Staples Sub Redux

I lived along the Staples Sub for 8 years. Spent a lot of time railfanning the tracks in the Wadena area over those 8 years, in fact, the majority of the posts on this blog are related to the Staples Sub. In a way, it was and always will be my railfanning "hometown". All this means that cutting ties with the area is bittersweet. And yesterday Mrs. L4T and cut our final material ties with Wadena when the sale of our house closed.

That meant a trip over to Wadena, with the attendant visit to the Staples Sub. MN Chris has joked I don't know how many times about my comment on crossing the tracks and seeing a headlight. Well, yesterday I didn't even make it across the tracks before a headlight showed up, just as we were approaching the Staples depot. After some fancy driving I found myself in position to fire off three quick poorly lit, badly composed frames, which caught the entire consist of a track inspection train headed east on the Staples.

I made it all the way to Dower Lake before being distracted once again. This photo was shot on the trip home, but is an overall view of what that distraction was. What strikes me about this is change-whereas it used to be expected to see a number of coal trains staged in the yard at Staples, currently you are much more likely to catch it with oil trains in residence, as we did yesterday.

That north train had interesting power as shown here. I haven't had the chance to feast on NS heritage units as many of you have, so this was a must-shoot for me. Viva Penn Central!

We arrived in Wadena with a bit of time to kill, and one way we did it was to get a shot of the pair of GP50's on the Wadena local. Not sure what was going on that kept them tied up the entire time we were there, but something unusual was in the works. Anyway, here is the mismatched couple:

And then our closing was pushed off for an extra hour and a half. With nothing to do, a ride west seemed to be in order. We made it to New York Mills and were on the way back when we encountered a classic Staples Sub coal empty passing through Bluffton. A true reminder of times past.

Then it was time for business, followed by the long drive home. A couple of poorly lit eastbounds accompanied us to Staples, where we took the diverging route the follows the Brainerd Sub east. That was quiet with the exception of a loaded coal train encountered near Deerwood, which we chose not to shoot. 

It was a day that brought back many good memories. I will always look back on the time we spent in Wadena fondly. While I know I will railfan the Staples Sub again, it will be as a visitor, not in my backyard, and that will be different. 

Oil at Oink Joint

After pizza at Larrys this evening, Mrs. L4T and I had half an hour to kill. A drive to Verndale and back were trainless until we reached Wadena, when an eastbound tipped us off with a headlight. We reversed course and raced to the Oink Joint Road crossing. I thought there might be some glint but there was nothing but backlight.

And then we headed home. What with buying a house, starting the process of getting settled, working 5 days, driving back to Wadena, loading the Escape with model railroad paraphernalia, and getting ready for a 6 AM Monday morning flight to Michigan for work, railfanning has been sorely neglected lately. At least I got a shot for the week.

Old Days

One of the great blessings of my railfan "career", if such a thing exists, has been the willingness of Mrs. L4T (that's my wife for those of you who have always wondered) to humor me by tagging along on "train hunting" expeditions. We have explored nearly every inch of the Staples Sub together, and she has gotten to the point where she occasionally sees the train before I do. She even questions why I am taking a shot from time to time, commenting that "the light is no good here". We've been great friends as we cruise up and down Highway 10, always on the lookout for the distinct pattern formed by a headlight and a pair of ditchlights.

With an impending move to the Twin Ports just a few weeks away now, something Chris Muller posted on Facebook today inspired me to check ATCS, and sure enough, the westbounds were lined up all the way to Gregory. Mrs. L4T and were out the door with visions of GEVO's and ACe's dancing in our heads.

My first move was east. It seemed a good bet we could catch the leader of the pack the other side of Verndale, but he beat us to the punch and surprised me just outside Wadena. If not for the glorious consist of new BNSF covered hoppers I would have passed, but these cars called for a u-turn and chase. The slow order near Bluffton allowed us to just beat the train to a crossing.


Hoping to beat something to Staples, we once more headed east, and this time made it almost all the way to Aldrich before a Z train sailed around the corner. Once more we were ready.


The action was pretty steady at this point, as the next train was approaching Dower Lake when we got there. This time is was a crude oil empty, led by a GEVO. You might also notice a blur of color in the distance that will come into play a bit later.


