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.

Going and Coming

The Spud River Model Railroad Show and Swapmeet happened to fall on a lovely October Sunday (excepting the wind) this year. The combination of train traffic and sunny skies allowed a few of the attendees the opportunity to do some railfanning as part of the adventure, myself included. For a couple of reasons my theme turned out to be "Going and Coming", first of all, I guess, because you have to go somewhere before you can come home.

Another cause of the them was this first set of images. Traffic was light on the Staples Sub most of the way over, but just west of the first Frazee exit I glanced across Acorn Lake and spotted a most unusual sight-a pair of GP's, running west light engine. Seemed a worthy photography target.

After being foiled in Detroit Lakes by an evil brew of traffic and traffic lights, I wasn't able to get a respectable shot of the combo "going away" until the other side of Audubon. Here you go:


I was contemplating the chances of getting some nose light on the leader when the combination of sun angle and tracks through Hawley came together to allow this:


It's not everyday when you can get decent nose light on both ends of the power set in 15 minutes. Kind of a treat.

No other photos until we were coming home, when a check at Watts revealed no westbounds. But, before reaching Glyndon a vehicle train drifting down the hill called for a course reversal. Was it worth a u-turn?


That was it for photo opportunites for me, although I know that MN Chris and Darren were able to get a few more interesting sights. I'll be watching for their trip report as well. I'm also interested to see what a third list member got of a "unit" tank train we spotted heading east just before arriving at Fargo. You know who you are.

All for now.

Winter Railfanning Blues

I just realized that the only current prototype photos I have posted in well over a month were of the F59-led Builder on February 26. My bad. While I have been spending lots of time working on models, I still manage to get out of the house occasionaly, and once in a while have a chance to shoot some train pictures.

Most of the pictures are under heavy overcast, so that's one reason it's been hard to get motivated to go out and stand in the cold. But one thing that overcomes even the clouds is the opportunity to spend time with other fans. On February 5th, news of a late #7 got the boys out in force. Mrs. L4T and I decided to head on over Hawley way and check in with them. Luckily we were there for the passage of the Amtrak train, including a very unusual unit third out.


There's a good chance that the train was covered with frozen foam when it stopped in Fargo.


A short wait yielded one more westbound, this time coal empties led by MAC's. This is a great place to railfan.


And with those two trains in the bag, Mrs. L4T and I headed for home. We were able to catch one more coal empty as it approached the Highway 10 overpass between Perham and New York Mills. This time a GE was doing the honors.


February 22, I had to make a trip to Staples, and was pleased to find this consist sitting at the west end of the Staples yard. Once again, the lighting was crappy, but how could you resist a set like this?


And finally, the next day I passed an eastbound just outside St. Cloud and decided to shoot him at the MP 66 crossover. A manifest train with a couple of EMD's in the consist, this was was tossing the snow along the right of way into the air.


There you have it. Not a lot to choose from, but I needed to get some of these posted just to maintain any railfanning cred. Hopefully I'll get a few better shots next week when I head to the land of blue and yellow.

3 Pairs

As we've suffered some might poor railfanning weather in the past 10 days or so, posting here at look4trains has been non-existent. The combination of clouds and work have left me with a desire to shoot some train photos so this afternoon Mrs. L4T and I checked out the ATCS, put fresh batteries in the scanner, and taking into account the late autumn sun angle, pointed the vehicle west.

With not a lot of traffic showing up on the computer I fell back on my normal plan-drive until you find a train, then decide what to do. We met an eastbound just past New York Mills, but the combination of an unnatractive consist and poor lighting led me to pass it up. Crossing fingers, we continue west. And the other side of Perham, I heard the dispatcher give a warrant to BNSF 8943 East. Maybe a coal train, and I can shoot him somewhere near Frazee where there may be at least a little nose light. First up: Acorn Lake, and a matched set of Halloween painted MAC's.


I've always wanted to shoot a train here when the water is dead calm. That would probably involve me getting up real early in the morning, and a train being there at the right time, but someday these things will come together.

