By Tommy Johnson

Montana Rail Link is a Class II regional railroad serving southern and western Montana since 1987.  Its eastern terminus is Huntley, MT, and the western terminus is Spokane, WA.  The MRL connects with the BNSF on both ends and has 939 miles of trackage, most of which was originally built by the Northern Pacific.

The MRL runs through some of the most beautiful scenery in the United States.  A printed map showing the route is included with the DVD but an on screen map would have been nice.

The producer selected some very good points along the route from which to shoot video footage and he did a great job of capturing the trains from interesting camera angles.

The narrator tells us about specific locomotives seen in the video, identifying their type, the year they were built, and which railroad originally purchased them.

We see trains struggling over Bozeman pass with the benefit of helper locomotives and later we are treated to scenes of westbound trains climbing the 2.2% grade up to Mullan Pass.

I found this video to be very informative and entertaining.  The scenery is gorgeous and the RR action is great with good background info provided by the narrator.  I recommend this one.