Some Blue and Yellow

One of the best parts of spending a few days in the southwest part of the state is getting the chance to catch some blue and yellow engines while they are still around. Having left for Westbrook Monday afternoon, here is a sampling of what I was able to shoot while travelling from town to town for work.

This first one has already been shared on Flickr. With a 6:00 PM appointment in Westbrook Monday evening, the L4T official chase Escape was meandering down a county road paralleling the DME near Tracy when the tail end of a train appeared. Putting on a burst of speed, I was able overtake the head end as it crossed Plum Creek near Laura Ingalls Wilder's former home town of Walnut Grove. Here is the shot after stepping across the road and cranking up the ISO on the Pentax.


After overnighting in Windom, it was back to Westbrook on Tuesday. I've mentioned before that there are no trains in Westbrook. However, the road to Marshall goes through Tracy, and there is always a chance of finding something on the east side of town. This cloudy Tuesday afternoon was one of those days when you get lucky, as four units were sitting with a short train and no crew.


The last unit in the consist was a four axle EMD, and even though it's front coupled it seemed like it was worth the electrons to shoot it.


After spending most of Wednesday just a few feet from the tracks in Tyler, and not seeing any trains, my aim on the trip to New Ulm was to stay as close to the tracks as possible. This resulted in a good helping of "county tar" along with some gravel, but didn't yield any blue and yellow locomotives. There are some scenic spots along that line, though.

I stayed in the Microtel Inn in New Ulm, and was serenaded by three trains after dark and before bed. Guess the DM&E knew I was out looking and held the trains til dark. The next morning on the way to a meeting, a pass by the depot found a pair of blue and yellow units switching. With no time to spare I had to take the best shot offered and this was it.


All in all a good week. Got to shoot the classic paint scheme three days out of four, and got a good look at a reasonable section of the railroad. Every trip down there makes it more evident why people are so drawn to the area.

The Chase

Sometimes things just come together. That hasn't been true for me lately, for reasons as diverse as the weather, work, and interference from darned model trains. As a result my railfanning has been essentially non-existent for more than two weeks.

Today changed that. After spending my working hours in Tyler, I headed back to Marshall for the evening. I always take the longer way back instead of the back road just in case there is some action along the Marshall Sub or on the DME. It was a pleasant late afternoon so it seemed only appropriate to sit a bit at the Florence interchange, just north of the namesake town.

Less than 10 minutes after arriving, sure enough, a headlight appeared to the east. A DME train was working its way into the sun.


A quick text to Jer told me what had to be done. My message about a land barge bound for Lake Benton brough the almost instantaneous response of "WHAT!? SHOOT IT!". Off I went, trying to track the progress of the train with an occasional brief glimpse between the hills as the track twisted through the countryside.

With a lead on reaching Tyler, I looked for a likely shot. The sight that greeted me was horrifying, as an eastbound rolled into view. Now what? Not knowing the area, I had no idea where the meet would be made or how long it would take. Heck, I've even seen DME trains tied down near Florence and for all I knew they wouldn't proceed. It was time for a u-turn and some exploring. I flew down the blacktop, then gravel, roads at top speed and overtook the eastbound. Sure enough, the first train spotted was slowing for a meet at what turned out to be the Florence siding. Here are the two trains as they approach-both are moving.


I had to fire off one more. After all, how often can you get 10 active SD40-2's (OK, yellow unit on the westbound looks like a 45, sorry) in one frame in this day and age?


Thankfully, the westbound quickly switched his lights back on and got underway, accelerating quickly with all that power at hand. In this shot the tail end of the eastbound is just about out of sight, the switch has been lined, and the 6200 is ready to roll.


The sun was going away fast, and despair was rising as the glowing orb fell, but I continued on in hopes they would make good time between the Florence siding and Lake Benton. I wasn't going to put all my eggs in that basket, though. Just a couple of miles west is a crossing I had shot once before, so a quick stop was in order.


One more quick stop along 14 yielded a sad "across the field" shot, something I just can't seem to get right. Then it was off to the races again.

Having only fanned the Lake Benton area once before, I was hoping to remember how to get to the spot that many others have featured. It seemed further out of town that I remembered, but finally I was climbing the hill on the sunny side of the train as it approached. I fired off a few shots, including this one:


And with that, the chase was over. The valley was in shadow in just a few minutes, so on this day the railfan spirits smile on me and allowed the opportunity for a shot. Thanks for that.