As soon as he passed, we raced back east to try and beat him to the S curve. It was a losing race, by about 60 seconds. I stopped to shoot him just a bit east of the curve, shown here:


Since the track is still real close to north/south here, for a few miles, it seemed worth trying one more shot at the curve between Frazee and Perham. I beat the train this time, by 30 seconds or so.


Since we were already so far west, it seemed only right to sniff around Detroit Lakes for a bit. We may have just missed a CP train, as both signals near the Holiday Inn were yellow as we drove into town, then dropped to black as we passed them. A train at the diamond was the only explanation I was able to come up with, since there were no other BNSF trains nearby at this time.

After a stop at Menards to pick up some winter gloves and a drill bit for use on the model layout, we were greeted as we left the store by a coal empty passing through town. The DPU was a exec painted MAC, but I didn't get a look at the head end and learned there was an ACe up front only after he cleared his warrant. By this time I was hot on the trail of the train, with a goal of intercepting him in Hawley. I debated on the wooden bridge shot, but decided to get him entering town instead. Here's the first attempt:


And again as he passes, this time showing the matched power on the head end of this train.


On the way to Hawley we met a V-train, behind a pair of Dash 9's but those two were not matching-one each of the H1 and H2 paint schemes. But the matched units weren't done for the day. When I turned around in Hawley, there sat a rail train (stretched all the way across the highway bridge, which carries a siding as well as the two main tracks) behind a couple of green giants. The leader was a triclops, so even though the light was awful, I had to shoot this train since it fit into the theme that had developed. My third pair of the day:


With that in the bag, and light starting to fade, a stop at the Hawley DQ rounded out the trip west. By the time supper was finished, the light was pretty much gone. I did spot one more train on the way home: the Z train that Todd shot earlier in the day, this one sporting three matched Dash 9's on the point. A three of a kind seemed like a fitting end to the day of pairs.

Jim

The Coal Trail-Part 2

Yesterday I promised a surprise in my report of the second day's journey along the route coal from the PRB takes as it journeys to the Staples Sub. I'll no longer keep you in suspense-here it is:


A side trip through Bismarck, where Mrs. L4T and I first set up housekeeping oh so many years ago, yielded the chance to shoot this former CN wide cab GP40, now hard at work in its second career with the DMVW. While I'd seen reports of these engines back at work in North Dakota, I never expected to see one on a rainy Thursday. It was such a surprise I stepped out into that rain for the shot.

And then, seeing a street sign that read "Soo Line Drive", I made a right turn on the off chance it might involve something railroady. After one left hand curve I was face to face with this sight:


Two pleasing discoveries in one day!

Meanwhile, back on the interstate, the miles melted away as we travelled east. An occasional train on the BNSF entertained, but offered no photo opportunities as they seemed to know just when to appear-usually 1/2 a mile or so after we passed an exit, with no chance to get off I-94 within the next 10 miles, and no knowledge of how to access the track even if we did leave the interstate. Combined with overcast, rainy, hazy conditions, there was little incentive remaining to try and track down one of these trains.

I was frustrated once when we were west of Jamestown, as I spotted an empty coal train crossing the causeways that span the prairie potholes in the area. Seemed like a great and scenic photo location, I told Mrs. L4T, and someone should be taking advantage of it. Turns out, someone was, and only a couple of days earlier, when the sun was out. Nice job, Mike. Once again you have made me jealous!

Before we knew it, we were back in Minnesota. I stopped at the hobby shop in Moorhead, and had to give MN Chris a call to check out how good a deal a certain HO engine was. As we talked a manifest freight passed heading east, and once more my railfan juices were flowing. After retrieving Mrs. L4T from the Moorhead Target, we swung by Dilworth yard in time to see loaded coal train leave with two Exec painted MAC's leading and another pushing. I figured he wouldn't make much time going up the hill, so we visited Watts, where I shot a westbound manifest waiting to enter the yard.


