Today's Coalies

A trip to Lake Park and back offered the opportunity to catch some Staples Sub traffic today and the BNSF held up their end of the bargain. Catching three trains, all coal loads, was a great bonus to an enjoyable day of work.

I left Wadena a bit before 8, and didn't make it to New York Mills before coming across this train. A u-turn and short trip back towards home resulted in this shot, taken in one of my favorite close-to-home railfanning locations. Long time readers probably have figured out my weakness for train photos with a farm silo in them, and this one doubles the pleasure.


The next train, my last of the morning, was captured near Boyer Lake. This one ground its way out of the woods, the uphill climb out of the Red River valley almost complete.


And finally, the lone train I shot on the way home. The shorter days and sun angles make the Frazee S curves useful in mid afternoon this time of year for eastbounds. Here's a shot of an eastbound, with good nose light, around 2:00 PM or later. The engineer of this train was a friendly sort, quick with a wave and a toot on the horn for the railfan out taking pictures. Thanks!


And that's it for my day!

Railfan Bingo

"Under the F, 59. Five Nine. F59."

Bingo, I said on Saturday afternoon as a very late Empire Builder swept into view at the Frazee S-curve. A tip from an OMR poster Kinsly Tarmann the previous evening that this train was running late and had one of the Cascade EMD's in the lead was all the motivation I needed to once again pry myself out of the basement and get trackside.

And so Mrs. L4T and I found ourselves westbound just after lunch. What had once been a 6 hour late train was now fighting a delay nearing 10 hours, and the sun was inching its way around to the south in an attempt to spoil the possibility of a well lit shot.

But I've been railfanning the Staples Sub for a few years now, and there are a couple of tricks that can help defeat the afternoon winter sun. The most effective one is to post yourself at the south end of the Frazee S-curve, which to my knowledge is the spot where the tracks most closely approach a north-south alignment. So it came to be that I was looking almost due north when the shutter was released for this shot:


The train continued on, with me snapping away as it passed, capturing the sight of this fantastic EMD product as it led the Superliners toward Chicago. Having been an EMD fan since I was able to start to tell the difference between locomotives, it was thrilling to see this engine in charge of Amtrak's signature long distance train.


How great it would be to see a solid set of F59's as the power for the Builder. Who knows, maybe that will happen someday. Stranger things have transpired. But whether that dream becomes reality or not, I've got these photos, and my memories of, the day the Empire Builder glided through the Minnesota Prairies behind an Amtrak EMD leader.

Flashback Post #2-September 4, 2006

(Note: Having lacked the time to get out trackside for the past few days, I thought I would feed the "need to blog" by digging back into the archives from before look4trains.com existed. The following describes an exciting early railfanning experience, and features one of my personal favorite photos.)

The Labor Day holiday in 2006 found me with a free afternoon for railfanning. I was new to the hobby at the time, and still remember the excitement of setting out on a trip with a mission. That day, the mission was to capture some action along the west end of the Staples Sub.

Seems I can also remember the faint flicker of uncertainty that coursed through my body when I came upon a westbound stack train parked just east of the Highway 10 overpass. The train was sitting on Main 1, and after shooting him from the Hagerman Road crossing, my westward journey continued.


I kept as close an eye as I could on the tracks while passing Perham on Highway 10. The complete absence of moving trains only served to reinforce the uncertainty I had noticed earlier. Still, the logical course was to press on, and so I did.

Being familiar with the "lay of the land" from frequent trips between Wadena and Detroit Lakes, I spied an unusual level of activity along Highway 10 from quite a distance. "What", I wondered, "could be going on along the BNSF Right of Way on a Labor Day Monday?"

