Odd Power on the 8

Thanks to an early morning heads up by Steven Welch and a text from Jer I had advance notice of yet another late Empire Builder headed back to Chicago. These have been getting pretty routine so I may have passed on it but both alerts included information of an unusual lead engine for this area. With that I decided to head out.

Rather than drive all the way to Staples, I decided to try and get him just west of Wadena as the tracks climb out of the Leaf River Plain. I heard the detector at MP 174 announce the pending arrival of the train just before I reached my chosen location. The wait for a train was very short.

The photos above and below were shot as the train raced up the hill. It was kind of fun seeing something unusual, especially on the ever-consistent Builder.

My last shot is intended to be a better view of the Dash 8 leader and an opportunity to compare it to the Genesis unit trailing. One thing I noticed when processing this shot was the fuel tank. To my eye it's shaped like the tank on an EMD rather than the "slab sided" tanks most GE's sport.

And with that it was back home. Thanks again for the heads up guys!

Nine Nine Nine Nine

Thanks to Jer for the heads up:


On Saturday morning, early, he texted me that the BNSF 9999 was stopped somewhere near Bluffton. Since I was still sucking on my morning coffee, the response wasn't timely. However, after a cup or two, curiosity got the best of me, and an ATCS check showed an eastbound just entering the plant. Off I went, and sure enough the famous (at least in my mind) BNSF 9999 was sitting west of the west crossing in Wadena. He stopped exactly where the pile driver parked on the house track would shade his pilot.

There is something about a loco numbered 9999. This is the fourth time I've captured this engine, once in Frazee, once in Staples, and as a DPU on a River Sub COLX train. Keep those tips coming, Jer.

Some Easter Sightings

Mr. L4T Jr. was home for the weekend. He has not been infected with the railfanning bug, which is likely a good thing for me as his presence will occasionally inspire me to do something a little different. However, he is also willing to humor me on occassion, such as when a matched set of NS GE's happen by with a loaded tank train. Easter Sunday afternoon revealed just such a sight, which was captured initially crossing the bridge that is being worked on in Bluffton.


The backlighting is strong in this one, and the next one, which is not much further down the line due to the slow order that is delaying every train through the area. Once more from the Highway 75 crossing.


After he headed back to Grand Forks Mrs. L4T suggested we go for a short ride. I agreed, but told her we needed to check ATCS to see if any train traffic was likely. Sure enough a westbound was approaching Wadena, and we encountered it at the crossing upon heading uptown. I decided to try shooting it just west of the overpass, and here's the result.


I liked the outcome of that one, although I should have waited a bit for the train to get closer to the silos before tripping the shutter. Live and learn.

After swinging through Perham, we headed for home. Once more a westbound was showing, this time in Staples. I figured I had just enough time to grab a smoothie at McDonalds and get back west of town for a shot. What a prediction-the headlight was showing as I once more pulled over on Highway 75! A short wait in the gale-force winds, and a COLX empty marched by, slowing for the bridge.


They're only GE's, and the paint is a bit faded, but a matched set is a matched set. As the GEVO's arrive and coal traffic seems to fall a bit, matched power is getting more rare. The MACs that used to be strictly coal power are still found on coal trains, but they are also showing up on manifests, grain trains, and crude oil trains.

The railroad seemed busy this weekend, although I didn't get much chance for photos. I hear another train passing through town as I write this. Life is good.

The Missing Railfan Returns

I've spent the more than a month since my last post doing who knows what? Well, work got in the way, and family issues, and the Holidays, and....

As someone who has gotten used to seeing trains many times a week at a minimum, this interval has been pretty train-free. That's not by choice, but simply a result of where my travels have taken me. However, I did get the chance to shoot a few pictures, this first one in International Falls on November 29. For once, the sun was out, and the MDW was kind enough to park one of their new switch engines where I could get a shot with the engine house in the background.