Thanks, Jer, for the inspiration!

Springfield

It's been a couple of weeks since I was last down south, but I still have a few photos from the trip that haven't been posted. These particular ones were a great reminder of one of my most interesting railfanning experiences, and the chance to take a (short) cab ride.

Last time through Springfield, sure enough, Harvestland was loading a train. And just like every other time I've seen this, my friend George was running the Harvestland engine.

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This is a huge facility. It's likely been mentioned before that they have storage capacity for around 10 complete shuttle trains, and can load such a train in less than 12 hours when everything goes right. Here's a shot of the shuttle power, which brings the train off the BNSF at Florence and across the former DME to Springfield. You can get an idea of the size of the elevator in the background.

Interestingly, although they load these unit trains, there is no loop, just a long siding. The complex also includes a fertilizer plant and Harvestland unloads both dry and liquid fertilizer at this location along with loading grain trains. It's a good rail customer.


In addition to the nicely painted GP, they also have a trackmobile, I assume for the fertilizer cars. A trackmobile wouldn't do much good when trying to get a shuttle loaded.

For that you need a hard-working locomotive, something as seen in the following picture. You can bet that George is at the throttle, waiting for her to load up and then the radio call from the control booth "That's good, George".


This is one of the countless activities on the railroad that will never get old for me. It's hard to picture passing this location and not stopping when something rail related is going on, and I hope I never have to.

Colors

It's already been a couple of weeks since I was in the New Ulm area. There was a lot of traffice on the DME, but being tied up with work not many photography opportunities. After work on Tuesday of that week a stop near the depot revealed the power for the New Ulm switch job sitting at the depot.


Another train was approaching when I shot this but the light was so poor there was no chance to get a shot (I haven't mastered the zoom pan yet).

The next evening I was headed for Springfield, and approaching Sleepy Eye a headlight appeared, coming out of the sun. Here's the black and white backlit shot of the train, with the "prairie skyscrapers" of Sleepy Eye in the background.


Four SD40-2's in this day and age is fun, and since I promised some variety a few days ago, here's the end product:


I'm sure they all took different routes to get to the spot in 2011. There have to be a lot of stories of the trains these engines have hauled over the years.

An EMD Festival

Imagine yourself in New Ulm, MN, at 5 PM on a HOT, what-used-to-be-sunny-but-is-rapidly-becoming-high-overcast Tuesday, with a hotel reservation in Springfield for the night. What would you do?



Might you swing by the depot before leaving town, to see if the former DME left some power parked facing the sun for you to photo? If so you would have the chance to shoot a pair of EMD's that look like this:





And as long as you're in town, why not stop at the Hanska Farmers Co-op elevator, down by the river, to see how the pair of former Soo Line GP's with torpedo tubes on the roof are parked today? With any luck, they too might be facing the sun.





If I encountered such a situation, I'd be sure to keep my eyes open on the off chance I catch a train running into the sun, or even because we may meet something. You might make it all the way to the hotel parking lot before hearing the horn on an eastbound, in which case a short chase would be in order. Isn't that 4 more EMD's bringing a long freight up the hill out of the Cottonwood River drainage, doubling the EMD count for the day while spotting nary a GE? And putting on a smoky show while doing it?





Finally, since the sun was still trying to peek through the overcast and the engine was pointing that direction, you might decide to stop at the huge Harvestland Elevator just east of Springfield to shoot one final EMD. That one might bring back some happy memories.





That's how my day went Tuesday. How about you?

Lucky Me

There's an old song that talks about how some days are diamonds. From a railfanning perspective today was one of those for me.

After finishing up the paperwork from today's work, a little railfanning adventure seemed to be in order. The River Sub was calling and so I headed south from Red Wing. After a brief stop at the Flower Valley Road crossing, something compelled me to continue southward. As it was only a little way to the Frontenac siding, I soon spotted a loaded COLX train waiting for a meet. This was pretty good evidence of a westbound, and the railfan senses were set to high alert. Sure enough, I was just getting up to speed after the 40 mph zone through Frontenac when the expected headlight appeared, moving fast. The leader was blue and yellow ICE 6451, and it was joined at the head end by three more SD's wearing the same paint scheme.

