Nosing Around in the Fog

A  clearing forecast and decent temps combined with the offer of a guide seemed to create the conditions for a dream railfanning outing this morning, so I took advantage of the situation and was out the door before 7:30 AM. After a short stop at to say hi to Dan's wiener dogs, it was back on the road in foggy conditions, just right to catch a train looming out of the gloom. I was driving but taking directions from the fearless leader, and he guided us to a meeting with four EMD's right off the bat, including a blue and yellow visitor to the ports.

 



With CP accounted for, it was off to Black Bear where a fantastic trestle was shrouded in fog when we arrived. The twenty minute or so wait for the train allowed all the fog to clear out, yielding the finest-lit shot of the day as CN "land barge" struggled by with two big units up front and a couple more mid-train. Six hundred and sixty some axles, with lots of loads, had these engines groaning as they worked the train out of the basin.  

 



The upside was that slower progress made for an easier chase. We were able to beat the train to this secret location even when it involved a short run that left my legs rubbery. The photo may not be much but the sight and sound of the train cutting through the fog was pretty cool. I've never thought about how hard trains have to work heading out of Superior toward Wisconsin, but apparently hills ring the Twin Ports.  

 



 By this time, I had worked up a healthy appetite and the Escape was thirsty as well, so we headed back to Superior to fill everyone's tanks. After stops at Holiday and McD's (and a few well-chosen words about the lateness of this year's McRib), it was back on the road, to check out what my old friend the BNSF was up to. 28th Street Yard was strangely unoccupied when we drove up, with only a couple of units present, but the railroad fixed that in a minute when a couple more GP's backed a cut of cars into the yard. The fog was back in force as I shot the action. I do find something uniquely compelling about these foggy day shots.

 

 Of course no railfanning outing in Superior is complete until you at least do a roll-by inspection of the engine servicing facility. Today, we were lucky enough to catch a crowd of EMD's, of various vintages, paint schemes, and wheel arrangements, being prepped and fueled for service. I couldn't resist.

 

Finally, a swing around the yard and down past the elevators produced nothing new. However, I did get a valuable tip about a photo location for boats loading grain at CHS. Today it was the "American Mariner" filling up. Even got a tiny bit of fall color in the corner of the shot.

And with that, our three-hour tour had ended. Not stranded on a deserted island, either, but just minutes from home and already dreaming of the next chance I have to get out and look for trains around the Twin Ports. Thanks, Dan, for the tour and all the info you shared. It's appreciated.

Odds and Ends

A frenzy of running around has seriously limited railfanning recently, but I've managed to pick up a few shots during my travels. This past week I was in Fairfax and Hawley, and saw a train on each trip.

Tuesday in Fairfax, the TCW had a CAT powered GP unit hard at work most of the day. The elevator must have been loading corn, and the locomotive was shuttling cars around town from morning to early afternoon. This was shot pretty early in the morning:


The grain car fleet on the MPLI and TCW is a dukes mix-former cars of many types, most of them just patched into their new owner. I had to shoot the one just outside my workplace for the day as the early morning sun illuminated it. Mother Nature is the most accomplished weathering artist I've ever seen!


The Fairfax depot has been restored, and is protected by a semaphore that has recently had its blade repaired. I was wandering the town early that morning as the sun hit the lenses in the signal, and it seemed like a worthy candidate for a photo.


Wednesday morning dawned cloudy, and dashed hopes of a glorious morning shot on the way to Hawley. The further I went the heavier the overcast, and by the time I reached DL the fog was settled in. I encountered a train near Audubon, and had to try a shot in the fog.


And that's the entire take from almost 500 miles of travel over a bit more than 2 days. But fear not, there is always the chance of another train just around the corner. Never stop looking for trains.

London Staples Fog

Over the past couple of years, I've had the opportunity to get together with Ian Holmes for Staples-based railfan outings. Ian already mentioned on the OMR mailing list that the morning dawned a bit foggy. I'll second that.