Next up was the coal train. It was still raining on and off, so the best spot to shoot him seemed to be the Highway 32 overpass near Hawley. We made it with about 10 minutes to spare, and when I got out of the car to assess the situation, I heard a westbound blowing as well. The wait seemed to indicate they would meet close to my location. The coal train won the race to the bridge.


It was a close race, though, with the meet occurring just east of the bridge. Turned out to be an all-energy theme, with coal loads going up the hill and crude oil empties drifting downhill.


Most crude trains I have seen have a DPU, so I waited and this one was no different. A final shot as the DPU trails the train into Hawley:


Seems that while this route is still primarily a "coal trail", it's also become something of an "energy trail" as well, with the regular crude oil trains now running these tracks.

We met one final coal empty as we pulled into Wadena, which seemed appropriate given our theme for the previous two days.

That's the story of our journey along the tracks that are travelled by coal trains as they reach this corner of the world. Hope you've enjoyed it.

Jim

4 Way Meet

Got a bunch of photos this afternoon, but wanted to share one now. The rest will trickle out over time.

Mrs. L4T and I wound up in Hawley and in the midst of a 4 train meet. I can't think of another time I have had the chance to get 4 trains in one frame on the Staples Sub, other than in the Staples yard.


I know it's hard to see the fourth train-a westbound coal empty parked behind the stack train led by a pair of NS GE's. Really, all you can see in this shot is the headlight. Still, it was kind of cool. It also created some interesting operations that I will detail in another post later.

Jim

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

Brrr....

According to weather reports from the Wadena Airport, Wadena's low temp yesterday morning was -35 degrees Fahrenheit. What better way to celebrate than a railfanning trip?

Of course, a running vehicle is a prerequisite to "trip", and on this morning such a luxury was not to be taken for granted. As a matter of fact, for the first time ever, the Escape needed a jump. And after that effort, nothing would interfere with our mission to meet up with a bunch of railfans from the south somewhere near Lake Park.

Pointing our ride west, we paralleled the Staples Sub on Highway 10. Eastbound trains resulted in quick photography stops at the overpass between New York Mills and Perham, and between Perham and Frazee. The second stop resulted in this photo, along with some video I need to get processed someday.


And then we were off again, in a race with a third eastbound that was just leaving Dilworth. We arrived at the Lake Park S curve with minutes to spare, finding the Black Silverado already on location. After a brief visit, the eastbound train was spotted and people piled out of every door to populate the right-of-way. This shot of the train also includes two of the on location fans. This train also started the habit of greeting those who were out braving the cold with a blast of the horn.


Another shot, this time just the train. Dash 9's numbers 7 and 8 for me on the day.


The knowledge of an imminent westbound motivated Mrs. L4T and I to head directly to Hawley. As we entered town, a stopped cut of cars on the overpass made me wonder what was going on. After a brief investigation, I learned that there are in fact three tracks on that overpass. The siding serving the elevator in Hawley runs south across the highway. Who knew? Not me.

By the time that mission was finished, we had been overtaken by the railfanning combo of Jeremiah, Bryant, and Mike V. Setting up shop near the curve where the tracks enter Hawley, we spread out. Mike V. was deployed as an advance scout, and as the other three of us visited while we waited for the oncoming train, I was able to convince his partners not to leave him to freeze in the cold.

After what seemed like an eternity in the cold, but was likely only a few minutes, we spotted the headlights to the east. Railfans began taking test shots, adjusting cameras, and getting into shooting locations, when the advance scout let out with a cry of "IT"S THE YELLOW ONE!!!!" We had lucked into the one of a kind ES44DC carrying a unique yellow "wedgie" paint scheme.


This unique unit was leading a loaded grain train from Concordia, Kansas to Seattle. It was a very cool unit to spot. Great to have an advance warning from the scout too. Thanks Mike!


And then it was off to the first wood bridge west of Highway 32. What better place to spend a below zero afternoon in January than on a remote wood bridge? Especially when BNSF is kind enought to run a couple of trains for your viewing pleasure.