That questions was quickly answered by the sizable BNSF work crew that was toiling at replacing what used to be a bridge over the Ottertail River between Perham and Frazee. At least a couple of years earlier, before my move to Wadena, the railroad had installed three large box culverts to carry the river flow under the tracks, and dumped hundreds of yards of fill on the culverts in a first step to eliminate a steel bridge. After letting the fill settle for a couple of freeze/thaw cycles, it seems that Labor Day was chosen to complete the replacement. A major work blitz had already removed the steel bridge, dumped fill to bring the area up to grade, laid two new tracks across the area, lined, ballasted, and tamped the tracks, and was now in the process of checking things out to allow traffic to cross the newly filled area. I stopped and spent some time watching a large crew work feverishly to get the busy Staples Sub back into service.


The photo above captures more than half of the equipment and manpower that was present.


This picture brings back fond memories. The silver Ranger pickup on the shoulder was my trusty railfan ride for many miles, going back to my days in Ranier. It would continue to serve a couple of more years after this photo was shot, eventually succumbing to age, rust, and the need for more reliable wheels that arose with a job change. But on this day, the railfan and the Ranger worked as one, capturing photos far and wide.


One final photo of the scene was evidence that a BNSF hi-rail truck is able to handle 5 loaded ballast cars. There were ballast cars for each track present, the set shown here behind the hi-rail and the set for the other main powered by a rail crane. No locomotives were involved in the reconstruction of this river crossing.

Of course, even after the work was done, the tracks needed to be clear before trains could start moving. If memory serves, for Main 1 that meant the hi-rail and its train needed to retreat to Perham and take a siding. This half hour or so journey seemed to take forever. Soon enough, though, they were clear, and the backlog of trains was ready to roll.

For some reason, I decided to shoot the first westbound across the new fill. The train crossed at a restricted speed of 10 mph under the watchful eye of BNSF personnel. Once it was completely across, it slowly began to pick up speed. I can't remember how quickly it was moving as I shot the photo below. I do know that at the time, I didn't even notice that the second westbound was right behind it, and the headlight it visible in this shot.


That's always been one of my favorite photos. It has a combination of things going for it-reminding me of the day I stumbled across the Ottertail River bridge work, catching two westbounds in a single frame, and simply being a quality photo. I still think it's one of the sharper photos I've had a chance to shoot, even now, some 17,000 exposures later.

With trains lined up, I quickly moved a bit further west to grab another set of Dash 9's crossing the bridge on the east side of Frazee.


And I wasn't done yet. I managed to get a couple of eastbounds at the Frazee curve, and then, on my way home, another headlight popped up in the distance. Pulling off at the nearest crossing, an execu-MAC with a morphodite number board led coal empties west. At the last minute I spotted a rising moon and tried to catch that in the shot as well.


And that brought a great day of railfanning to an end. What had started out with such trepidation turned into a memorable experience, one that I'm glad to be able to share with you after all these years.

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.

Friday the 13th Part II-Delay of the Empire Builder

Yesterday I talked about looking forward to midnight and the end of Friday the 13th for a change in my luck. And while my luck seems to have taken a turn for the better, there is a group of Amtrak passengers and employees who no doubt have yet to see a change.

I learned this morning that today's #8, the eastbound Builder, was looking at a significant delay. With sunny skies, I had already floated the idea of a railfan outing with Mrs. L4T, having proposed a trip to Detroit Lakes to catch BNSF traffic as it passed through and with luck hook up with a CP eastbound and chase him through hill and dale south of DL. The reaction was positive and such an outing was pencilled in on the L4T activity calendar. The news about the late Amtrak called for a slight change in plans. Given what we knew, it looked like we would be able to catch him in nice light at the Lake Park S-curve, so off we went.

Traffic was light on the trip over, with the scanner quiet and only one train spotted, an eastbound near Audubon that I chose to pass up so I wouldn't miss the Builder. BNSF 7545 got a warrant at Hawley and I suspected it might be the Builder, but alas, it was not to be. Instead this turned out to be a huge manifest train (530 axles) with 5 mismatched units up front. The leader was an ES44DC, followed by an SD75M warbonnet, some kind of cascade green GP, a 6000 series ES44AC, and a blue leaser geep. I was ready and waiting for him at Lake Park.


And I never even noticed this oversize or heavy load right behind the power until I got home and took a look at the photos.


