Like many folks, I enjoy putting together a “best of” at the end of the year. In fact, looking at my Flickr albums, I’ve done it annually for the last nine years. For a while, I let the year itself guide how many images I included (15 for 2015, 16 for 16, and so on and so on) but in the last few years, I’ve tried to limit myself to just ten frames that I think stand out from the rest. This year, I’ve tried to do the same, although ultimately I wanted to curate a group of images that is visually diverse and was reflective of what I shot in the last 12 months, similar to what we used to do at the newspaper every December (“Look, I know it ain’t perfect, but you’ve gotta get the shot of the old mill burning to the ground in this spread!”). As a result, some photos that I thought were good didn’t make the final cut. But even with my stringent rules, I struggled to keep it at ten so I’ve decided to go with 12 this year (12 months and 12 shots seems fair). So without further ado, here’s my look back at 2023…
February 14 — Marias Pass, Montana
The winter of 2022/2023 wasn’t the biggest in recent memory in terms of snowpack (it was actually quite weak in this part of the country), but it did snow enough to force BNSF Railway to run a few plow extras. On February 14, I was chasing Amtrak’s Empire Builder towards Essex, when I found the “Mountain Work Train” being prepared to head up the hill. Suddenly, I wasn’t that interested in following the passenger train. I chased the plow east to East Glacier Park and then back west toward Essex, but the best shot was here at the Marias crossovers. This was the third time I shot a plow at this spot in the last two years, but it was the first time where the stars aligned for a great shot (2021 featured a dramatic backdrop but a lackluster wave of snow. 2022 featured an incredible wave of snow but the mountains were obscured by snow). Persistence pays off.
April 3 — Evaro, Montana
I was just starting the work day when a friend in Missoula texted that there was a coal train going on duty in less than two hours that would get helpers to go over Evaro Hill. The day before, a Montana Rail Link train derailed near Quinns, sending cases of beer into the river and closing the primary route west of Missoula. Knowing it would take days to reopen the line, MRL sent a set of helpers to Missoula to help shove heavy trains (that would normally take the water-level route along the Clark Fork River) over the 2.2 percent Evaro Hill instead. It would be the first time in a decade MRL used helpers on the line and, with the pending BNSF Railway takeover, probably the last. I arrived at West Missoula just as the crew on the coal train finished kicking out bad orders and right before they cut in the helpers. Less than two hours later, they were cresting the summit in a snowstorm. (Read more about this day on Railfan & Railroad’s website).
April 13 — LaGrange, Illinois
Ten days after standing in a snowstorm shooting helpers in Montana, I was biking around the Chicago suburbs in shorts and a t-shirt. In mid-April, I went east for the Center for Railroad Photography & Art’s annual “Conversations.” While the conference was great, the highlight of the trip was visiting my old college roommate (and talented photojournalist) Steel Brooks. On April 13, we spent the day shooting trains on the famed former Chicago, Burlington & Quincy “Racetrack.” Taking advantage of Metra’s more lenient bike policy, we took the train out to Western Springs and then biked from station to station shooting the afternoon rush. We saw a lot of trains and took a lot of photos, but this shot of a Metra conductor giving an old-fashioned hand signal in the evening light was my favorite.
May 4 — Columbia Falls, Montana
Perhaps the novelty of having a flying camera has finally worn off because I didn’t use the drone in 2023 nearly as much as I did the first few years I had it. That said, I still really like the storytelling in this image of BNSF Railway’s Kalispell Local heading south on a spring morning just a few blocks from my house. In the background, steam rises from Weyerhaeuser’s medium-density fiberboard plant — one of the last working vestiges of the Flathead Valley’s industrial past — while in the foreground, fancy new trucks that rarely ever see a dirt road sit in the driveways of one of the many new housing developments that have cropped up here in recent years.
June 17 — Essex, Montana
In late 2022, the iconic Izaak Walton Inn — a lodge built along the Great Northern Railway in Essex, Montana, that has long been popular with railfans — was sold to LOGE Camps. The Washington-based company says it likes to “breathe new life” into old properties and as part of that, they’re embarking on a major renovation of the inn. But before they could do that they had to get rid of some stuff. On June 17 and 18, they had an estate sale to get rid of hundreds of items, from beds to old railroad posters. I had gone in hopes of scoring a few keepsakes but quickly realized the place had been picked over. Since I wasn’t going to find much, I refocused my efforts on grabbing some photos. Here, some past guests walk out with lamps and an old railroad drumhead. (Read more about this day on Railfan & Railroad’s website).