This eastbound manifest was led by an SD70ACe-kind of unusual power for a manifest train. It also had one of the increasingly common DPU's on manifest trains-in this case it was some variety of GEVO.


And then a westbound. Bryant staked out a location well to the east of the bridge for this one, just out of this frame. I saw a good deal of adventure in my young companions on this day. They all were willing to trudge through the deep snow for that unique shot, something your humble correspondent was less than anxious to attempt on this frigid day. Heck, Jer did it dressed like he was playing softball on a September evening. On one warm up break in the Silverado, the question was asked if railfans are a subset of idiots or if idiots are a subset of railfans. Since we all could identify non-railfan idiots it seems the first hypothesis must be true, at least for that group of railfans that is willing to venture out when the temps are WAY below zero.


And then, the dropping sun was bringing the day to an end. Mrs. L4T was kind enough to snap a group photo as we all stood on the wooden bridge.


I posted a few more of the "people" photos I took at this page.

Turned out to be a great day. It's always fun to share some time with others who are interested in trains and the relationships you build along the tracks are nothing but fun. Thanks for memories, guys, and let's do it again soon.

Jim

Fish in a Barrel

On Monday afternoon, I made a quick post as I headed out the door, and stuck in a screenshot from the Staples Sub ATCS display. A strange confluence of trains, weather, and time was coming together in rare fashion. On a day off, with nothing pressing to attend to, a fleet of 5 westbound trains was approaching Wadena just as the sun was beginning to work its way down into the western horizon. Suddenly, there WAS something pressing to attend to.

My first order of business was to get the Mrs. engaged. Since this involved a ride, and likely eating out, that was easy. Camera? Check. Phone? Check. Radio? No, that's still broken. Oh well, we can go without that. Our first stop was to fill with gas, then we headed east.

I pulled over at the Verndale sag, and I could see a headlight in the far eastern distance. This was working out just like they draw it up in the railfan playbook! My first shot was of an intermodal train as he came through the sag.


It was time to develop a strategy. With so many trains on the move, how best to handle them? I decided to head east a bit more, and see what the second train was. While I waited a bit longer at the crossing east of Verndale, it was still less than 10 minutes before the second train showed up. This one was COLX empties behind a GEVO and a pair of MAC's.


I decided to chase him west. By the time we reached Wadena, I was halfway to the front end. After we got out on Highway 10, I was able to overtake and grab a shot near the big woods east of Perham.


As long as we were headed west, I decided to shoot him once more before letting him go and poaching the next three westbounds. When Ian and I had been over west the weekend before, we thought the curves just west of Frazee looked pretty attractive, so I headed there. Even though I had been sailing along on the highway, I still had to run to get this, my last shot of the 5630 for the day.


It was about 5:00 by this time, and we decided to refuel our bodies for the chases to come. A quick stop at McDonalds in Detroit Lakes and we were again westbound. Right on cue, the third westbound of the afternoon came through Richards Spur and around the corner, where I was waiting to catch him passing a bit of sumac just beginning to signal fall is arriving.


So far, this journey had been going like clockwork. My idea was to continue working west, as the few clouds that had been dancing with the sun had by now disappeared. So it was off to the Highway 32 overpass, where I shot this same train, albeit with disappointing results. The sun was just too head on. Well, the cure for that is simple-move to the first wooden bridge to the west. I knew that all the trains were well past Wadena at this point, and ATCS revealed that an eastbound should soon show itself. I took up a position where I could handle whatever the BNSF would throw at me. You have to defend the high ground.

Before long, I spotted a headlight well to the west. Its slow rate of advance told me it was likely a coal train, working hard upgrade. Only a couple of minutes later, I spotted some motion to the east as well. I wasn't concerned as the sun was on my side-I knew I wouldn't get blocked out on the westbound. So, I just relaxed and enjoyed the show as the coal loads thundered under me.


The meet took place just as the coal train ducked under the Highway 32 overpass. I ran up along the tracks a ways to shoot the vehicle train in nice light.