But I've encountered the fog a number of times while chasing trains in the area, and I was quite confident that the skies would be clearing shortly, with the chance that we might get some great shots of a BNSF eastbound breaking out of a fog bank into sparkling sun. I told Ian as much, predicting that we would see blue skies "any time now". All morning long I predicted that, and guess what? All morning long I was shooting photos like this one.


That train was galloping through the gloom between New York Mills and Bluffton sometime around mid-morning. Even if the skies weren't cooperating, the railroad was, as we encountered a number of eastbound trains that would have been nicely lit had the skies only cleared.

Here's another example of what we were dealing with. This time, we see a coal train approaching the Bluffton curve behind mixed power. I lik the way the tree shows up in this shot.


Actually, we did manage to break out of the fog for a while. With a plan of heading west until we found a train worth chasing, clearer skies finally revealed themselves just west of Perham, where we caught this manifest train behind a motley group of power.


Ian and I agreed that the train above wasn't really worth a chase, and the dispatcher had issued a couple of more warrants, so we knew there were more eastbounds about. Next up was a coal train, this one behind an ACe. We met him at Frazee, and I was mere seconds too late to get to the sunny side of the train.

Anyway, the power on this train led us to conclude that this, indeed, was the eastbound we would chase. The sky was doing funny things as we paced the train toward Wadena. Cloud and fog banks were coming and going, one minute it was in sun, the next you could hardly see it. Strange. We rolled the dice and set up on the Highway 10 overpass, crossing our fingers for some light, and I managed to get this as the train approached. It seemed like the train passed in and out of the sun at least three times as it approached us.


Of course, the trusty Escape was making much better time than the loaded coal train, which happened to be bound for the Columbia station on the Mississippi and so was staying on the Staples Sub. With most of the fog burned off, it seemed like a good time to shoot the power on a number of trains in the Staples yard as we passed through town. Here's the result of that effort.


Lots of coal power in the yard on this Saturday morning.

A fabulous plan of shooting a fleet of eastbounds in the Philbrook and Quicken Road area promptly fell apart as the dispatcher decided to turn Main 2 into a parking lot and run some westbounds. The good part of this was that it gave me a chance to drop Ian in Staples and allow him to get back out there for the delayed trains, while I needed to head for home due to prior family commitments. Ian got the shot I've been anticipating for quite a while. Looks like just as good a spot as I had been hoping for.

It was a great railfanning outing. It's always fun to spend time with Ian. He knows his fog, what with being from Great Britian and all. His comparison of what we saw Saturday with what they see on the island nation drove home what "London Fog" must actually be like. Thanks for the company, Ian. It was great fun as usual and I'm looking forward to doing it again.

Mixing Business and Pleasure

Thursday afternoon required a work-related trip to Hawley. It was a pleasant prospect, since the sun was out and I knew at least a few trains were about.

I first spotted an eastbound as I was passing Acorn Lake, and did a u-turn to catch him east of Frazee. Imagine my surprise when a westbound behind a pair of warbonnets showed up just as the eastbound approached. This is as close as I came to a meet:


I shot him a couple more times as he approached me.


The weather was just about perfect, crystal clear skies and warm enough to stand trackside without a jacket while the train neared. Since I now had a target to shoot further west, I raced off with Mrs. L4T, who had decided to ride along and keep me company. Next stop was the big tree west of Audubon. This one was shot at 3:18 PM.


A thin line of overcast that had appeared on the western horizon soon had us socked in. In a matter of, literally, minutes, you couldn't see the sun. My next effort would be at the wooden bridge southwest of Hawley. Here we are, 24 minutes later and probably a dozen miles further west. The change in weather was simply stunning.


Believe it or not, it is the same train, and no, it wasn't delayed. That's just how dramatic the weather change was.

On the way home after my meeting, we again broke into clear skies near Audubon. After a stop at Perkins in DL for supper, the trip back to Wadena was uneventful. Mrs. L4T did remind me that soon the time change will make it practical to do some train chasing in the evenings. Something to look forward to as we make our way through the long part of the winter.

