Yes, I have been outdoors in the nice late fall light taking photos of trains. The dead grasses are a bit sad, I may have to warm up the image to make the surroundings a better match to the train. My employeer has decided to change the corporate logo to better match the appearance of the numerous busineses which make up the Washington Corporations. Two locomotives have been painted with the new redball logo but with the downturn in the economy both have been stored awaiting the uptick in shipping volumes. Finally, one of the locomotives was brought back online and has been assigned to the twice daily gas local out of Missoula. I have been making an effort to get the unit when I can bringing the day gas back to town when operations and clouds will cooperate. In fact I am just about to head out the door to set up for the return of today's train.

I hang around a railfans' site called Trainorders dot com and actually post a number of photos there since they cache the images on their site. They do not commonly allow linking from the site except the Photo of the Day image is linkable.

So here it is, Monday's return of the Day Gas on Montana Rail Link with the new image paint leading the train. The two units put out 7900 horsepower but at this location the train is coming downhill with light dynamic braking for a train full of empty cars. This is a Fuji S5 image with the Nikkor 16mm-85mm lens around 35mm.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/attachments/fullsize/398000/MRL_GAS_MP2_web.jpg

Here is another POTD from a steam train excursion across northern Montana at Kootenai Falls just west of Troy, MT. Sun, no, overcast, yes. The S5 comes through with the hot moist steam exhaust in the cool, low 40s F, ambient air. Just a week before it was about 7 to 14F and most of the leaves froz before turning colors so fall '09 in Montana was pretty drab. What a contast the rich colors of the Kootenai River and the locomotive sides provide.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/attachments/fullsize/394000/4449_KootFlls_web.jpg

--
Alan, in Montana