At this point everything was quiet on the western front. A decision was made to head for Hawley, for some reason, and just as we arrived there I heard a westbound clear up a warrant from Wadena to Richards Spur. I headed to the curve coming into town, where I shot this warbonnet in so-so light.


With a hope of finding a better angle given the position of the sun, I investigated the other side of the tracks. It affords a magnificent view of the elevator, and should permit working a train into the shot as well. BNSF delivered with a second westbound, this one a coal empty with a GE leading. I'm predominately a tele shooter but I broke out the kit lens at 28mm for this shot.


I've no idea what train this was or where it was coming from. These cars are unfamiliar to me, and there were a bunch of old steel BN and Santa Fe hoppers mixed into the train as well. This hopper car was built 01/08, so someone somewhere is still buying steel bottom dumps.


Just before 2:00 I heard something that sounded like Amtrak clearing a warrant. I figured they would be along shortly and headed back to Lake Park with the hope of good light. And good light it was, at that time. I spotted another photographer on the bridge in Lake Park, and stopped to consult. Turns out it was a couple who were supposed to be on the train but had given up due to the lateness, which would have caused missed connections. They decided instead to take advantage of the rare daylight passage through the area. They had news relating to the cause of the delay, involving stopping to set off drunks, hitting a car west of Minot, and waiting for a St. Cloud to crew to be cabbed to Hillsboro after another crew died on hours. Indeed, it was a Friday the 13th sequel. After learning the train had yet to leave Fargo, they opted to head to Manitoba Junction for photo ops.

A radio conversation between SWA and the crew of the Amtrak confirmed that they were indeed being led by a pumpkin C44, due to a grade crossing accident west of Minot. Shortly after that I heard the train signal its approach at the crossings west of Lake Park. I shot him as he approached:


A couple of times in the curves,



and once more after a mad dash to Frazee which luckily involved hitting a grand total of ZERO red lights in Detroit Lakes. See, I told you my luck would change.


Then we chased him all the way to Wadena, starting about a mile behind him leaving Frazee and just catching the power as we arrived at Wadena, thanks to a slow order near New York Mills. Even with a pumpkin up front he was stepping along nicely.

After that, back home and taking a look at the photos. Hope you enjoy them, and take the chances you are given to look for trains.

Jim

First Shots with the New K200D

Saturday January 10 was my first chance to get out and put the new camera through its paces. Mrs. L4T and myself decided to drive west in hopes that the sun would hold out long enought to take in the sights in the Lake Park area.

It wasn't long before an eastbound offed the chance for a wedgie near New York Mills. This Z train was behind a nice looking GEVO, not a bad unit for the first railfan trip photo with the new camera.


I knew there was another eastbound coming, most likely a coal train, given the radio chatter with a 5600 series. I intercepted this train just west of Perham, another plain old wedgie shot.


Next stop was Frazee, and I soon heard the detector at MP 203 announce the impending arrival of a train on Main 2. Probably another coal train, given the axle count. Sure enough, here he comes behind a pair of MAC's. I wanted to emphasize the s-curve and get the water tower involved, and I guess I succeeded, at the cost of snow in my boots and up my pant legs at least to knee height. It's getting deep over that way.


Finally, another coal train, this time powered by two ACe's, running elephant style. I decided to try and stay out of the deepest snow this time, resulting in different angle of shot.


Clouds put an end to the trip at this point. The overcast day caused us to decide to head home and save the "big trip" for a sunnier afternoon.

I was fairly happy with these images, although I noticed later that I had shot them at ISO 800 which did nothing to help the image quality. So many things are different with this new camera, and will take a little getting used.

I'm looking forward to learning about the capabilities of this new camera and hopefully learning how to take advantage of them.

Keep on looking,

Jim

Western Adventure

On Sunday, August 24, having missed out on a run to Staples for the weekend, and inspired by a post to the OMR list, I got the bug to head over to the western end of the Staples Sub for some photo ops. The sun was out and it was a beautiful day, so Mrs. L4T who is always up for a drive, said "why not?".

