A Cold Afternoon at Iron Junction

Greetings, folks. This one is from the "should have posted it weeks ago" file that so often piles up.

My destination for the week of January 12 was the Hibbing/Virginia area, carrying hopes for some CN action. I stayed in Hibbing Monday evening, and a trip out to Kelly Lake revealed nothing of interest that afternoon. However, after completing my assignements in Hibbing on Tuesday, there was enough daylight remaining to visit the Iron Junction area.

The scanner tipped me off to a light engine move in the area. This three unit set was my first catch of the very cold afternoon:


Sounded like they were headed south to grab a loaded train, but I don't have any other details.

After waiting half an hour or so, I heard another move-this time they indicated they would be heading for Two Harbors, so I ran east and waited near Ramshaw. The shot was backlit real bad, but it was my first live experience with steaming pellets in below-zero weather, so I had to try and do something with it.


The last detector I had heard had said it was -9, and it felt every bit of that. The low for the night turned out to be around 25 below. That was a real cold week.

I was running out of light, but just on the off chance of another train I meandered back to Iron Junction. Sure enough, a CN southbound manifest made its way by, but by this time the light was gone, and I was getting cold. So that's all I have to share from my outing at Iron Junction.

I'll try and get some of my other miscellaneous shots from the last month or so up in the next couple of days. I also have some from another Hawley trip to post. Til then,

Jim, out

The Last of July

I've not much to offer for the week that was-my ratio of trains to miles travelled approached my low for the year, I suspect. Given that I paralleled or crossed portions of the Staples Sub, Brainerd Sub, Casco Sub, and Hinckley Sub of the BNSF, as well as samples of former DMIR and DWP trackage and a portion of the CP mainline between the Twin Cities and Buffalo over the past week, my photo inventory for the trip is scant. I guess thats what being busy and working long days will do to a railfan.

I'll share what I have. On leaving home Monday morning about 0600, I was hoping there would be a train in the Staples yard, as the sunrise would light it nicely. Before I even got to Verndale I was pacing a Z train eastbound and managed to get a couple of minutes ahead of him by the time I reached Staples. Sure enough, a waiting eastbound in the yard was mine to photograph. I shot this merchandise train behind a unique power set-the cream of EMD's 60 series power.


A classic "triclops" SD60M still in its original BN paint is trailed by a sibling of this series-a GP60M fresh from an assignment on the BNSF employee passenger special that travelled Minnesota and North Dakota about a week earlier. I thought the combination of four axle and six axle 60 series power was interesting. I wonder if the SD feels like a Clydsdale when paired with the speedy GP unit?

I only had to wait a moment to shoot the Z as it passed this parked train in Staples. The UPS train was headed up by a pair of GEVO's sandwiching a Dash 9.


And with that, I was to go trainless for the next two days, with my next sighting on Wednesday evening south of Virginia. I ran in to Shelton Junction in time to find the last (thanks for the tip Dave S.) maroon DMIR SD40-3 on the point of another Minorca train headed for Two Harbors. I might have pushed the speed limit as I made the move to beat him to the CR 7 crossing where I grabbed this picture.


I know it is almost identical as the shot I got last week (see this post) but it's a rare unit and I get few chances at it. I decided to try a backlit shot at Ramshaw and here is the result.


And that's the end of this week's photos. I did spend the night in Buffalo on Thursday, and the volume of trains was impressive. When I drove into the Cities the next morning for a meeting I was impressed with the scenery in the area. I will have to make it a point to try and free up a couple of hours sometime when I am in that area for some fanning.

The trip home on Friday offered a couple of BNSF trains heading into the sun, but I had been gone all week, and my #1 goal was to get home and see Mrs. L4T. I made it and am glad to be back. Next week I will be in Iowa and hope to get the chance for some trackside time along the UP main.

Jim, out.