But the interesting unit was third out. For the third or fourth time I got the H3 painted 8987, an SD70MAC. The paint sure holds up nice, as this is at least two years old.


One of my goals for the day was a shot from the new overpass in Staples. Alas, it was not to be, as the final westbound was passing the depot as we neared the parking area. Plan B took us back to the Dower Lake crossing, where we captured a manifest with lots of oilfield traffic, including pipe, sand cars, and empty tanks. I even noticed an ADM car placarded for crude oil in this train.


This thing got me excited. I wonder what it hauls and where it hauls it?


The treat of the day was next. A manifest train sat on Main 2, sans power, just west of the Dower Lake crossing. It was only a few minutes when the power for the train ran back west from the yard. It was great to see a 4 unit set of SD40-2's "leading" this power as it backed up onto the train. What a sight! I hollered "Nice Power" to the conducter as he passed by and got a smile and wave back.


After getting the air pumped up and the train underway, we were able to swing by the Staples yard and shoot three more classic EMD's sitting at the west end, including a fairly uncommon GP40. Second one I have seen this week, the other was in Superior.


And so you have the story from today. We probably won't get many more chances to fan the Staples Sub, but I'll always remember this one and the day Mrs. L4T once again brought me luck!

"Dash"ing Through the Woods

8:00 AM found me bound for Randall. It was a lovely morning and dreams of trains were dancing in my head as I left Wadena. The tracks were quiet until I had almost reached Dower Lake when a westbound showed up on it's journey to Dilworth. I didn't get a good look at the power but decided to continue on. I'm satisfied with that decision. 

Before reaching Philbrook I spied the rear end of a stopped crude eastbound. Luckily in a matter of moments a westbound stack train had obscured my view. With any luck the crude train would be next, so I stopped catch the cantilever doing its job one more time. 

Since he was pulling from a dead stop, there was probably time to reach  Quiken Road. I quickly drove there and had time find a location to catch the train rounding the curve. Third unit was as shiny an H3 Dash 9 as I've ever laid eyes on.

 Then it was time to go to work. After spending a few hours in Randall, I check the ATCS before leaving. Sure enough the railroad had served up a westbound for my viewing pleasure. Sadly Mother Nature had also served up a nice helping of overcast. Here's what you get when you take a train and add haze.

4 more Dash 9's, these all matched in H2 paint. It was kind of pretty.

I also shot a train in the Staples yard on the way down, but due to the mixed power it didn't fit the theme of this post. I'll try and process it for Flickr. The overpass construction makes shots that once were easy quite a bit tougher.

That's my story of "Dashing" through the woods today.

Some Easter Sightings

Mr. L4T Jr. was home for the weekend. He has not been infected with the railfanning bug, which is likely a good thing for me as his presence will occasionally inspire me to do something a little different. However, he is also willing to humor me on occassion, such as when a matched set of NS GE's happen by with a loaded tank train. Easter Sunday afternoon revealed just such a sight, which was captured initially crossing the bridge that is being worked on in Bluffton.


The backlighting is strong in this one, and the next one, which is not much further down the line due to the slow order that is delaying every train through the area. Once more from the Highway 75 crossing.


After he headed back to Grand Forks Mrs. L4T suggested we go for a short ride. I agreed, but told her we needed to check ATCS to see if any train traffic was likely. Sure enough a westbound was approaching Wadena, and we encountered it at the crossing upon heading uptown. I decided to try shooting it just west of the overpass, and here's the result.


I liked the outcome of that one, although I should have waited a bit for the train to get closer to the silos before tripping the shutter. Live and learn.

After swinging through Perham, we headed for home. Once more a westbound was showing, this time in Staples. I figured I had just enough time to grab a smoothie at McDonalds and get back west of town for a shot. What a prediction-the headlight was showing as I once more pulled over on Highway 75! A short wait in the gale-force winds, and a COLX empty marched by, slowing for the bridge.


They're only GE's, and the paint is a bit faded, but a matched set is a matched set. As the GEVO's arrive and coal traffic seems to fall a bit, matched power is getting more rare. The MACs that used to be strictly coal power are still found on coal trains, but they are also showing up on manifests, grain trains, and crude oil trains.

The railroad seemed busy this weekend, although I didn't get much chance for photos. I hear another train passing through town as I write this. Life is good.