My first thought was how quick could I turn around and give chase. My second thought was how badly this was going to hurt MN Chris. And my third thought was I hoped there were no state troopers around. After waiting a few seconds for the cars speeding past me to clear I managed to reverse course and start the catch up game. And then I was back in the 40 mph speed zone for Frontenac, seeing the meager amount of ground I had gained melt away. Finally, the two cars in front of me started to speed up and once again I was passing the railcars rather than the reverse. There weren't many miles between my location and Red Wing, and if I didn't catch up before that all hope would be lost. Finally, just as I reached the still-stopped coal train, I was even with the blue and yellow quartet. My speed was limited to just above the speed limit by traffic, and crossed fingers were the order of the day.

Upon reaching Flower Valley Road and making it across the tracks before the gates started dropping, I quickly exited the car and dashed across the road to the music of the 6451's horn. I quickly snapped off this photo:


The all-EMD lashup swept around the corner and approached quickly, and my final shot got them much closer to the crossing. With access to PSE, this would look better as this shot could use a dash of USM, but here it is anyway:


And then, they were gone. I must confess, I sat in the Escape at the crossing, reveling in the sight of the four vintage engines charging northwest with a long freight train trailing behind. Needing to share the experience I posted a quick report to Facebook about NAILING four blue and yellows.

One of the things that I love about railfanning is the exhilaration when things go just right. That might mean lots of well-lit trains, a meet shot, great company on a railfan outing, catching a rare move (for example, the 4449 traversing the Staples Sub), or stumbling upon a really killer consist like this set of power. Lots of the time fanning can be mundane, an enjoyable way to pass time, and a great hobby. But once in a while it surpasses that, and to me at least offers great excitement and a feeling of reward. That's how I was feeling as I sat at that crossing. I did nothing to deserve this show, and still was rewarded with the appearance of these handsome locomotives. It's the kind of rare experience I'll have great memories of and will be able to share with lots of other people. Thanks CP, and keep up the good work!

A Train and Some Other Stuff

It all started out hopefully. The trip from Owatonna to Red Wing was carefully designed to parallel railroad tracks for much of the way. Around Utica, a train showed up, lumbering slowly through the cornfields and woods. The ensuing chase yielded this shot, among others:


Surely the River Sub would offer up something to shoot on this lovely evening. And it did, although not what I expected.

A stop at Lock and Dam #5 was slotted in to allow any nearby westbounds to catch up with me, and permit shots at a number of locations as he made his way to Red Wing. While no trains showed up, a catfisherman did, and he was more successful at his pastime than I was at mine. I offered to take a photo and email it to him, and he graciously accepted. He confessed that he had never been cat-fishing on a Gold Wing before and wasn't exactly sure how he would get the bountiful harvest home.


Next stop was the north curve at Maple Springs, one of the many lovely photo locations along the Minnesota side of Lake Pepin. The BNSF ran a train during my 45 minute wait, but no such luck on my side of the river. The time wasn't a total loss in the transportation photography department, though, as a long raft of barges passed by.


And finally, another fisherman, this time of the winged variety. As I watched, an eagle swooped down to the surface of the lake and grabbed a fish. No decent picture was had, but here is my best effort, with no editing software to improve it.


With that I gave up on the vigil and headed off to Red Wing. After a few emails I decided to post these photos and put together a story of why something other than trains made my day.

Snowy Southwest Minnesota

So last week, I had to make a trip to the Tyler and New Ulm areas. I was hopeful about catching a little DME or Marshall Sub action, but came away with little to show from a railfanning perspective, although I was suitably impressed with the massive snowdrifts that were everywhere. They have much more snow on the ground than central MN, with the amount increasing as you travel south and west.

I followed the Marshall Sub from Willmar all the way to the DME crossing near Highway 14, but a section crew replacing a rail near Raymond kind of dashed any hopes of BNSF trains for the day. This was a disappointment as the section south of Marshall is one of my favorite sections of railroad in the state. Then, to add insult to injury, the DME ran a train through Tyler just as the meeting I was there for started. After that appointment was complete, I headed for New Ulm. The blue and yellow railroad doesn't really parallel the highway for a lot of the way. I swung into Tracy to see if I could repeat Jer's catch of the pride of the DME but had no luck. However, when I passed through Springfield, I was greeted by the sight of a BNSF shuttle train sitting at the massive elevator there. I grabbed a shot in the fog. This is a massive elevator that loads many trains, and I've heard they have the ability to store 10 million bushels of corn. I know they can load trains fast, as I was lucky enough to stumble across one loading three years ago. Today everything was quiet, as I think the train was waiting for a crew to take it west to the BNSF connection at Florence.


