Over the course of MRL’s 35 years, it had become one of the most popular regional roads in the country among railroad enthusiasts. For one thing, the 600-mile former NP between Huntley, Mont. (just east of Billings, the state’s largest city), and Sandpoint, Idaho, is among the most scenic pieces of railroad in the country. Secondly, in its early years, MRL relied on a fleet of attractively painted first- and second-generation EMD locomotives, providing a bit of variety alongside Burlington Northern and later BNSF through freights. Even today, a few GP9s and SD45s soldier on alongside a fleet of SD70ACe locomotives that hold down most main line assignments.