Jim

Frosty Friday Morning

Early Frida morning found me bound for Hawley in the fog. Although the forecast called for clearing skies, the same system that moved the clouds out allowed it to get cold enough for the moisture in the air to condense. Thus, the fog. And along with the fog came hoarfrost.

As I approached the Highway 10 overpass between New York Mills and Perham, a headlight was peering out of the gloom to the west. After quickly pulling over and a mad dash back to the bridge, I was able to shoot a manifest train as it approached.


I had been hoping to meet him bit further west, but no such luck.

I missed another eastbound in very nice morning light as I passed through Detroit Lakes. The skies were nicely cleared up but I was stuck on Highway 10 as a long stack train sailed under the Highway 34 overpass. I figured there was no chance to catch him without a lengthy chase, which I didn't have time for.

A stop at Menards for new sunglasses allowed a westbound time to catch up with me. He was passing by as I came out of the store, so off to the races it was. I managed to reel this train in just as he neared Boyer Lake. It was still fairly frosty at this point.


Decided to wait for him in Hawley, and a short wait it was. I spotted a road that heads south just east of the tracks and set up near the flange greaser south of the overpass for this. As you can see, the skies were in "code blue" condition by this time.


I headed for home after lunch, and once again encountered a train in DL. This time, a chase was feasible, and the chosen intercept site was Frazee. Sitting at the S-curve, I was surprised when a westbound crept up on me. It was backlit, but I shot the unusual power anyway.


The tail of that train and the head end power of the westbound were both visible momentarily as I waited for the shot below. While foreign power is far from rare on the Staples Sub, it's a bit out of the ordinary to catch two consecutive trains with no BNSF units in the consist. The CN and CSX units in the train above were complemented by a matched pair of NS GE's on this train.


I met one more Z train entering New York Mills, but with the track angling to the north he would have been in poor light by the time I caught him so continued the drive home. That was all the trains for today, but it was a good day. Trains, sunshine, and some frost make for a pleasant drive along the Staples Sub.

Fighting the Fog on the Staples Sub

Saturday morning dawned foggy, but the computer promised that upper levels were finally clear of clouds! Your correspondent was out the door before 8:00 AM, confident that the sun would soon have the fog burned away, even afraid that it would happen before there was a chance to shoot a train making its way through the gloom. Obviously, that was an unfounded fear. The image above gives an idea of what the atmosphere was like at the CR75 crossing on the west side of Wadena this morning.


This second image is evidence that the fog was in charge even on the far side of Verndale. I was chasing this manifest train, and at the time I shot this photo fully expected to find another spot to take a shot of him emerging from the fog.

As I passed through Aldrich, the fog began to lift. In fact, by the time the train reached the CR 9 crossing, it was lit by a strange glowing sensation. Oh that's right, it's the sun.


The second photo and third photo were taken 6 minutes, and about 5 miles, apart. What once was fog had become clarity.

Continuing on to Staples, I found a pair of loaded coal trains laying over in the yard. As the sun has now gone around to the south in the morning, I grabbed a shot of them from the far side of the yard. Too bad the ACes couldn't have been leading.


ATCS revealed another eastbound, which passed the Staples detector just as I got back in the Escape. The first shot was right down the yard lead from the 7th St crossing.


Next shot, as the train passes the Staples depot. The new roof is on, and work on the soffit and fascia is also progressing. It seems the depot has received a new lease on life.

One other thing I noticed while waiting for this shot-Staples apparently is now whistle-free, as none of the trains passing through this morning blew for the crossing, and there are signs in place warning motorists "No Train Horn".


Time to head back to Wadena. The highway was free of fog as far as Aldrich, where it was still socked in. The fog continued all the way to Wadena, where I stopped at the depot to grab this shot of an eastbound Z train:


Hard to believe it can be clear blue skies in Staples while Wadena is still socked in, but that's the way it was. Even now, at 1:00 PM, skies in Wadena still have not cleared. Oh, well, at least I got to see a little sun this morning.

See you along the tracks.

Jim