Twin Ports Oddities and More

Well, maybe not all "oddities", but in a few cases, certainly, "things I don't see every day". 

I slipped away this afternoon for a short jaunt around Duluth and Superior, intent on finally taking a few train photos. My first stop was Rice's Point, where I found the CP local power gurgling away on the lead to one of the Port Authority tracks. The most unusual unit for me in this day and age was the SOO.

Just turning around, I spotted this thing in the yard. Now we're getting somewhere on the oddity front. Not sure of the heritage of this former caboose, but it's sure not something I see often, or even ever before. 

TEXX is a logistics outfit that arranges transportation for unique cargoes, according to their website. The unique cargo in this case might be the heavy load shown below, which was spotted in CP's Rices Point yard a couple tracks over from the caboose. 

With those shots in the bag, I headed to Superior, and swung by the BNSF facility. That's where I spotted these freshly painted sno-dozers, waiting patiently for mother nature to provide the conditions that will allow them to strut their stuff. I'm waiting too!

 
Then it was on to the yard, where I spotted a couple of BN grain hoppers coupled next to each other. The difference in paint condition was enough to get me to stop. These photos will go a long way toward helping me get the weathering right on some models in the future. It is amazing how almost anything I can imagine can be found on the railroad in one way or another. A great example of life imitating art.

Finally, after getting a text from Mrs. L4T recalling me for more mother in law moving duty, I started back for Duluth. As I crossed the yard on the 21st Ave viaduct, I spotted a train that forced me to make a short detour. It's not everyday that you can see a pair of former bluebonnet GP's handling a coal train. OK, it wasn't actually an entire train, but it was a goodly sized cut of coal gons, and while the power was another example of why the Twin Ports might be the world's EMD capital, this specific power set-a GP50 leading a GP40X-is anything but common. It was enough for me to call it an oddity, and a day. 

And Now for Something Different

A steady diet of orange GE's has me on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary, and Thursday evening Mrs. L4T and myself found just such a thing.


This ex-Santa Fe Geep is a rare GP40X carbody. When I pulled up to the train in Staples, I thought I had found an SD45 running around, but the length and the trucks soon gave it away. It was the third unit on this train, behind a Dash 9 and another EMD geep (this one cascade green) of some vintage. I'm not that accomplished at telling them apart.

According to this site, only 23 of these were ever built, with Santa Fe having the largest fleet of 10. It was a precursor to the GP50.

A nice change from the steady procession of orange GE's that now dominate the Staples Sub. I've got a few of those shots to post but I decided this one deserved it's own post, since it is kind of a loner in the BNSF fleet. Traffic was slow Thursday evening due to a rock train working in the Lincoln area. After he cleared up, a fleet of eastbounds was all the traffic in the area.

When you look for trains, you never know what you might find.

Jim