So it came to pass that around 3 PM we loaded up and headed west with a destination of somewhere around Lake Park sometime today. The sun was still pretty high in the sky and quite a ways south so I decided I would stake out the Frazee area for a little while as the s-curve gives you decent afternoon light for eastbounds. We waited for a train with no luck, and after about 45 minutes I decided to head to Detroit Lakes to get gas, since I had heard it was the cheapest location in the state at the time.

While we were gassing up at Holiday, an eastbound coal train cruised through DL with a 1x1 DPU consist. I knew I could beat him back to Frazee so we headed back to the s-curve. As I turned off Highway 10 I spotted an empty headed my way as well, and really moving. I wasn't able to get ahead of him for a shot. I did set up for the loads and got BNSF 9999 leading the train. The engineer gave a friendly toot on the horn as he passed.



I knew the DPU was pointed to the rear and quickly ran down to where the track curves toward the east so I could shoot him going away. The sun angle wasn't the greatest, but this was the first time I have seen an ES44DC used in coal service, especially as a DPU. They aren't unknown on grain trains, leading or DPU, but the coal trains are pretty much all GE AC units or some type of EMD. Obviously there is no rule that can't be broken. After all, BNSF has ACe's leading manifest trains as well.


Having captured that train, hunger pangs were starting so Mrs. L4T and I stopped at the Burger Time in DL and grabbed supper, eating as we continued west. I heard the dispatcher give a warrant to an eastbound and tell him there were two Z's headed west so I knew there would be some traffic into the sun this evening.

I set up first at the old wooden bridge just west of the Highway 32 overpass near Hawley. I'm new to this area so was just experimenting. Shortly after I arrived I saw a headlight to the west. Turned out to be another coal load, and he was working hard dragging the coal up the hill. This train had two units up front and one at the rear.



Quite a change from the trains that fly through Wadena at track speed. Here you could really feel the power that is needed to lift heavy trains up the grade.

Mrs. L4T encouraged me to work the curve under the Hwy 32 bridge into a photo. Soon the first Z train of the evening showed up.


With that I was off to Mt Muller, my destination for the evening. I knew another Z was on the way, and I heard him hit the detector at MP221. I had no idea how close I was cutting this, though, until I parked and started climbing the hill with a pop in one hand and lawn chair in the other. I heard a curious roar and suspected a train. Dropping my cargo, I sprint-waddled up the hill as I unlimbered the camera, only to be greeted with this:


I felt like the Navy SEAL who has to take a shot after a 3 mile dead run. I literally had less than 5 seconds to zoom, compose, and release the shutter. I was pretty happy with how it came out.

After taking a minute to gather myself and find my cargo, I took a seat at the top of the world and waited. The scanner was in the car, with the antenna, and soon my cell phone rang. Mrs. L4T reported that "someone was talking on the radio about Wadena and Richards Spur and stuff". When I asked if they mentioned Main 1 or 2 she responded that if I wanted that much detail maybe I should come down and listen myself. She did offer that she had hear Glyndon mentioned as well so I surmised an eastbound was getting a warrant. Sure enough, about 20 minutes later I heard a horn drifting across the landscape from the west. I got a shot of the power as it rounded the curve heading toward Lake Park. You need to click on this one to see the power.


As I watched the train recede into the distance, another headlite popped up right beside it. Another westbound! This one was a merchandise train with two Dash 9's up front, the lead one in H1 paint.


It was getting time to head for home, so we packed up and pointed the Escape east. I spotted a CP northbound as we entered DL and got permission for one more chase. After an interminable wait at the Hwy 10/Hwy 59 light, I scooted north and caught up to the slow moving freight just a few miles north of town. I tried to catch him at the slough where MN Chris once took a great reflection shot (can't find a link to it now), but the light was poor, so I settled for this instead. The CP train had a single GE for power.


All in all, a fun and rewarding afternoon and evening with a cooperative partner. The weather and scenery could not have been better. Thanks for listening to this long-winded story, and be sure to keep looking for trains.

Jim, out.