On my way to the office in New Ulm the next morning a swing by the yard caught a set of GP40's sitting in front of the depot. It's always neat to shoot some trains out the car window.


When I finished up in New Ulm, I had to run back to Tyler for another meeting. The train in Springfield was gone, but now there was a different power set sitting at Lamberton. I'm not sure what the purpose was, as there was what looked like a complete grain train and a complete ethanol train sitting near the Highwater Ethanol plant just west of that burg. Again, no action at the elevator. The neat thing, that I didn't even notice until I uploaded the pictures, was the ES44C4 on the head end of this power set. First one I've seen in a while.


The only trains I saw the next day were at Perry's Hobbies in Morgan, where I managed to convince myself to invest in an Exact Rail MDW boxcar, an Intermountain covered hopper, and a set of Walthers Bethgons for the stunningly low price of $59 plus change. And, no shipping fee!

A stop in Bird Island revealed no TCW action, nor was the CP doing anything when I went through Belgrade. So trainwise, it was a quiet week. That's all!

Owatonna Struggles

It's been over a week since these feeble attempts at a train picture but since I uploaded them I figured I may as well share them. 3 days in Owatonna seemed to offer hope for some photos but it seems the UP has my number and ran trains right past the office window while I slaved away with work. Darn them anyway.

I did manage to get away one evening for a short run to Waseca to see what the DME was up to. It turned out that they were mostly up to hiding anything photogenic from me. I had to work my way into a spot where I could even see any blue and yellow power, and even then there wasn't much to shoot. Here's the sorry result of my effort.


As I left town on Thursday afternoon, the UP finally offered up something to shoot. They're yellow, but they don't say UP-these lease units must have come home for a family reunion.


So, you drive nearly 500 miles, even go out of your way one evening, and nearly get skunked. This can be a frustrating hobby at times. Still, it keeps me coming back for some reason.

Hittin' for Average

The baseball player who bats .300 is a very good batter. In order to acheive this level of success, that player will likely have to have some pretty good games, where his average for the game is well above the .300 line, to make up for the games when he has to face a Cy Young winner at the top of his game. There will be good days and bad days, days where going 3 for 4 or 4 for 5 will help bring up the average from the "oh fer" days.

Sometimes railfanning is like this. There are days that don't go so well, sometimes because you miss a fat pitch, and other times you are ready to nail it and you get clouded out or a train on the near track blocks the nicely lit shot you've worked to get in position for, sort of a line drive right at someone that is caught for an out.

All these things I was thinking on Thursday, as I drove from far southwest Minnesota back home to Wadena. There would be a few photo ops, as my route crossed the DME near Walnut Grove, paralleled a section of the BNSF Marshall Sub and crossed the TCW at Granite Falls, passed by Willmar, and crossed the Paynesville Sub of the CP at Belgrade. One thing about these north-south trips-the timing has to be perfect to catch trains at crossings. Thursday turned out to be one of those days that, if I was a hitter, would have generated comments about "how well he was seeing the ball".

My first "at bat", if you will, was crossing the DME. Sure enough, just as I approached the tracks, a headlight showed up to the east. I had just a moment to grab the camera and shoot the train headed by an assortment of 6 SD units as it slowly passed.


That consist was colorful enough to require a second attempt, and after finding a spot where the tracks passed an open field, I tried squeezing in the entire colorful assortment of units. I considered myself one for one at this point.


It wasn't long before I found myself following the Marshall Sub on Highway 23. Radio chatter indicated a couple of northbounds, which would be badly backlit. A quick investigation of possibilities in Granite Falls didn't offer much to work with, so I headed north again. My first "out" of the day came when I passed over the TCW near the Granite Falls ethanol plant, with nothing but tank cars and DDG hoppers in sight. Again, I headed northeast.

Finally I heard the dispatcher talking to a BNSF 1900 series going in the hole at Clara City. After a short drive, there is was. With sugar beets being piled like mad in the background, I pulled over for a shot.


I'll take that as a hit, making me 2 for 3 on the day. I wasn't able to resist the temptation of a trip through Willmar, where I picked up a bonus-this shot of a pair of GP's switching the north end of the yard.