I asked Mrs. L4T where she thought the nicest spot in the area was. She told me that the bridge south of town was attractive, and with one more westbound due I decided to run down there for a shot. The light was great as we pulled up, and the farmer's dog that chased us down was really friendly. Some days things just seem to go right.

I waited out on the bridge for about 15 minutes, then heard the train blowing for the crossings to the east. With some time to contemplate the shot, I almost went for something different but after seeing this one I am real happy with what I did.


I got real lucky with the light reflecting off the nose logos, and what are the odds the MAC in this consist would be repainted into the new scheme? I think I should have bought a lottery ticket yesterday too.

Stats for the day: First shot at 4:23 PM, last shot at 6:38 PM. Shot 6 trains, in a total of 8 locations, an average of a about a shot every 15 minutes. Saw one train that I did not shoot, an eastbound in DL. All in all, a great afternoon and evening. Got to eat my quarter pounder in peace, even with this level of action. I have to say that ATCS really worked like it is designed yesterday. It was great knowing that the trains were lined up out there.

I suspect it will be a while before I have another railfanning experience as lucky as yesterday, but I will always have the memories of "shooting fish in a barrel".

Jim

BNSF 9303 East-"You have a defect"

To continue from our last installment, Ian (Trainspotter USA) and I are now at the Highway 32 overpass near Hawley, with a loaded coal train headed toward Lake Park. Here's another shot from that location, just to set the stage.


We knew there was a westbound out there somewhere as well, from dispatcher chatter with a foreman who wanted track and time near Detroit Lakes. It sounded like he would have to wait about half an hour, so we had a decision to make. Given the overcast, the fact that we didn't know if there were any more eastbounders near, and wanting to have something to chase back east, we elected to turn around.

First stop was to be the S-curve at Lake Park. I was pretty confident that I would make it in time to catch this train come through, even though we waited a couple of minutes before giving chase. As we pulled up near the curves, though, there was no time to waste, as the train was working his way through. As a result, this is a less than perfectly composed grab shot:


Well, then, let's blast of for Frazee. I know we can beat him there. So off we went, arriving in good time with little traffic light delay in DL. We set up, with the skies clearing to the east but the sun still obscured. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. One time, when I wandered back to the Escape for a slurp of Diet Coke, I heard a reference to "bearing...crayon...melting...hot", and waved Ian over. It turned out our target was stopped somewhere to the west with a hot bearing, and a lengthy discussion was taking place about what to do next.

After more back and forth, it was finally decided that the car would be safe to take to Perham and drop in a siding. Of course, the conductor still had to walk up to the head end and the train had to get started. The bright spot in all of this (literally) was that the delay had given the clouds time to break up. This train would finally be in the sun when he passed us. As the train passed the detector near MP 203, we picked up that the train had a defect on axle 285, right side, Main Track Two. The dispatcher confirmed that this was the same axle and they continued on.

Which didn't help me that much, as all the shots I have from that location are slightly out of focus. You'll have to wait for Ian to post some of his, along with the video. I have to say, this was a mighty freindly crew, and they gave us a short toot on the horn more than once when they passed us.

Ian shot some video at the curve west of Staples again, and the train began to slow as he approached town. We had no problem getting in position for some shots as he jockeyed around in town, blocking some crossings in the process, while setting out the BO car. Here he creeps past the Tuffy's dog food factory.


Since he had stopped in Perham, we had more photo ops as well. Ian chose more of a broadside as the train crossed the Otter Tail River, but I got him head on. Usually trains are moving fast here, but this one was slowing to a stop to pick up his conductor after clearing all the blocked crossings. I got a chance to tell the engineer "good luck on the rest of your trip" while he waited.


One last shot to share from my camera-this is shot near the Bluffton curve just west of Wadena. I think it's a unique perspective I've shared once before. I'm curious to see what Ian got here as well.


All in all, a great trip. The weather turned around for us, and we got a chance to closely study a coal train. The crew of the 9303 probably has us memorized, given the number of locations where we managed to shoot them. And thanks, Ian for the company.

Jim