A Trip on the ‘Montana Daylight’ Tour Train (Sandpoint, ID-Livingston, MT)

(Scroll down for images and video)

Until October 2004, a tour train known as the Montana Daylight operated over a portion of the former Northern Pacific (NP) mainline on a 2-day journey from Sandpoint, ID to Livingston, MT, via Missoula, MT, where an overnight stop-over was made (passengers could either overnight in a hotel or in the Bella Vista dome-sleeper-lounge car, both options, as well as meal service, being included in the price of the tour).

The Montana Daylight ran on a section of the route of NP’s premier streamlined passenger train, the ‘North Coast Limited’, which itself ran all the way from Seattle to Chicago, as did it’s replacement – Amtrak’s ‘North Coast Hiawatha’ (so-named because the ex-NP route ran parallel to, & often in sight of, the ex-Milwaukee Road mainline where their streamlined ‘Olympian Hiawatha’ also served the same general locales).

The North Coast Limited was inaugurated on October 29,1900 & operated until the advent of Amtrak in 1971. During Amtrak’s early days there was no service through southern Montana, but the pull of then-governor Mike Mansfield was legendary and he successfully lobbied to have the service reinstated. However in the long run opposing political pressure prevailed & the North Coast Hiawatha made its last run in October 1979.

Equipment on the Montana Daylight consisted of former Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, Northern Pacific, Great Northern & Union Pacific dome cars, ex-Santa Fe coaches & souvenir car & an ex-Amtrak dining car. Motive power consisted of General Motors SD19 diesel locomotives.

The ex-NP, now Montana Rail Link (MRL), route through Southern Montana was especially scenic, with the train travelling along the Clark Fork river, over Evaro hill, through the Bitterroot mountains, over the continental divide at Mullan Pass, through the Missouri River canyon at Lombard, MT, and over the Bozeman pass to Livingston, MT – gateway to Yellowstone Park.

As mentioned earlier, even the tour train is no longer running & the MRL line is now freight-only, so enjoy these views of General Motors SD19 diesel locomotives hauling a streamliner through the scenic wonders of southwestern Montana.

While the Montana Daylight is no longer running, it is possible to travel through Southern Montana on Amtrak’s Empire Builder and connecting Thruway Service to Livingston where various operators provide tours of Yellowstone Park.

1 ON THE EASTBOUND MONTANA DAYLIGHT, DEPARTING SANDPOINT AMTRAK STATION
2 THOMPSON FALLS, MT
3 DINING CAR ON THE MONTANA DAYLIGHT
4 MONTANA DAYLIGHT DESCENDING EVARO HILL
5 MRL F45 #391 & SD45 #320, MONTANA RAIL LINK YARD, MISSOULA, MT
6 MONTANA RAIL LINK SD19-1 #651 ON THE POINT OF THE MONTANA DAYLIGHT, MISSOULA, MT
7 NORTHERN PACIFIC 4-6-0 TYPE STEAM LOCOMOTIVE #1356, MISSOULA, MT
8 DOME-SLEEPER-LOUNGE CAR ‘BELLA VISTA’ ON TAIL END OF MONTANA DAYLIGHT, MISSOULA, MT
9 DOME CAR ‘CITY OF LIVINGSTON’, MONTANA DAYLIGHT, MISSOULA, MT
10 DINING CAR ‘YELLOWSTONE PARK’, MONTANA DAYLIGHT, MISSOULA, MT
11 GENERATOR CAR, MONTANA DAYLIGHT, MISSOULA, MT
12 MRL SD19-1 #652 ON THE MONTANA DAYLIGHT, MISSOULA, MT
13 EVOKING IMAGES OF THE LONG-GONE ‘NORTH COAST HIAWATHA’, THE MONTANA DAYLIGHT LAYS OVER IN MISSOULA
14 ON THE MONTANA DAYLIGHT, LEAVING MISSOULA EASTBOUND
15 ABANDONED MILWAUKEE ROAD RIGHT OF WAY, RUNS PARALLEL TO MRL-NEE NORTHERN PACIFIC-MAINLINE
16 IN THE DOME CAR ON THE MONTANA DAYLIGHT, BEARMOUTH, MT
17 OLD MILWAUKEE ROAD SUBSTATION AT GOLD CREEK THAT SUPPLIED CURRENT TO THEIR ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVES
18 MONTANA DAYLIGHT CROSSING AUSTIN CREEK TRESTLE
19 LOOKING BACK AT AUSTIN CREEK TRESTLE
20 IN THE DOME ON THE EAST SIDE OF MULLAN PASS
21 MISSOURI RIVER, LOMBARD, MT
22 MONTANA DAYLIGHT PASSING UNDER MILWAUKEE ROAD BRIDGE AT LOMBARD, MT
23 LOOKING BACK AT MILWAUKEE ROAD BRIDGE, LOMBARD, MT
24 REAR VIEW OUT OF DOME CAR, LOMBARD, MT
25 COACH CAR ON MONTANA DAYLIGHT
26 SOUVENIR CAR ON MONTANA DAYLIGHT
27 DINING AREA ON MONTANA DAYLIGHT
28 LOWER LOUNGE IN MONTANA DAYLIGHT DOME CAR
29 LOUNGE ON MONTANA DAYLIGHT
30 TRIDENT, MT
31 MEET WITH A BNSF FREIGHT, LOGAN, MT
32 MODEL RAILROAD ON DISPLAY AT LIVINGSTON DEPOT, EASTERN TERMINUS OF THE MONTANA DAYLIGHT
33 TELEGRAPH ROOM AT LIVINGSTON DEPOT
34 NORTHERN PACIFIC F9 #6703A WHICH ONCE PULLED THE ORIGINAL ‘NORTH COAST LIMITED’, SPOKANE, WA
35 MILWAUKEE ROAD CLASS EF-4 ‘LITTLE JOE’ ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE #E70, ON DISPLAY IN DEER LODGE, MT

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