Leaving Willmar, my last at bat for the day was the CP at Belgrade. There's not a lot of time spent here, so catching a train is a matter of very good luck. And just as I got to the east end of town, sure enough, another headlight, this time speeding out from under the overpass. A quick left turn, and I rolled down the passenger side window for this:


I'll count that as a single, and it brought my line for the day to 3 for 4. That's about as a good a day as I can expect with no time dedicated to railfanning, just taking what you are offered as you travel.

Certainly no extra base hits in this batch, but I was thankful for what I got. It made the trip seem shorter and provided a lot of entertainment. Sometimes it's fun to be a singles hitter.

Jim

More River

Many of you have had the experience of travelling down a highway that parallels a railroad right-of-way, keeping one eye peeled for oncoming rail traffic at all times. That's what I was doing Tuesday evening, as I took the scenic route from Red Wing to Austin. That means I drove a good length of Highway 61 along the Mississippi River.

I was just south of Lake City, not even to Maple Springs, where I had hoped to stop and set for a spell, when a glimpse of what looked to be headlight caused me to dump the air in my vehicle and pull over to the side of the road. Grabbing the camera and crossing the highway, I barely had time to shoot this:


Just ten more minutes, and I would have caught him in nice light sweeping around the curve at Maple Springs. Oh well, no sense waiting for a train there now. On I went.

I missed the headlight on a train I met at Lock and Dam 5. The only indication of that train was the cars flying by me in the opposite direction. Since the stretch of highway was 4 lane a u-turn and chase allowed me to overtake the train near Minneiska for a couple of shots as the power rounded a curve. It's pretty down there, but I sure wish the CP would cut brush instead of spraying it.



That jumbled up mess of power reminded me of something I saw in New Ulm a couple of weeks ago-a four unit set of power with no two painted the same. Seems these lashups are spending time on the mother railroad as well.

I got one more mixed-up consist in Minnesota City. More lease units, this time waiting in a siding for yet another westbound to pass.


With miles to go before I slept, I angled off for Austin here and travlled though some gorgeous scenery in the Rollingstone area. No trains there, though. So that's it for this short installment of look4trains.com.

Jim

Springfield Short

Thursday August 27 found me making my way through southwest Minnesota farm country. I zig-zagged my way through back country due to detours along Highway 60 in the area and finally reached the DME near the Harvestland elevator at Springfield.

Harvestland was loading a shuttle train, and I grabbed a shot from the road crossing east of the elevator.


This is the same location that I visited last year, when I was invited up into the cab and got a mini-tour of the loading facilities. Luckily, the engineer this day was again George, and I got a chance to visit with him while he waited for the scale to be checked under the car loader.

After a short visit, I had to move on, but just as I left, the New Ulm switch engine showed up headed back to New Ulm. It was a GP40 running long hood forward, bringing empty fertilizer cars back to New Ulm for pickup.


Not a busy day train-wise but a chance to see what to me was unusual action, and to renew an old acquaintance.

Jim

Austin Bound

ICE 6452 heading for Austin
Originally uploaded by look4trains

Having spent a few days in the Austin and Owatonna area this week, I had hopes of catching some DME or ICE action. My last night in the area, I was staying in Owatonna. After checking into my motel, I heard a horn on the DME and headed out to check the traffic. Turned out to be an ethanol train headed east. Not knowing the town, I decided to try and get ahead of the train and finally accomplished that at the Highway 14 overpass south of Owatonna.

It was a cloudy day, and I tried to compose the shot in a way that would minimize the unattractive white sky. I also kind of like the way the cattle worked their way into the photo. As you can see, the EMD's were working hard on this long train as they passed under me.

Jim

Slim Pickings in Southern MN

Duty called-and again, I answered. The week started out with some work at home on Monday, but I had to be deep in southwest Minnesota at 0830 on Tuesday AM so I left home after supper with the intent to go as far as possible that night and "tie up" for the evening.

My journey southward was train free until I reached Benson just after 8 PM. As I crossed the tracks a glance to the east revealed the smoke column of an accelerating train but no headlight-must be an eastbound. Since I have zero shots from this area a quick chase allowed me to overtake the local and grab what was supposed to be a glint shot in failing light. This train was led by a pair of EMD lease GP's with consecutive numbers.