On December 13, the fog and overcast was back on a day I travelled to Randall for work. As the day went on, the fog just seemed to get thicker. A westbound Z train stopped at the Randall siding just as I left town, and I figured it wouldn't sit for long. I noticed a track inspection truck getting off the tracks at Cushing and decided to wait for the Z in the gloom at the old Highway 10 overpass. It was so dark the shot suffered, and this is the best I could do with the shutter wide open and the ISO cranked up too high. About 2:30 in the afternoon.


And then on December 20, after a quick trip to Perham, I caught up with a rail grinder on the way home. Another of those rare sunny days, and he decided to stop at the west crossing, so why not shoot him? So, I did.


We spent Christmas weekend in International Falls, and I came home the day after with my son. He needed to head back to Grand Forks. A friend was in the hospital in Wadena, and on my way to visit, sure enough, I spotted a headlight. I decided to get a profile of the power as the light was 90 degrees to the track. I wouldn't bore you with it if not for the repainted Dash 9 trailing.


Finally, Wednesday I had to go to New York Mills for work, and I was lucky enough to catch a couple of trains after finishing up. First is the Ferromex unit I shared earlier on Flickr, this time two shots instead of just one.





And then a MAC that has seen better days, but still hard at work doing what it was built to do. That's haul coal out of the Powder River Basin. Regardless of the paint, I'll never get tired of seeing this work done.


So now you are caught up on what this railfan has been up to. Not a lot, from a train perspective, but hopefully the new year holds some new adventures along the tracks.

Talk Like a Pirate Day

"AAARGHHH!"



Yep, it was today. And lucky me, I got to spend it with a few scoundrels who had sailed in from up north. Mike, Craig, and Dave had rolled into town a couple of days earlier and brought their usual good luck when it came to catching trains. These guys are hard-core fans and when they come to town they are disappointed if they leave with a train count not in the triple digits.

So this morning I headed uptown (first day of vacation!) to look for the crew. They turned out to be over NYM way, but headed back to Wadena for breakfast. After taking sustenance at the Boondocks, ATCS told us to look for some trains so we set up at the depot. I'm not posting all the photos from the couple of hours I spent there but this is a sample of what they see.

First up is the DPU of a coal empty headed back for a reload. Just like you'll see in other shots, this train is being captured not only by still photo but also on video. The technology is also impressive in that these fellows have the speakers out on the truck, multiple scanners running, and ATCS fired up at all times.


Next we have an ACe-led coal load. I believe this was a COLX train, one of the first I have seen in quite a while in Wadena. The last one was actually the empty shown above. Before that I think it's been months since I have seen a COLX on the Staples Sub. Not that they weren't there, but I sure didn't see any.


We were lucky enough to catch the local coming into town. On this day he was pulling 8 tank cars, which I think were carrying fertilizer going by the placards, but I can't say for sure. None of them were for Wadena, but they had to run around their train down on the K line to head back to Dilworth. They also picked up an empty gon that was sitting on the Drywall Supply spur as a memento of their stop in Wadena.


While they were working, what looked for a while to be a grain train drifted through town, crossing over from two to one to avoid the local. It turned out to be a long manifest with all the mixed freight tacked on at the very end.


And here's a shot of the local as it passes the depot headed for home. That big BN logo on the nose of a green engine never fails to impress.


Actually it turns out I'm not the only one with a soft spot for the BN. Someone even went so far as to express his true feelings about the situation on a BNSF covered hopper, shown here. I especially like the little BN in a heart. True, that.


Thanks for the good times, guys, and I look forward to seeing you next year!

The Sucker Hole

We've all heard about the proverbial "sucker hole" from time to time. It's a railfan tradition, kind of the opposite of getting "mullered". Heck, I've even been lucky enough to experience a sucker hole or three over the last 5 or so years of railfan photography.