July 20 — Sandpoint, Idaho
In the middle of July, Ashley and I took a trip to Sandpoint and one morning I got up early to head down to the lake in hopes of shooting some trains at sunrise. Thankfully, BNSF Railway obliged and sent a number of trains across Lake Pend Oreille including this grain train moments after sunrise.
August 4 — Whitney, Alberta
I have been fascinated by Canadian Pacific steam locomotives since I was a kid, an obsession I most certainly got from my dad. So when I found out that Canadian Pacific 4-6-4 2816 was going to be running out of Lethbridge, Alberta, on a test run following an extensive overhaul, it was a no-brainer to get up at 4 a.m. and go north. Just north of Kipp Yard, I set up to watch the locomotive and her train storm out of town with none other than steam legend Doyle McCormack at the throttle. Directly behind him was Jonathan Morris, the man who had made so much of this possible. While it might not have been the most creative photo I took this year, I can safely say it was the one that made me the happiest. Little did I know, it wouldn’t be the last time I saw the high-stepping Hudson.
September 1 — New Haven, Connecticut
In September, Ashley and I made a trip to the East Coast to visit friends and family, including two of Connecticut’s newest residents, James and Sandy House. Before Montana Rail Link was swallowed up by BNSF, James jumped ship and headed to greener pastures, specifically CT Rail’s Hartford Line. On a busy Friday night before Labor Day Weekend, I rode between New Haven and Springfield with James, Jaycen Carroll and Greg Grice. I took a lot of photos, but this detail shot (every photo spread needs a detail shot, including this one) of James late at night inside New Haven Union Station was one of my favorites. Even though the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad has been gone for more than 50 years, you wouldn’t know it here.
October 15 — Carson City, Nevada
In October, Ashley and I took a trip to Nevada and along the way stopped off at the Nevada State Railroad Museum. Adam Michalski gave us an awesome tour and before we left said we should come back later in the weekend when they were running steam, specifically Virginia & Truckee 4-6-0 25 and narrow gauge 2-6-0 Glenbrook. Two days later, we were back as the 1875 locomotive eased onto the turntable. Before this morning, I had never paid much attention to 19th-century steam — there’s no denying they are pretty machines but it’s hard to relate to something that you usually only see in history books — but after a few minutes of watching the locomotive gracefully run around the yard, I understood the appeal. I particularly liked this frame with the engineer leaning out of the cab and the other volunteer sporting the bowler hat perfectly framed by the turntable.
October 19 — Cluny, Alberta
Just two months after first seeing Canadian Pacific 2816 — and content to have just seen it run at all — I was back in Alberta covering the final test run before next year’s ambitious excursion to Mexico. And this time I was on board. Over two days between Calgary and Medicine Hat, I took thousands of photos, some of which will end up in print in 2024, but this one looking over Fireman Mike Manweller’s shoulder was one of my favorites. At Cluny, Alberta, we’ve taken the siding for a running meet with a westbound led by a CP heritage unit. When a friend saw this shot, they summed it up perfectly: “If Nicholas Morant saw this, he’d think that all was still right with the world, that the Canadian Pacific was still ‘the world’s greatest travel system.’” (Read more about this day on Railfan & Railroad’s website).
November 16 — Missoula, Montana
With just weeks to go before the BNSF Railway takeover, railfans from across the continent flocked to Montana for their final photos of Montana Rail Link. I definitely took “better” photos of MRL this year — at least in the traditional sense — but I thought this shot of Elrond Lawrence lensing the Night Gas as it rushed out of Missoula after sunset did a much better job of telling the story of the final days of this regional railroad
December 12 — Pearce, Alberta
Canadian Pacific’s Van Horne brings up the rear of a solid 12 months of photography. In December, the CPKC Holiday Train returned to the Crowsnest and Cranbrook Subdivisions for the first time since 2019. After overnighting at Lethbridge’s Kipp Yard, the Holiday Train headed west toward its first stop of the day at Fort Macleod. I really liked this view of the train heading for the mountains with the old fence, the sun just hitting the grass and the frosty ties. The little bit of exhaust from the GP20C-ECO throttling up pushed it over the top for me.
Thanks for reading my occasional musings here on Substack. I hope you all have a wonderful New Year.
-Justin
The Sandpoint shot is beautiful!