Highway 10-the Other Direction

I been bad about blogging. Seems like life has been getting in the way lately, but here's the first of a number of posts in which I try and catch up with what's been going down in my life.

Mrs. L4T and I have been discussing our need for new furniture, which led to an afternoon trip to Fargo March 16. The furniture hunt was pretty much a failure, but we did manage to bag a few trains on the trip home. The first one was a set of EMD spartan cabs in resplendent new paint, working the east end of the Dilworth yard.


That was a quick stop, as we wanted to get home at a reasonable time. A plan that was interrupted when we passed under a loaded crude oil train grinding up the hill in Hawley. All of a sudden a side trip up Highway 32 seemed proper. Here you go:


There's something about that long string of identical cars that just cries out to be photographed. This shot has been done by everyone who ever owned a camera, I'm sure, but just to be safe I did it once more.


As I was stopped an ATCS check was in order. Sure enough, somewhere out there a westbound lurked. It was but a short trip to Mt. Muller, from the summit of which I soon spied a headlight. Since I didn't have a saw with me I had to settle for this angle.


I do believe that might be a C4.

The day finished up with an excellent meal at the DL Taco Johns, and a drive home. No more photo ops meant no more stops. The end of an unproductive furniture shopping trip, and slightly more productive railfanning outing.

The Return of DST

After spending the better part of the afternoon wrestling with TurboTax (which by the way was programmed, with the help of the federal tax code, to drive normal people insane), a distinct need for a mental health break arose. There was the opportunity to head for the basement and staple up another box of ceiling tile, but then again the sun was out. It wasn't too hard to convince Mrs. L4T that we should go someplace. When she asked where I blurted out "Staples". 'Twas not to be.

Arriving in downtown Wadena, rather than a headlight greeting us, there were not one but two trains passing through town. As is normal Main Two was hosting the eastbound, while a crude oil train was headed west on Main One. Entering available data into my railfan calculator the destination of Staples was quickly replaced with "somewhere west of that crude oil train". We were off.

He was rolling along pretty good. I barely arrived at the overpass west of NYM with time to get this shot.


This was a short train. In fact it's a pretty good bet that Christopher Muller could duplicate it on his layout under construction. The detector at MP 174 announced that none of the 246 axles had defects. I figured it out in my head, and counting the three-six axle locomotives and the buffer car, that comes out to 56 tank cars.

A glance to the west as the train passed below the highway revealed another headlight, headed my way. Weaving through traffic allowed a couple of backlit shots of the power on this train. A pair of CSXT GE's were leading a BNSF MAC and a CSXT EMD unit with a spartan cab. My guess is it was a grain train, but it's just that-a guess.





With the low fuel light on we headed back to Wadena. I tried shooting the visitor one more time as he rolled through town with "meh" results. It did provide the opportunity to notice the pair of pile drivers parked on the former Leaf River Ag spur. Maybe that had something to do with all the pilings laying along the right-of-way near the bridge west of the Bluffton crossing. Seems the Staples Sub will be seeing some major work once again this summer. Probably cause some slow traffic days, with the backups hopefully resulting in fleets of train when the light is nice. Like during Verndale Rail. Again, hopefully.

Speaking of light, thanks to the switch back to Daylight Savings Time there was still enough for one more train. Having heard the CSX train would be waiting for one at Staples (someone else was making a pickup, and had Main Two occupied), we knew there was still a chance. Might as well try the sag. And this time, it worked-we spotted a headlight as we crossed the tracks.


This train made it two out of three on the day for spartan cabs. Heck, this one even threw in a four axle unit for good measure. The power set was an H1 GE, followed by a bright and shiny 40 series six axle, a GP50 in original paint, and another GE, this time an H2.


That was it, as Mrs. L4T needed to get home. So with full stomachs thanks to McD's, we headed back for the house, with dreams of good light on evening westbounds dancing in our heads.

Just Another Road Trip

Driving-it's just how I roll. Not that I'm a truck driver or anything like that, but the Excape does pile up some highway miles. This week was no different, with a trip to Hallock to start the week, drive back to Wadena on Tuesday, an easy Wednesday with only a visit to New York Mills in the evening for a meeting, followed by another meeting Thursday, this time in Rosemount, and wrapping up with yet another meeting on Friday in Plymouth. The trip up north yielded a couple of photos.

