Elliot Omernik
Faded Glory
"Faded Glory"
Some places you stumble upon by pure chance, while others you must actively seek out well off the beaten path; this was definitely one of the latter. Far off pavement, navigating some fairly treacherous dirt roads into a fantastic Montana canyon you find this relic of days gone by.
Once a witness to fast freights and passenger trains running the Milwaukee Road's transcontinental route, this old bridge spanning the namesake creek near the start of Sixteenmile Canyon now endures a forced retirement, thanks to the Milwaukee's abandonment of their "Pacific Extension", almost 2,000 miles of track, back in 1980 which is to-date the largest single railroad abandonment in American history.
Situated on the outskirts of the ghost town of Lombard, trains can still be heard rumbling by on the nearby Northern Pacific route, now operated by the Montana Rail Link, which follows the Missouri River through this region. As for Sixteenmile Canyon though, it has become a dusty, overgrown grade, and a few tunnels, winding along a babbling creek, disappearing back into nature more and more as the years go by.
Once a pulsing vein that pumped goods and people back and forth across our nation from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest, that glory is now, unfortunate as it may be, faded.
Sixteenmile Canyon
Lombard, MT
Faded Glory
"Faded Glory"
Some places you stumble upon by pure chance, while others you must actively seek out well off the beaten path; this was definitely one of the latter. Far off pavement, navigating some fairly treacherous dirt roads into a fantastic Montana canyon you find this relic of days gone by.
Once a witness to fast freights and passenger trains running the Milwaukee Road's transcontinental route, this old bridge spanning the namesake creek near the start of Sixteenmile Canyon now endures a forced retirement, thanks to the Milwaukee's abandonment of their "Pacific Extension", almost 2,000 miles of track, back in 1980 which is to-date the largest single railroad abandonment in American history.
Situated on the outskirts of the ghost town of Lombard, trains can still be heard rumbling by on the nearby Northern Pacific route, now operated by the Montana Rail Link, which follows the Missouri River through this region. As for Sixteenmile Canyon though, it has become a dusty, overgrown grade, and a few tunnels, winding along a babbling creek, disappearing back into nature more and more as the years go by.
Once a pulsing vein that pumped goods and people back and forth across our nation from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest, that glory is now, unfortunate as it may be, faded.
Sixteenmile Canyon
Lombard, MT