I headed over to Mankato in hopes of catching something DM&E had sent my way along the river bottom. There are some scenic locations on that line, but no luck this evening. In Mankato I found an IRSS switcher working, but he tied up just as I arrived and the light was against me getting any decent shots. So off I went, to check the southbound UP main.
As luck would have it a southbound manifest was waiting to leave, and within minutes I was chasing him out of town. I shot him in about 5 locations, as the 4 lane allowed me to keep pace with this rapidly moving train. I think the best shots were these, just west of Lake Crystal as he ran west-southwest in nice light.
There sure are a lot of tall structures down in that country. You would think they handled a lot of grain or something.
One thing I noticed was how ratty these early AC motors are starting to look up close. Rust gets all of us in the end, and locomotives are no exception.
I got one more shot as he passed the elevator in Madelia, but I wasn't real happy with it. Then it was off to New Ulm once again, for another evening in a hotel room. Kind of like tonight. I'm sitting in a hotel in Virginia, and if I find time, may post a couple of shots from former DMIR tracks that I got tonight. So at least you have something to wonder about, until I find time to post again.
Jim
