast to its confluence with the Missouri River on the North Dakota side of the border, about 25 miles west of present-day Williston.
The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly 40 million acres of land grants, which it used to raise money in Europe for construction.
The North Coast Hiawatha was a streamlined long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago, Illinois, and Seattle, Washington.
The SD45 is a six-axle diesel-electric locomotive class built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between 1965 and 1971. It has an EMD 645E3 twenty-cylinder engine generating 3,600 hp (2,680 kW) on the same frame as the SD38, SD39, SD40, and SDP40. As of 2023, most SD45s have been retired, scrapped or rebuilt to SD40-2 standards.
Spokane, Portland & Seattle 700 is the oldest and only surviving example of the class "E-1" 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotive and the only surviving "original" Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway steam locomotive. It was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in May 1938. Nearly identical to the class "A-3" Northerns built for Northern Pacific Railway, it burns oil instead of coal.
Whitefish station is a stop on Amtrak's Empire Builder in Whitefish, Montana. In addition to the Empire Builder, a once-daily Greyhound Lines bus service also links the station to Kalispell and Missoula. A car rental agency operates a window within the station. The station and parking lot are owned by the Stumptown Historical Society. BNSF Railway leases office space on the upper floors of the station and owns the platform and track.
The White Sulphur Springs and Yellowstone Park Railway, now defunct, was an American railroad built and operated between the towns of Ringling and White Sulphur Springs, Montana, a distance of 22.8 miles. The railroad, constructed in 1910, provided White Sulphur Springs with a link to the national railway network via a connection with the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad at Ringling. The southern four miles of the railroad's route, between Ringling and Dorsey, were leased from the Milwaukee Road.
Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway across the northern United States, linking Seattle to Boston. The portion in the state of Montana is 552.54 miles (889.23 km) in length, passing through 14 counties in central and southern Montana. It is the longest segment of I-90 within a single state.
The Arizona and California Railroad is a class III short line railroad that was a subdivision of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (ATSF). The ARZC began operations on May 9, 1991, when David Parkinson of the ParkSierra RailGroup purchased the line from the Santa Fe Railway. ParkSierra Railgroup was purchased in January 2002 by shortline railroad holding company RailAmerica. The Genesee & Wyoming shortline railroad holding company purchased RailAmerica in December 2012. ARZC's main commodities are petroleum gas, steel, and lumber; the railroad hauls around 12,000 carloads per year.
This is a timeline of pre-statehood Montana history comprising substantial events in the history of the area that would become the State of Montana prior to November 8, 1889. This area existed as Montana Territory from May 28, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Montana.
Transportation in Montana comprises many different forms of travel. Montana shares a long border with Canada, hence international crossings are prevalent in the northern section of the state; there are 13 road crossings and one rail crossing.
Bozeman Depot is a former train station in Bozeman, Montana, opened in 1883 by the Northern Pacific Railway. The current brick station house was built in 1892 and expanded in 1924.
The Yellowstone River bridge collapse was a train derailment that occurred on June 24, 2023, near Columbus, Montana, United States. A bridge that crosses the Yellowstone River collapsed, causing several cars of a freight train carrying hazardous materials to fall into the water below. The incident resulted in environmental concerns and internet service disruptions in the state.