And so did the drive to the cities yesterday. An eastbound oil train appeared out of the woods just as I passed Lincoln, which was a prime opportunity for a photo. After abject failure just south of Randall due to a long dead battery saga, I had recovered enough upon reaching the old Soo Line overpass south of Gregory to clamber up the hill and grab a photo as the train approached.


Since the train had no need to stop for fuel in St. Cloud like I did, he passed me once more. This was a good thing as it allowed for another shot. This time the targeted location was the curve where Chris and I wandered around in the grass for a bit last fall, which idea was promptly foiled by a westbound stack train. So I moved down the line to the potato farm crossing, where the tank train soon came into view.


This should be a precious photo, as it shows how I can cover up some painting mistakes on the front of a BNSF GE. In real life this one appears to have spent some time recently in the body and fender shop.

The trip home turned out to be pretty uneventful. During a stop in Randall ATCS showed an eastbound near Philbrook. I decided to take the back roads home and try intercepting the train. The gates were already down as I drove up, so after leaping out of the car and running up toward the tracks I snapped this.


And then it was off again, to reach Wadena in time for supper.

NOTE: I did catch one other interesting thing on the trip. This jumped out at me as I drove through Rosemount and seemed unusual enough to rate a u-turn.

Another day of looking for trains, in the book.

Bluffton

Way back on a late January Sunday I get a text from Jer: "Got a fleet of Westbounds headed your way assuming you're home." After replying that I might have to check that out, he comes back with this gem: "I bet there's at least 10." Me: "WHAT????" Oh, he had it all figured out, with one each at Randall, Gregory, Little Falls, St. Cloud, and finally at MP 66. Then he threw in, for good measure I guess, "Might be three or so in TWC." Heck, he could have been dispatching the entire sub.

So now you have the background on how I happened to wind up in Bluffton for a few minutes that afternoon, just a-waiting for some trains to show up. I know this gets old but I saw the first headlight when I crossed the tracks in Wadena, and only had to wait 5 or 10 minutes at Bluffton for a string of tanks behind some fairly nice looking GE's.


I knew there was a train pretty close to his block, so I stuck around for one more. This time the power was not as nice, and the cars were a lot more varied.


The clouds moved in fast, so I gave up after these two. There was something extra fun about catching a train that a fellow railfan had given you a heads-up on, though.

As much as I like trains, real and pretend, and taking pictures of both kinds, the enjoyment is multiplied when people who share your interest can take any part in the outings. I've explained in the past that the people are what make Verndale Rail special for me. We only get one chance a year to do that, but there are lots of other chances to get out with another fan, or share information like Jer and a lot of other OMR members are so willing to do. While these might not be as exciting as the big show in June, they still add a huge amount of enjoyment to the hobby. So thanks to all of you who call, or email, or post, or text heads-up alerts on rail action in the area. We might not always be able to make use of the intelligence but the times we can make it all worth it.

Note: it's even fun when the news is that there will likely be no trains that day! Yes, you know who you are.

Frosty Morning

After yesterday's discussion of trains in the fog and frost, I figured the weather events were done for a while. Wrong again!

This morning I had a meeting at church, and when I walked out of the house I heard a train horn to the west. Since my church is close to the tracks, it seemed like no harm would be done by taking the long route just in case the train was eastbound. The gates were coming down as I approached the tracks, so after a full speed exit and barely coming to a stop I shot my first crude train of the day at the Highway 71 crossing. Tried to include a little of the frost that was hanging on everything including the front of the locomotive.


After finishing up at church, I needed to stop at Ben Franklin for some weathering supplies. I'm glad I did, since there was another eastbound tank train passing through town when I walked out the front door of the store. A quick phone call to Mrs. L4T to let her know my arrival home would be delayed was followed by hot pursuit towards Staples.

After overtaking the train just east of Verndale, a quick dash across the tracks yielded this:


As you can see the sun was out now, leaving me wondering how much longer any of this frost could hang on. I spun around to shoot the train going away as well, as much as anything to get a shot of my favorite Staples Sub tree sporting a glorious coat of white.


