Thursday, February 16, 2012

A Train Picture

It's not unusual for Mrs. L4T to suggest a trip to Brainerd on the weekend. It's also not unusual for me to agree, since you can see a railroad track from the highway for about 75% of the trip. This last Saturday fit the pattern.

Guess what-I didn't see a headlight as we crossed the tracks in Wadena, this time. No, instead, the crossing gates were down and the crossing was occupied by an eastbound coal train. The only thing I knew about the power was that a peachy MAC was pushing. Off we went, with a goal of catching him before the curve at Aldrich would put the kibosh to nose light. We barely made it, getting the shot from the last crossing before the curve, the one east of Verndale.


You can really see how the orange paint on these GE's fades in this photo-the leader is nice and shiny, and the trailing unit is already starting to show that icky peach color.

After the train passed we took off for Brainerd. I did a double take passing the Staples yard, as an entire train of what looked to be brand new crude oil cars was staged, but I decided to risk getting a photo on the way home when the light would be a little better. That turned out to be a bad decision as the train was gone on the return trip.

It's a meager offering this post, but that was the only train we saw on the way over and back. Sometimes that's the way it is.

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