It's Winter

It's that time of year when accumulated vacation gets used up, which explains how I wound up at Proctor this morning waiting for a transfer from Pokegema to arrive. 

It was cold. Not below zero cold, but for this winter one of the colder mornings. Which led to the hope that the sun would shine, but the lake did its normal job of creating a cloud bank that just let the sun tease a body with occasional slivers of light. 

Luckily the CN entertained me with a pair of DMIR units on the Proctor switch job. Sounded nice while they were jockeying cars back and forth. 

Clear skies to the north and west taunted me as I waited, but being the stubborn person that I am, I wouldn't budge from my position on the overpass. Eventually the transfer showed up.

As he approached, I notice something unusual about the power. Was that a cowl unit in the consist? Sure enough it was. My calculating mind led me to conclude that if I would just wait at the south end of the yard, I could get the Draper "leading" when they ran around the train. Since warming up sounded good anyway, I jumped in and drove down to the crossing after a stop at Kwik Trip. I had to wait for a limestone empty to head down the hill but I finally got the shot I was waiting for. It's not much but I don't get too many chances at these so I take what I can get. 

I thought about running down to get the limestone empty at 27th. There was something coming off the DWP, headed down to Steelton, and a southbound approaching Coons. So many choices! In the hopes of a pellet load I opted to stay at Proctor. Given that there was a loaded train sitting in the yard I should have known better. My hopes were dashed when I saw the southbound Instead of 140 cars of taconite, I got a couple of empty gons and a pair of bentonite cars. As you can see in the photo, the clouds were still taunting me with sunshine just north of Proctor. It's enough to make a person grind his teeth. 

By now, the wind was blowing, I was cold, and it seemed like a good time to head for home, so the next move was back to Duluth. I processed pictures and thawed out for a while, then settled in to enjoy some vacation time. 
 

Like Old Times

 The days are getting short. We lose daylight both morning and evening, which means it's usually dark when I get up this time of year. This morning was no different. 

A glimpse out the window as the sun peeked above the horizon showed a fresh blanket of snow, maybe 3 inches, and with flurries continuing. ATCS told me that a northbound was heading out of Superior, so with the OK from Mrs. L4T I bundled up and headed out into the snow. The roads were less than ideal, but I figured I had plenty of time to catch the train somewhere north of Proctor. That idea was dashed upon reaching Jeffery Road, as the train was speeding north. Pressing on, I made it to North Coons with but a minute to spare, and grabbed a shot of what I figure was the Ranier local based on the fact that the train had a pair of SD60's for power and only a few cars. 

With one headed my out of Superior, I backtracked with the intent of catching the next northbound somewhere closer to Proctor. I decided to swing by the yard on the way and managed to get a limestone train being made up while the customary switch engines stood by. A pair of DMIR leaders is always a win. 

Then it was off to Stark Road to wait for the northbound. Didn't take too long, but I heard him blow for at least 3 crossings before seeing him. Anticipation was killing me. Then this:

I planned to head home after that train, but with a southbound showing approaching Proctor, I texted the Mrs. telling her I would be a few minutes late and was rewarded with pellet loads.

 Made it home in time to get a text from Mr. Mackey informing me that the WC heritage unit was headed my way. Well, clouds and fog or not, that merited a return trip. Munger seemed like a safe spot to intercept that train. But first, the CN had to run this limestone empty to Proctor so why not shoot that too?

Then it was the moment we have been waiting for-the arrival of the WC heritage unit. I spent a little battery on that.

And that was that. I headed home with a good day's railfanning in the bag. Thanks to Dan Mackey for the heads up on the WC unit. Would have missed it without that tip. 

The title of this post is Like Old Times, because this outing reminded me of many trips I made to Staples while I lived in Wadena. It felt like I am starting to become familiar with locations in the Twin Ports area, and that reminded me of how I used to feel along the Staples Sub. Good memories. 

Sun, Snow, and Steam (and Clouds)

 Saturday morning October 24 revealed a clear blue sky and significant snow on the ground. Seemed like the kind of day that should be captured for posterity. What better way than to take some train pictures?

I had been sniffing around the former DWP main out in the Munger area and thought the snow and morning sun would make for a nicely lit backdrop for a southbound CN train. Off I went to the crossing Maple Grove Road, where I could sit and wait and observe the glory of a Christmas scene in October. 

The wait was relatively short, and I was ready when the southbound passed by a row of flocked evergreens. 

That zebra painted second unit inspired me to have another go at this train, so it was off to Becks Road, where I shot this at the overpass.