Here's a picture of one, from last Sunday when Mrs. L4T, the (not so) young son, and myself headed over to Brainerd. You'll love this first part-I was crossing the tracks in Wadena, and sure enough, saw a headlight approaching from the west. The sun wasn't all the way around yet, so a photo from Oink Joint Road seemed in order. This first one is a long distance attempt, only posted to share the situation with the sun as the train approached:


Nervous glances at the sky and the train ensued as he came nearer. Just as hope was to expire, the sun broke through for a bit, resulting in some light on the head of the train, as seen here:


Which was great. The thing that made this series of photos, though, was the return of the clouds, even before the engine reached the crossing. I kept shooting and got this, again under cloudy skies.


This seemed to be one of those rare times when some combination of finger crossing, prayer, and hope came together with the actual power to move clouds, for a minute at least. It doesn't get much better than that!

Sunday Evening

With ATCS quiet, Mrs. L4T and I decided to head down towards Ottertail for supper tonight. (If you're ever in the area, Elmer's BBQ on the south side of Ottertail Lake is awesome.) I had hoped to catch a CP train passing through the area but no luck on that front.



We decided to head for Perham and take the long way home, with some strange goings-on showing on the computer screen. Just as we reached New York Mills, we came across this thing, which I shot from the overpass after a u-turn and some backtracking.





I like to call it a "trucklomotive". My guess, and it is nothing more than a guess, is that the equipment is moving to the west end of the tie job so they can work in the normal direction of traffic. Time will tell, I "guess".



There was a red line on MT 2 just east of Wadena, so a look down the tracks when we crossed sure enough revealed a headlight. Another short detour resulted in this shot of what looked like a 1+1 coal empty:





And that was it for the evening.

Beat with an Ugly Stick

During an improptu railfanning encounter today in Wadena, I came upon a stack train parked just west of the 2nd Ave crossing. Since it was a train, and even had a CN unit as the second in consist, it was time for a photo.

Even when I took the picture the GE was anything but pretty. Still, the full effect didn't show up until I uploaded the photo. This thing was all kinds of ugly, with the peachy paint scheme that was burned off the engine compartment.

Power is power.

What a Way to Start the Day

What might you see when you look for trains passing through Wadena? This:


Yesterday morning I was bound for Eagle Bend. It seemed like a quick trip uptown for some kind of gas station breakfast would be a good idea, so I grabbed the camera and made the short detour north before heading back south on Highway 71. Wonder of wonders, a glance to the west as I crossed the tracks revealed a headlight. I quickly swung into Orton's lot and unlimbered the camera. Another shot as the train approached, much slower than the Builder normally passed through Wadena:


With a train "in the bag" for the day, I was able to dream about what the GN line towards Sauk Center used to look like, back in the days when the tracks connected the hamlets of Hewitt, and Bertha, and Eagle Bend, among others, to more significant population centers further on down the line. It was a pleasant trip.

Before the Storm

With Mrs. L4T recuperating from surgery to remove her cantankerous gall bladder over the last few days, railfanning has been replaced with housekeeping. This afternoon, after spending a few hours working from home, I was dispatched on some errands around town. A couple of inches of light fluffy snow earlier in the day had everything looking Christmas-y around Wadena.

After stops at the bank, post office, library, and grocery store, I allowed myself a glance down the tracks on the way home. A headlight rewarded the afternoon's tasks, so I pulled over and grabbed the camera to capture a mixed freight as it sailed east through its own personal ground blizzard. The first long distance shot catches the train as it passes by the former Leaf River Ag spur. It's not likely this spur will ever again see revenue service, as the fertilizer plant destroyed by last summer's tornado is being rebuilt in the industrial park on the south edge of Wadena. Rumor has it that a segment of the former GN line to Eagle Bend will be rebuilt to serve the new plant.


After backing away from the tracks, I waited as the train approached to catch the power in a more wedgie configuration. Quite a mix it was, with the Dash 9 leader, an ES44AC second, and a pair of cascade green units trailing. The train was a mess as well, with a lot of coal loads mixed in with tank cars and covered hoppers.


Then is was off for home, to carry in the groceries and report on the activities uptown. The big snow is due tonight, so perhaps I will venture out tomorrow for some actual railfanning.

