Late #8-with a Twist

After Mitch Walsten's heads up this morning about a late running #8 with an unusual consist, I took inventory of my work week and decided that leaving at 6 AM Monday and getting home at 9PM Tuesday was sufficient justification to play a bit of hookey. The great Empire Builder interception was underway.

I decided to set up between New York Mills and Bluffton, at the crossing nearest the detector at MP 174.1. There is a nice little rise on the west side of the crossing to shoot from, if the light is right. One good thing about the heavy overcast was that the ability to shoot from wherever I wanted with no danger of backlighting. Of course the flip side is the dull shots and higher ISO resulting in a bit of noise in the shots.

At the first sound of a horn in the distance I skedaddled up the hill and set up shop. Here's the first shot, as the train passes between signals at a good clip:


I kept shooting as the train approached, creating a bit of snow fog along the ROW.


And then, there was a view of the reason for the outing.


The train was past in a flash, showing the lit drumhead and the marker lights of name train of yesteryear.


If you look closely, you can see that a few lucky souls were enjoying the scenery from the comfort of this classic car.


With that, the time had come to head for home and back to work. I heard the Builder clear his warrant in Wadena as I approached town. Then, turning down County Road 75, headlights appeared to the east. A coal empty was approaching, so I pulled over for a couple of shots of this ACe-led train as well. Again, the clouds worked to my favor (as much as that is possible), allowing a shot of a westbound early in the day that would normally be badly backlit.



That's about it for this report from the Staples Sub. Oh, one last thing, I've posted video of the Builder as well. Hope you enjoy it.