Owatonna Struggles

It's been over a week since these feeble attempts at a train picture but since I uploaded them I figured I may as well share them. 3 days in Owatonna seemed to offer hope for some photos but it seems the UP has my number and ran trains right past the office window while I slaved away with work. Darn them anyway.

I did manage to get away one evening for a short run to Waseca to see what the DME was up to. It turned out that they were mostly up to hiding anything photogenic from me. I had to work my way into a spot where I could even see any blue and yellow power, and even then there wasn't much to shoot. Here's the sorry result of my effort.


As I left town on Thursday afternoon, the UP finally offered up something to shoot. They're yellow, but they don't say UP-these lease units must have come home for a family reunion.


So, you drive nearly 500 miles, even go out of your way one evening, and nearly get skunked. This can be a frustrating hobby at times. Still, it keeps me coming back for some reason.

Austin Bound

ICE 6452 heading for Austin
Originally uploaded by look4trains

Having spent a few days in the Austin and Owatonna area this week, I had hopes of catching some DME or ICE action. My last night in the area, I was staying in Owatonna. After checking into my motel, I heard a horn on the DME and headed out to check the traffic. Turned out to be an ethanol train headed east. Not knowing the town, I decided to try and get ahead of the train and finally accomplished that at the Highway 14 overpass south of Owatonna.

It was a cloudy day, and I tried to compose the shot in a way that would minimize the unattractive white sky. I also kind of like the way the cattle worked their way into the photo. As you can see, the EMD's were working hard on this long train as they passed under me.

Jim