Some Superior Shots After Work

After work today I decided a swing by the BNSF facilities in Superior was in order. (All of you with your Virginian photos must have inspired me.) To give you an idea of what Superior is like, the first of these shots was taken at 4:18 PM. The last was shot at 4:28 PM. And yes, the same day. I also passed on a CP train that wasn't very well lit, and another unknown train that I heard blowing for a crossing but never saw. In addition there were 3 other GP's and a pair of Dash 9's at the engine terminal I didn't shoot.

But first up, at 28th Street, an SD40-2 is headed south with a cut of cars while a pair of GP's rest. Interestingly (to me at least), I also saw these two engines on my way to Superior last night. They were just west of Home Depot in Baxter with a string of gondolas. It was strange to the 2801 leading and the 2785 bringing up the rear, as if it were a DPU. I figured they were headed into the spur at Baxter.


Next I decided to head up to the engine terminal and see what was happening, but before I made to 21st Streeet another SD passed me going south. Since it had nice looking paint I decided to shoot it, even though the nose is not well lit.


There was something going on with an ACe at the terminal. I don't think it was good news after looking up the website on the side of the van.


A lone GP sat on the short engine track, tempting me to try shooting it, so I did. And now I'm posting the photo.


I was going to post one more shot of the people working on the ACe, but decided not to. And now I have made a post for September. Hopefully my wild life will soon begin to settle down so I can get back to posting a bit more regularly.

The Rebuild, Part 2

Last time, I included the following photo, showing the existing yard of the WCMR:


It's no longer the existing yard, of course. My last post showed how it was pretty much torn up. Last night and today I got serious about getting the rest of the track down, at least temporarily to see how it operated. As a result, the same area looks like this tonight:


From left to right on the far end you have stub ended classification/storage tracks, the arrival/departure track, the main, and the passing siding. I also left a switch in the passing siding for a (very) narrow flat to serve as one more industry on the layout.

Closer to the camera, the engine service facility is on the left. This has been completly relocated from where it was before and so far I'm a lot happier with this layout.

This change has made the layout seem bigger and less crowded. With the old yard, I had so many trains on the layout it was hard to run one-you had to do all kinds of shuffling to make room. Today, with the exact same rolling stock, I had a clear main and two empty tracks in the staging yard so the railroad was a lot more "fluid", as they say in the industry.

I've got about half the track joints soldered, and somewhere around the same proportion of electrical feeders installed. Things moved along nicely today, and with some luck I may be able to start gluing down track and ballasting before spring!

Stay tuned for more WCMR updates, and maybe even some railfanning shots if the weather and the trains ever dovetail with work.

The Long-Lost Staples Saturday Morning

A couple or three years ago, it was a common thing for me to head over to Staples on Saturday mornings to grab some kind of breakfast sandwich, see if the Staples or Brainerd Sub had anything much going on, and check out the yard and depot. Somehow I've gotten out of that habit. Today seemed like a good day to do it again, if only for old times sake. Cloudy skies nearly cancelled the trip, but when Mrs. L4T looked out and said the sun was shining I flew into action. After a stop at Holiday for vittles, it was off to the races.

My first train was this eastbound, holding at the Dower Lake station sign on Main 2. With the crossing blocked, it sounded like they were in a hurry to move, but the dispatcher told them to be patient. I got a shot anyway, to record the power:


A westbound was waiting as well, this one just before the switch for the Brainerd Sub. Since no attractive photo angles were in play, and the yard looked to have some interesting stuff, I passed right by. However, when I was shooting some of the yard trains they started to pull and I got this backlit shot under the clouds as they passed the depot.


When the sun peeked out, I managed to grab a shot of the trains in the yard. Here you can see a trio of Dash 9 led eastbounds waiting to head for Northtown and destinations beyond. Gotta love that H1 paint!


After that I swung over to the Depot, where renovation is still underway. A conversation with a caretaker clued me in that the ticket agent's room will soon house the Staples Chamber of Commerce. They are making progress.

I was waiting for the eastbound I had shot earlier to come by, and finally he did. The dispatcher had crossed him over to Main One at Dower Lake and he passed the depot on the near track, under stormy skies that the Mrs. informed me were producing rain in Wadena almost from the time I left.


After that, with ATCS showing nothing and rain approaching Staples, it was off for Wadena, where I set to work on a custom built grain bin that may some day approach completion.

Say Hello to Jeff

Working backwards from my adventure of Sunday evening, I now present you my railroad related work from July 5th. Another beautiful central Minnesota morning lured me to Staples with the hope that the traffic slump of the 4th would be rectified.

I left home around 0645 and didn't get a shot until I arrived in Staples. A short GE powered merchandise train was entering the yard as I got to town, so I stopped and shot him passing under the signal bridge on the west end of the yard.

I wasn't too thrilled with the shot and I noticed this train was being led by an ES44AC, which seemed strange for a short merchandise. I noticed the trailing unit was a sister DC unit, which seemed even more unusual so I shot the two of them as they drifted into the yard to wait for a loaded coal train to enter the Brainerd Sub.