Jim

Close to Home

Railfan Craig from Thunder Bay was in the area this past weekend, and a phone call from him was enough motivation to spend early Sunday morning along the tracks right in Wadena. We were lucky enough to get 4 trains in that time, and three of them were headed into the rising sun. Here you go:




That second coal train was kind of nice, with decent morning light and a matched set of power. Could have been ACes instead of GEVOs though. A good railfan always finds something to whine about. I've got that part of the hobby pretty much down pat.

Mrs. L4T agreed to a brief evening outing on Sunday, and we headed to Staples after hearing that an H train was preparing to leave the yard. First, at the Dower Lake crossing:


And then after a short drive, a shot to try and catch the 5 unit set of power at the Bluffton crossing.


The time of year is coming when shots any further west of CR 143 get tough, as the nose light is going away. A sure sign of fall.

With work to do and time wasting, we headed home after stopping at Wadena's Original Fresh Freeze for a Sunday supper. The fleet of westbounds passed as the sun was setting with no one present to shoot them.

Jim

Something Interesting

A couple of weeks ago, I got a phone call from a reporter at the Wadena Pioneer Journal asking if I was willing to do an interview discussing railroading around Wadena. Since this seemed like it might possibly be fun, I decided to do it. I arranged to meet the reporter at the PJ office and on the appointed day did the best I could to answer her questions in "plain english", in the hopes that anyone who read the story that might come out of this would be able to understand what was being said.

Saturday the Wadena paper showed up in our mailbox and I glanced through it without finding any railroad story. It was a little disappointing, but no great loss. Then today, I spotted an extra section in the pile of ads titled the "Community Builder". After quickly paging through it, there was the story, including a couple of photos by yours truly. Not very good photos, but they are mine. Here's a copy of the article I grabbed, since I couldn't find it on the web. (Click on the image to open it in a new window and read the story.)


It's not much, but it is the first time I've gotten any railfanning message out to a wider audience than the handful of people who read this blog. It actually is kind of exciting to see a picture you took appear in print. I know a lot of you have had the experience already, but this is a first for me.

That's the story of Wadena's "Celebration of the Railroad", and my little contribution to it.

Jim

Sneak a Peek

One of the great things about living in Wadena is the proximity to the Staples Sub. That is especially true anytime you approach the tracks at a road crossing. There is always a good chance that peeking down the right-of-way will reveal some evidence of a nearby train-whether that evidence is a lit signal, a FRED blinking in the distance at night, the single headlight of a DPU pushing, or best of all, the triangular glow of an approaching train.

Since my Friday started out with a trip to Perham for work, I was anticipating a glance down the tracks as I approached the Jefferson Street crossing in Wadena. The sunshine that was dancing around looked to be short-lived with a cloud bank building in the west, so I figured a perfectly timed eastbound might be my only chance for a nicely lit shot today. Sure enough, fortune smiled on me as the crossing revealed the headlight of a train approaching from the west. Reminded me of the CP "one unit wonders" I read about so often from the railfans just to the south. This train was passing through the part of Wadena hardest hit by the June tornado. As you can see there is still a lot of work to do before Wadena returns to anything near normal.


In Perham, I came across an interesting sight. Seems that one of the BNSF's Aeroflo coal cars got tired and decided to give up the ghost. The first picture below shows how repair crews transferred the load to another similar car (notice what the load in the right car looks like). They then pulled in the side that was bowed out and secured it with a chain, as you can barely see in the second photo.





Finally, on the trip home, I again sneaked a peek down the tracks, this time as I crossed over the tracks on Highway 10. Since another train was approaching I decided to make a quick detour to the Hagerman Road crossing, where the gates were dropping as I arrived and this appeared outside the driver's window:


So that's the story of another day in the life of a Staples Sub railfan. It's a great place to live and to look for trains.

Jim

A "Flurry" of Activity

There's a place in Wadena called the Fresh Freeze, as in "Wadena's original Fresh Freeze". They do ice cream better than the Dairy Queen. In place of the frozen treat that DQ calls a Blizzard, the Fresh Freeze offers something called a Flurry, and for a limited time they have a Kit-Kat Flurry available. It's a special treat, sort of like a little of the action BNSF sent our way this evening.