I overnighted at Montevideo and when I left in the morning, just before 0700, road construction routed me along Hwy 212 for a short way. No trains, but I did notice that there is a small intermodal facility there-must be on the TCW. I didn't know about this before. No pictures, but I would dearly love to chase a train along the river someday. Another item for my bucket list.

My assigned tasks for the day completed, I headed for Windom, where I planned to spend the night. I travelled along Hwy 14, roughly paralleling the DME. I had seen a train pass by earlier in the day eastbound while I was working but figured it had a couple hour head start and was long gone. Imagine my surprise at finding it tied down on my arrival in Tracy. I initially hoped it was waiting for a meet but no luck as it was unoccupied. I grabbed a head on shot at the crossing east of town.


Just a few miles down the road, near the sight of the still under-construction Highwater Ethanol plant, I spotted a BNSF shuttle train being loaded at the Lamberton elevator. A pair of trackmobiles were handling the cars, one shuttling loads out to the edge of town while the other spotted empties under the loading chute. Here is the "shuttle" unit:


It was handling about 15 what I assume were loads as they were travelling away from the elevator, and working very hard doing it. Speed was not impressive to say the least.

The power for the shuttle was resting on the east edge of town, and I grabbed a couple of photos of the three unit set.


Obviously I was getting desperate for something to shoot, as this photo demonstrates.


On arrival at Windom I spent a little time trackside in hopes Uncle Pete would run something into the sun for me, but no dice. So I have exhausted my complete ration of Monday and Tuesday shots for your entertainment. Wish I had more to offer, but this is it.

Jim, out.

One Shot Wonder

On the way home from my Iowa trip, I decided to head across Hwy 14 from Owatonna and then north from New Ulm. The objective was to parallel some of the DME and see what was out and about.

As we approached Waseca, I was on the lookout for trains. I have caught trains waiting to enter town from the west in the past, and today was no different. I grabbed a couple of shots in high sun, and this was the most presentable.


You can see that two trains are paused, waiting for authorization to head east. This was the only action I spotted on the way home, with the exception of one train on the Staples Sub that was leaving Randall westbound as we stopped at the C store there for refreshements. I never saw him again, and don't know what is was or where I got by him.

Just wanted to share that blue shot.

Jim, out.

Southwest Minnesota Sightings

Greetings again from the rambling railfan of rural Minnesota. This past week I ventured into little explored (by me) portions of southwest Minnesota in my quest to earn a living, along with taking advantage of some railroad related observations that fate tossed my way.

My adventure began on Tuesday, when I travelled to New Ulm for a meeting. Upon the completion of my work there, my itinerary called for an overnight stay in the area. I selected Springfield as a great spot to overnight, given the proximity of a nice Microtel Inn to the DM&E main. On my way over I passed by the enormous Harvestland elevator complex just east of town, and found a DME GP40 type at rest on the end of a string of covered hoppers. Even through the engine was front-coupled, I pulled over and grabbed a photo since the light was so nice.


An investigation of Springfield on foot later that evening revealed no rail action, and my camera went unused for the balance of the day. I still have hopes of catching a DME train passing through this beautiful small city someday soon.

The following morning, after working in the area until about 11:00, I headed south with a destination near the Iowa border. My route took me through Windom, and I angled off on Highway 60 to get closer to my target. The next rail action I encountered was an engine at the enormous Heron Lake ethanol plant. Even though the sun was high, I pulled over for a photo:


Within moments I heard a horn from the southwest, which I took to mean a UP train would be approaching. I stayed where I was and shot him as he approached the crossing I was at. Again, the light was less than perfect, but I have very few if any Armour Yellow engines in my collection and was not about to pass up an opportunity to add three modern units to my tally.


I then proceeded on to my destination and completed what I had been summoned to do. After a productive afternoon's work I headed to Worthington for the night, but soon found that the recession has not yet sunk into that community as there was no room at the Inn for your humble correspondent. Plan "B" called for overnighting in Windom, which led to another run up Highway 60, paralleling the UP main the entire way. While there were no more mainline trains out and about, I did catch a couple of industrial units along the way. First was this former Conrail SW doing duty far from his former home. He is now assigned to Cargill's Miloma Farm Service Center.



Just up the line I came across the vast Minnesota Soybean Processors complex and discovered a Trackmobile at work spotting covered hoppers for loading.



And that wrapped up the photo ops for the first couple of days of my venture. The photos from the third and final day of the trip will have to wait for another post. Don't forget to keep looking 4 trains!

Jim