National Train Day

Seemed it would be a mortal sin to not railfan a bit on National Train Day. (Was that over two weeks ago already?) An invite to Mrs. L4T was turned down due to her busy schedule but since she understands the sanctity of the hobby, she encouraged me to venture out all by my lonesome on Saturday evening. Here's a story of what I managed to see.

Since there wasn't much traffic showing on ATCS, I decided to run to Staples. Even if nothing was moving there just might be a train to shoot there. Sure enough, this crude empty behind a pair of Horseheads was tied down in the yard alongside a loaded sister. I grabbed a tele from the west end of the yard.

If you haven't been to Staples lately, you would hardly know the place. Work on the overpass is progressing swiftly, creating new photo angles. Here's one, from the top of a huge dirt pile on the south side of the yard.

While I was up there, I grabbed one more looking north across the tracks and Highway 10.

I was just about to give up when a coal empty on the Brainerd Sub rolled up a warrant to somewhere east of Motley. A chance at a westbound! Here's my first shot, east of Staples.

And then he had to stop before entering the Staples to wait for one other train. This gave me the chance for another shot. You can see the new signal that is waiting to be cut in.

Finally, my last attempt at the Verndale sag. My final shot from NTD.

Anyway, it was worth the trip. Always fun to get out and take train pictures.

The Return of DST

After spending the better part of the afternoon wrestling with TurboTax (which by the way was programmed, with the help of the federal tax code, to drive normal people insane), a distinct need for a mental health break arose. There was the opportunity to head for the basement and staple up another box of ceiling tile, but then again the sun was out. It wasn't too hard to convince Mrs. L4T that we should go someplace. When she asked where I blurted out "Staples". 'Twas not to be.

Arriving in downtown Wadena, rather than a headlight greeting us, there were not one but two trains passing through town. As is normal Main Two was hosting the eastbound, while a crude oil train was headed west on Main One. Entering available data into my railfan calculator the destination of Staples was quickly replaced with "somewhere west of that crude oil train". We were off.

He was rolling along pretty good. I barely arrived at the overpass west of NYM with time to get this shot.


This was a short train. In fact it's a pretty good bet that Christopher Muller could duplicate it on his layout under construction. The detector at MP 174 announced that none of the 246 axles had defects. I figured it out in my head, and counting the three-six axle locomotives and the buffer car, that comes out to 56 tank cars.

A glance to the west as the train passed below the highway revealed another headlight, headed my way. Weaving through traffic allowed a couple of backlit shots of the power on this train. A pair of CSXT GE's were leading a BNSF MAC and a CSXT EMD unit with a spartan cab. My guess is it was a grain train, but it's just that-a guess.





With the low fuel light on we headed back to Wadena. I tried shooting the visitor one more time as he rolled through town with "meh" results. It did provide the opportunity to notice the pair of pile drivers parked on the former Leaf River Ag spur. Maybe that had something to do with all the pilings laying along the right-of-way near the bridge west of the Bluffton crossing. Seems the Staples Sub will be seeing some major work once again this summer. Probably cause some slow traffic days, with the backups hopefully resulting in fleets of train when the light is nice. Like during Verndale Rail. Again, hopefully.

Speaking of light, thanks to the switch back to Daylight Savings Time there was still enough for one more train. Having heard the CSX train would be waiting for one at Staples (someone else was making a pickup, and had Main Two occupied), we knew there was still a chance. Might as well try the sag. And this time, it worked-we spotted a headlight as we crossed the tracks.


This train made it two out of three on the day for spartan cabs. Heck, this one even threw in a four axle unit for good measure. The power set was an H1 GE, followed by a bright and shiny 40 series six axle, a GP50 in original paint, and another GE, this time an H2.


That was it, as Mrs. L4T needed to get home. So with full stomachs thanks to McD's, we headed back for the house, with dreams of good light on evening westbounds dancing in our heads.

West of Wadena

A trip to Perham last Friday morning (April 9) gave me the chance for a little incidental railfanning between Wadena and my destination. It's just barely over 20 miles, and travelling at freeway speed the trip is less than half an hour, but as I approached the overpass west of New York Mills I was lucky enough to spot an eastbound headlight. Turned out the train was a GEVO led bare table, headed who knows where at a good clip.


Morning light is just about perfect in that location this time of year. I also like seeing the Perham water tower in the distance, along with the large crane working at the site of the new Perham hospital. The little farmstead peeking through the trees is just a bonus.

On the way home after lunch, I chased a worm train out of Perham heading east. By this time the sun was pretty much gone for eastbounds but I caught him in New York Mills anyway. The train seemed to be slowing as he passed me, creating hope for another catch somewhere near Wadena.


However, I soon passed the train as it drifted to a stop just outside New York Mills. The plan of shooting him again near Bluffton was dashed.

It soon became clear why he was stopping-another train was stopped as well, just a couple of miles in front of him. This one turned out to be a unit DDG train. Throttling up just as I approached, he called for quick work, and I barely beat him to the CR 75 crossing just west of Wadena. Here the pair of Dash 9's have just made it to the top of the short grade out of the Leaf River valley, and are working at picking up speed as they approach Wadena.


And with that, another short railfan adventure on the Staples Sub was concluded. Three trains in less than an hour on a work-mandated journey are hard to beat. I'm a lucky guy.

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.

That "New Loco" Smell

Along with a number of other OMR members, Mrs. L4T and myself spent a little time on the west end of the Staples Sub Sunday afternoon. I thought a few westbounds would show, and sure enough we got a couple of chances. First up was this empty coal train, that passed through Wadena a few minutes before we left. I caught up with and passed him around Frazee and decided to try a shot at the curve near Richards Spur:


A quick getway allowed me to pass him once more and grab a shot from the Highway 32 overpass. I like this location a lot, and I got a friendly toot on the horn from the engineer.


I soon heard another westbound clear up a warrant, and fretted about where to shoot him. In hopes of a new angle, I headed to the crossing south of Hawley, and got there with only a couple of minutes to spare as this intermodal with three like-new GEVO's on the point with two more trailing in the consist roared down on me. I thought I could smell fresh paint as they rolled by.


I decided to try for another shot of these new locos, and chased him all the way to East Dilworth. However, the sun angle was pretty much head-on at that point and the shots didn't turn out too well. It did give me the chance to gas up in Glyndon for $1.93 a gallon though so it wasn't a wasted trip.

After supper at the Hawley Dairy Queen, where people were lined up 4 to 5 deep at the counter trying to get tasty treats, we decided to meander home to Wadena. I made it almost all the way back (halfway between New York Mills and Wadena) before meeting a merchandise train with three Dash 9's up front. Time for a u turn and a run back to the overpass west of NYM. A short wait yielded this shot.


Met one more westbound coal train before getting home but we didn't try and catch him. We had a good time and managed to see a few trains. What more could a man ask for on a lazy Sunday afternoon?

We had to have crossed paths with Jeremiah and Bryant at some point that afternoon, as I heard the 8300 working its way east just behind us on the trip home. Looks like the two of you had a great outing. Keep up the good work.

Jim, out.