Pictures

Marias Pass: Whitefish to Blackfoot

Marias Pass is arguably the most famous part of the former Great Northern network. With a maximum grade of less than 1.9%, accurately modeled in this route, it is also one of the least steep railroad Rockies crossings in the U.S. The historic G.N. subdivision over the Pass went from the largish railroading town of Whitefish over the 1.9% Walton Hill between Walton (Essex today) and Summit until Blackfoot, where the next crew change point was. In later G.N. times, the second crew change point was moved to Cut Bank, where it remained until all the way from Whitefish to Havre was joined together in one big subdivision in modern times.

Marias Pass is the part of my route project which is closest to its completion. All towns have been put in place, as well as most of the forests and lineside scenery. You will see custom distant mountains terrain textures, as well as normal terrain textures, all based on Google Earth satellite imagery and applied to MSTS with the help of Digital Rails' Mosaic tool. Lineside detail can be quite high in some places, so this part of the route is not only demanding for you as an engineer, but also for your PC.

In general, Marias Pass is the showcase, the heart of the route! You will get nearly everything from it! You can do switching tasks at Whitefish Yard, run long distant freights or high-class passenger trains over the busy pass, run helper services up Walton Hill, and do lots of branchline work on the then still very active line to Kalispell and Somers.

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Thumbnailed Gallery

Quick Links:
Whitefish, MT
Columbia Falls, MT
Somers, MT
Walton (Essex), MT
Blacktail, MT
John F. Stevens Canyon
Summit, MT
Glacier Park, MT
Fort Browning, MT

Whitefish, MT
Half Moon, MT. (West Columbia Falls) Sawmill. Half Moon, MT. (West Columbia Falls) Sawmill.	Mainline between Whitefish and Columbia Falls.
Back to Top Columbia Falls, MT
Columbia Falls, MT. Rocky Mtn Lumber. Kalispell Branch. New Bridges since v3.02.	Kalispell Branch. Real growing grain fields! (v3.02) Kalispell Branch. Lots of trackside vegetation detail. (v3.02)
Back to Top Somers, MT
Somers Yard Demmersville Cattle Pen, near Somers	En route to Somers, MT. Demmersville, near Somers
Back to Top Walton, MT (Today: Essex, MT).
View over Walton, MT. The yard is right ahead, the wye to the right side behind the trees. Bird's eye view over the Essex (gravel) pit.	Right of way just outside of Walton (eastbound).
Back to Top Blacktail, MT
Blacktail, MT. View from north onto western leg of horse shoe curve. Blacktail, MT. Engineer's view from western leg of horse shoe curve. Blacktail, MT. Aerial view onto horse shoe curve.	Blacktail, MT. Full view of horse shoe curve. Blacktail, MT. View from south towards horse shoe curve.
Back to Top John F. Stevens Canyon
One of many snowsheds in John F. Stevens Canyon, eastward view.	Aerial view (westward) towards Nimrod, MT (Java East).
Back to Top Summit, MT
Summit, Mt. View to the north, Summit monument in foreground. Summit, Mt. The station surroundings. Summit, MT. Summit, MT.	Summit, Mt. View to the west. Summit, Mt. The depot with a set of helper engines. Approaching Summit westbound.
Back to Top Glacier Park, MT
Between Summit and Glacier Park.	Glacier Park, Mt. View to the west.
Back to Top Fort Browning, MT
Browning, Mt. View of the station, Rocky Mountains in background.	Snow Drifts near Browning, MT.

(Please note: All pictures shown on this site are resized screenshots from the route in Microsoft Train Simulator. All you can see here will be in the route you can eventually download!)

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