The frost was prettier than I was able to record, and not being able to get the train against the trees due to the position of the sun and highway was a little frustrating. My next big idea was to try a shot south of Staples, where the sun and frost just might play well together. Well, kind of I guess.


A pit stop at a Staples gas station extinguished the low fuel light, and I headed back for Wadena. Almost immediately BNSF 771 East cleared up a warrant, and it was back to work. This time from the Todd County Highway 9 crossing, for what turned out to be my favorite shot of the day.


Another tank train! Knowing how much he would wish he had been there, I immediately texted Chris with tall tales about the flood of oil trains headed into the bright sun amidst the frosty scenery. That was kind of mean of me.

When I got home, the frost was just starting to drop, creating mini snow flurries throughout the neighborhood. It was a scenic day, and thanks to the BNSF for cooperating and giving the chance to shoot some trains in these unusual conditions!

Amtrak Under the Overcast

I was minding my own business in my happy place (the basement, working on installing turnout controls) right after lunch when Mrs. L4T came roaring down the stairs, hollering something about a phone call. When I answered, it was Bryant on the other end, bearing news of a very late Amtrak train he had just spotted rolling under the overpass near Dilworth. My schedule became adjusted.

After another hour or so of tinkering with tiny bits of wire the Mrs. and I hit the road, headed for downtown Wadena and hopefully an appointment with the Empire Builder. The phrase gets overused sometimes, but sure enough, when we crossed the tracks I spotted a headlight to the west. Racing to the east edge of town and pulling over, we were just in time to catch not the Builder, but a crude oil train headed down the Staples Sub.


Mrs. L4T commented that the train I just shot bore no resemblance to the Amtrak train I had promised. My response included a plea for a little patience, and we relocated to a spot closer to the crossover as I suspected the Builder would be going from Main Two to Main One at Wadena. That suspicion was soon confirmed by ATCS, and before long another headlight appeared to the west. This time it was the Amtrak train.


Since she had been so patient it only seemed right to reward the wife with a ride. We took off chasing the Builder, and paced him at about 73 mph between Wadena and Verndale, where he didn't have to slow down for the cop (who is our friend, by the way.)

I was able to maintain "track speed" longer than the train could as we approached Staples, and so managed to get across the tracks during his quick station stop. Here's the Empire Builder one more time, as he throttles up and pulls away from the Staples depot.


A big thanks to Bryant for his tip on this train. Without that I would likely have spent the entire afternoon in the basement, not to mention how much Mrs. L4T enjoyed the opportunity to get out trackside for a bit.

A PUSHER?

Actually, I saw a few pushers today. Most of them were what we have come to think of as conventional pushers, or Distributed Power Units. These are the locomotives on the rear (at least in this area) of the train, which are controlled by the engineer up front. This coal train, which was photographed going east through the Verndale sag, had a pretty nice looking MAC pushing. Since the tail end unit was facing the wrong way I only shot the head end power.


After a stop north of Eagle Bend, the journey continued on toward Randall. Since it was lunchtime, a detour down old Highway 10 near Lincoln was possible, and another train popped up, this time what looked like oil cans. I missed the head end, but got the "pusher"-a fairly new GEVO. This was an absolute snap shot as I lumbered up the hill just as the loco disappeared around the corner.


And now on to what I hinted about on Facebook earlier today-a "manned helper", something that should be unheard of on the Staples Sub in this day and age. It seems like those tie cars must be getting loaded pretty heavy, though, as this train showed up passing under the old Highway 10 bridge:


Yes, there is a second hi-rail on the rear, and it's manned-as a matter of fact the two guys in it gave me a funny look as I shot them passing by. Here's a going away shot after they passed under me:


It can't be that they needed the power, as I've seen these trucks move 10 cars on their own. Maybe by tieing everything together they can travel as one "train" and get to where they are going faster, I don't know. Whatever the reason, it was one of those things that really gets your attention. An oddity.

And when I got back to Wadena, sure enough, Chris, I looked down the tracks as I crossed to go home and saw a headlight. It seemed a waste not to try and shoot him, even though the light was terrible. More crude oil tanks. With three units up front this one had no DPU. You can almost smell the creosote boiling off those ties in this shot.


And then it was home, and back to work. I sure wish I could get caught up. For now, I'm thankful for seeing some trains, and the manned helper of July 2011.