It's kind of crazy how just a little drop in elevation reduces the amount of snow on the ground. That shot looked more like early November than Christmas. 

On my way home, a stop at the overpass on the north end of Proctor Yard yielded a shot of pellet loads steaming alongside a tunnel motor leader pointed toward the range. The overcast had moved in by that time, giving the scene a wintry appearance. Why not capture that?

With that, my morning was complete and I headed for home thinking Santa would show up any day. Another railfanning outing in the books.

Sunrise at Proctor

With a couple of weeks vacation carried over from 2013 to 2014 and the requirement that it get used up ASAP, I took the first couple of workdays of the year off. This morning, Mrs. L4T and I polished off a pot of coffee, and after a peek out the window I decided to head to Proctor to enjoy the sunrise. 

The yard switch job with DMIR 215 pointed north was puttering about when I arrived, well away from my vantage point. That didn't stop me from capturing the sun as it rose in the southeast, preparing to illuminate the yard. 

There was another train tucked back in the yard as well. Limestone loads behind a quartet of SD40 variants were working their way out as the sun climbed in the morning sky. I felt for the conductor who was handling the switches as the train progressed through the yard trackage. It was -21 when I drove up and didn't feel like it was warming up any. 

One more shot as he approaches the bridge. Every time the train throttled up the exhaust formed an almost steam engine-like cloud. Very impressive. 

A loaded pellet train was sitting at the scale, and I wanted to work that into a photo. Got my opportunity when the limestone loads stopped to get a switch before heading out. Oh, and there is our old friend the 403, trailing today. That means that technically the first shot in this post has both remaining maroon Missabe units in it, although you sure can't identify them.

It was about this time one of my pinkies was ready to snap off, so I headed to the Holiday in Proctor to warm up for a bit. Also needed to pick up milk. After that was done I stopped back to see if the sun had climbed enough to illuminate the pellet train, sure enough it had. I grabbed a couple shots of that, even though the wind was preventing any spectacular steam clouds from lingering.

All in all, a productive hour or so. Might get the chance to do it again before I have to head back to work Monday.

Maroon

I have had past chances to shoot multiple maroon units in a day, most recently last spring during a trip up the NSSR to retrieve coal empties that had been stored during the winter. In that case, though, both were museum pieces. Today, I got one of those, along with an active DMIR unit.

The retiree was at the depot this morning, after it finished doing some switching preparing a train for the 2719 to take to Two Harbors. Even though the light was on the rear of the unit, it was so nice I couldn't resist a photo.

And then after Mrs. L4T and I got home from supper, I dropped her off and headed to Proctor in the hopes of catching the 215 working Proctor Yard. Sure enough, along with a few other fans, we got what we were looking for as the sun dropped toward the horizon. 

Along with some steam shots this morning and a quick stop at the Cloquet Terminal in between, it was a great railfanning day with lots of good company and a few photo opportunities. Blue skies and cool temps were the order of the day and I look forward to getting to do it again. 

Looking for (and Finding) Trains

Today after church, Mrs. L4T and I arrived at a consensus. The time had come to go looking for some trains. The sun was out, ATCS showed some movement, and it was a gorgeous afternoon, so off we went. After a quick stop for gas and food, we headed across the bridge to BNSF's Superior engine terminal to see what was waiting for assignment. Got a pretty nice selection of EMD's.

 



I suspected an inbound taconite train, and so we headed south out of town. I passed what looked like another railfan near Saunders, and found the pellet train was already past Boylston. A quick u-turn brought me back to Saunders, where I was soon joined by the Carney clan. Interestingly, at this very moment the CN decided it would be only proper to run a stack train through the area. Scott and I both made comments about how close we came to duplicating the situation Kevin recently got here, with a beautiful over/under.

 'Twas not to be, though. The BNSF train was couple of minutes late, and coming from the wrong direction anyway. Still a fun site to see.

Scott had informed me of a UP train off the Hinckley right behind the pellet loads. For once my ignorance of the area served me well. I was waiting at Saunders for the train that would never arrive (he was going into Pokegama instead of Itasca) when Mrs. L4T looked east and announced the arrival of the train. After explaining to her it wasn't coming from that direction, I finally looked and sure enough she was right. As usual. Here's a transfer with an SD75 running long hood forward. The Mrs. said this didn't really count as a train but I set her straight in short order.

 

 Next stop was Stinson, where the only shot to be had was a long range attempt at a nicely painted GP that didn't really turn out well. After that I decided to swing through the BNSF yard once more in the hope of a transfer leaving. Instead I got this, approaching 28th Street in nice light:

And then back to the engine servicing facility, where the switch engines featured in yesterday's post were found today. They're such a cute pair I couldn't resist one more shot.