Mrs. L4T and I had a few errands to run in Brainerd this afternoon, and on the way home we debated where we should take sustenance this evening. We finally settled on Subway. When the time came to head uptown, I checked in on the ATCS display and noted a couple of westbounds holding in sidings on the single track section of the Staples Sub. Then at the last minute, another westbound showed up, between Wadena and Dower Lake. I may have been a bit rude as I tried to speed up the Mrs. in getting out to the car. She wondered what all the fuss was about, and I told her a train was on the way. Just as we neared the Jefferson Street crossing, the arms came down for an eastbound loaded DEEX train. I swung over to the west of the depot in case the DPU was facing the sun, and sure enough, it was:


You can see there were some young fans at the depot, watching trains pass from behind the fence.

As the DPU cleared the crossing, I checked for a headlight on Main One, and sure enough, here came the train. This one looks like empty oil cans headed back for a reload in western North Dakota. Young railfans were still on the lookout.


With no other westbounds showing for some time, we grabbed supper at Subway and ate in the shade at the depot. After that was done, the time for a Flurry had arrived, and I took ownership of a Kit-Kat special edition. I highly recommend this dish to any travelers passing through Wadena. It is hard on a diet, though.

With the westbounds getting closer, the time had arrived to pick a photo location. I decided to set up at the Bluffton curve, with the thought of chasing whatever showed up west. This plan was only partially successful, as a giant cloud decided to take residence between the sun and I just as the train arrived. But seeing as how the cloud was moving, and the train was an interesting 108 axle "Slot Machine", we decided to run him down for a shot at the overpass between Mills and Perham. Here you go:


By this time I could see the last westbound of the "flurry", such as it was, was passing though Staples, so maybe another chance at the Bluffton curve was in the offing. Sure enough, his headlight appeared just as I walked up to the crossing. The wait for this shot was less than a minute:


And then, once more as he passed me by in lovely light conditions:


So, all in all, a successful outing. We saw a train or two that we didn't shoot, along with the four shown here. Had a pleasant drive from Wadena almost to Perham and back, and a nice visit with Mrs. L4T. And to top it all off, the Flurry I got from the Fresh Freeze was as good a confection as I have enjoyed in the last couple of years. It was worth leaving my developing empire in the basement for this trip, that's for sure!

Jim

Independence Day

Way behind, is what I am. The model railroad siren in my basement has been calling, and combined with a busy work schedule it leaves little time for railfanning these hot summer days, and even less time to spend on the internet.

However, last Sunday Mrs. L4T and I managed to sneak away for an evening of train hunting, and I want to share the results in this post. We had hoped to get a chance to eat at the Station House in Perham, but when we found it closed for the holiday our old standby Dairy Queen was an admirable stand in.

But the train photography from this evening centers on the Wadena area. After supper I decided to try and get a couple of shots in town, with the intent of catching BNSF trains rolling past some of the tornado damage. My first train of the day was passing what used to be the Express Central supply building when I shot this:


We headed back out Bluffton way to intercept an eastbound, shown here as he tops the hump just west of the crossing.


Just behind him, another eastbound, this on a stacker, rolled out of the sun. I wasn't really trying to stand in the exact same location, but it looks like I did.


ATCS told me of a westbound that was passing through Wadena as the eastbound stack train approached. I figured I would be very close to a meet, and sure enough the head ends passed each other just to my east. Here's the westbound, another stack train, as he approached the Bluffton crossing.


I saw and heard a train coming off the Brainerd Sub. I decided to shoot what I expected to be coal empties at the Bluffton curve. This is still one of my favorite spots in the area.


And finally back to Wadena to catch another eastbound passing what used to be Heartland Tire and the Credit Union building.


So all in all, we had some good train action in a relatively short time. It was good to get out of the basement for a couple of hours and take in the real trains instead of the little ones.

Jim