Since it looked quiet on the BNSF, I proposed we work our way home via Proctor. I noticed a pellet train on the dock when we crossed the bridge and so a detour was called for, which allowed me the chance to catch the PRS as it waited to back the slightly steaming loads out onto the dock. It's hard to get tired of this view.

 

And then it was off to Proctor, where a pellet empty was creeping up to the overpass as we arrived, while the yard switch job paralleled him. I'm counting this as two trains in one shot, for the second time today.

Finally, having heard a train blow for the Midway Road crossing while on the overpass, we chased a CN manifest north to Munger, where I was pleasantly surprised to find a BC Rail cowl the second unit on this long train. The gorgeous blue skies are something I have come to treasure living in Duluth. Seems like clouds are more often the order of the day.

And that's the story of a couple of hours along the tracks in the Twin Ports. There seems to be no end to the excitement if you are just will to get out and look.



An Hour Out and About

After lunch on Saturday I headed out to do a bit of railfanning sans Mrs. L4T. In the back of my head there was an idea that I may head to Superior to try and catch a CN train, but with Haines Road closed for the duration it seemed logical to travel by way of Proctor, just in case something was happening there. Sure enough, an empty was perched just south of the overpass, and the yard switch job was engaged in the never-ending task of shuffling cars to and fro.

If you look at the background very carefully, you can catch a glimpse of one of the remaining marron SD's working as part of the switch job. They didn't get any closer during my quick stop, so no better shots.

Next stop was Mike's Yard, in the hope BNSF would be switching the paper mill. They weren't, but I got a glimpse of the Rices Point switch engines to the west and went hunting. That power set proved to be elusive, and after a thorough search I came to the conclusion they had either vanished or headed home without me seeing it. I still had some intention of going to Wisconsin, but I followed the tracks up the interstate and sure enough, caught up to the light power returning to home base. A shot from the 27th Ave overpass.

 

 

 

You can see the tail end of a cut of cars in the upper right corner. That turned out to be a transfer behind a pair of GP's, pulled up to the yard office. My targets stopped right beside the transfer power, and I walked up on the Garfield overpass and shot the power sets from there.

 

 

 

By that time the hoped for sunshine was pretty clearly not going to show, and I was homesick, so after a stop at the hobby shop I headed for home. It was an entertaining hour or so. 







More Missabe

On Wednesday afternoon, I had to leave Hibbing for the Metro area. Since I had no deadline of when to arrive, CR 7 seemed to be a good alternative to Highway 53. The sun was out and it was beautiful afternoon.

As I approached Forbes I could see loaded cars moving west. For a minute I wondered why a T-bird train would be moving away from the plant while loaded. It took me a bit to realize I had lucked into United Tac loads headed for the docks.

I was quickly able to get ahead of the loaded train, powered by a matched set of tunnel motor units. I don't know the place names, but here's the shot of the train as it rolls south.


Even though it was a pleasant afternoon, the pellets were still giving off a wisp of steam as the train passed. I stopped and shot him a couple of more times as we traveled south together. Then all of a sudden, I noticed my low gas light was on. Out in the middle of nowhere. I decided my best chance of making civilization was to head for Meadowlands, so I left my lucky train and struck out west.

I made it to town and found the only gas pump was at what appeared to be an abandoned gas station. Something moved me to pull in anyway, and a sign taped to the window pointed me to the brown house with a green roof, to the right. Before I could even find the house, the friendly pump jockey came out and asked if I needed something. What a relief! I was running on vapor. With only $13 cash to my name, I bought all I could afford, thanked my rescuer after a pleasant visit about the upcoming Empire Builder trip he and his wife had scheduled, and continued my journey. Next thing you know, I was on Highway 53 at Independence. After a short jaunt down MN 33, I spotted the tail end of my loaded train disappearing as I crossed the tracks. A quick about-face and I was off again. This was all new territory to me, down Saginaw road and Highway 2 to Proctor. I snapped off a couple of poorly lit photos on the drive, and wound up the day's fanning with a shot off the overpass at the end of the Proctor yard. Limestone was stage to head north.


After topping off my tank at the Proctor Holiday station, it was on to I-35 for the rest of the trip. I spotted what looked like a northbound empty all rail some miles down the interstate but didn't even think about chasing, since there was no exit nearby. So, these two shots are all I have to offer from my trip down the Missabe.
Jim