Since the coal train was laboring to get out of town, I decided I had plenty of time to run out to the east edge of town and shoot him. I got the lead unit on this 1x1 DPU as he approached the little bridge just east of Staples.


Looks like the makings of a GE Festival in Staples this AM. When I headed back into town to check what was in the yard, I had the chance to shoot the AC/DC train once more as he passed the depot, and here is the result.


I took advantage of a lull in the traffic to check out some trains that were sitting in the yard. A worm train behind GE power and a vehicle train and stack train, each behind SD40-2's waited for crews to continue east. I grabbed a couple of photos from various angles.



It's just hard for me to accept that the Dash 2's are getting so rare around here. It seems only yesterday that they were almost as common as the Dash 9's, and now I see more ACe's than I do 40's. Never thought I would see the day.

As I was running around town, I saw another vehicle pull into the Amtrak parking lot and just had the feeling it was another fan. I swung back through and sure enough he had a camera so I stopped. Turns out his name was Jeff, he was from the Rochester area, and had come up to Staples the night before on his way to a family gathering up north. He wanted to see the Staples Sub for himself and he got to see some action. I had heard KAW talking to a vehicle train inbound from Dilworth and they had some cars to set out in Staples. The train pulled up on Main Two, uncoupled about the front 25 cars, and ran east past the yard lead, then backed the entire cut into the yard. Had an interesting loco as the second unit in this double headed consist as well.


I couldn't quite place what was strange about it at first glance but I soon realized that even if it said SD40-2R on the frame, this was an SD45-2 body all the way. Something that is even scarcer than classic SD40-2's on the Staples.

While the power from the vehicle train was backing down Main Two again to couple up to what was left of their train, a "Zipper" came through town, having crossed over to Main One seconds earlier. I shot the two of them side-by-side, even though I was clouded out for a moment.


Jeff was hard at work recording the action as well. I told him when I heard the train on the radio it would probably have plenty of power, and thankfully the BNSF didn't choose to make an idiot of me this day.


I needed to leave about this time, and Jeff had duties to attend to as well. I wished him well and hope he enjoyed the time he spent on the Staples Sub on a pretty summer morning.

I anticipated this would be the end of my shots for the morning, but upon arriving at home the wife and I needed to run uptown to do some business. When we started for home my finely-honed railfan sense detected a train approaching from the west. Yes, I saw the headlight. We took a short detour so I could grab him as he passed through Wadena. Here was a formerly-rare ACe in charge of a DAPX train.


Plus, this coal train had in its consist the most photographed coal car in my collection, the infamous DAPX 550, with rotary couplers on each end.


I'm struggling with understanding what it means when I have started to memorize the car number on one of the thousands of coal cars that pass through Wadena on a regular basis. Oh well, one down, 4000 or so to go. What could be more fun?

Jim

Something Old, Something New...

I made a trip to Staples this morning as it looked like a pleasant day was in store. The scanner was quiet as I headed east, and I saw no traffic on the trip over. I was a little worried because I had heard a lot of horns very early in the morning before I left (departed about 0645) and I hoped I hadn't missed the day's traffic.

Last night Mrs L4T and myself had been out prowling for trains with very little luck. I heard an extensive discussion between a Conductor and Fort Worth mechanical regarding an SD75 that would not load past 150 amps, but no other traffic. It sounded like that eastbound might have trouble getting up the hill into Wadena as his only other unit was a GP60M, but when I headed west to intercept he was scooting right along and I heard him tell the dispatcher the unit was now working, although with some surging going on.

The point of the story is that the train was sitting in the Staples yard this morning with a Dash 9 tacked onto the head end as well. I stopped for a photo as I arrived in Staples.


I know it's a stretch, but with the H1 paint scheme on a three digit road number Dash 9, I'm calling this the "something old" part of the story. I guess we could also use the pioneer unit of the final GP model built as well for the something old part of the rhyme. Where's an SD40-2 when you need one?


Since nothing was moving but I could hear chatter on the radio about getting a FRED to talk to a loco, I decided to swing around the yard and see what else was there. Turns out, quite a bit.


A head on shot revealed the train that was fiddling with its FRED as well. Lots of trains tied down in Staples this AM.


When I heard a 9300 series clear a warrant in Wadena, I decided to try catching him near the depot. I didn't have to wait long for MERC coal loads to show up, and the something new part of the equation was in play. A second ACe was pushing, in real fresh and shiny paint. I only have video of the pusher on this 1x1 train, I will try and get it posted as well. Here are a couple of shots in Staples:




I decided to chase him a while, and got him between Staples and Motley, then again as he crossed Highway 10 on his trip to Superior.



While in Motley I spotted a ballast car sitting on a siding as well, with some unusual graffiti. I couldn't resist trying this:


Back to Staples, and the Becker loads were ready to leave. I shot them heading out of the yard onto Main 2 track, and now we have reached the something borrowed (I know, this is a real stretch) and something blue part of the rhyme. Oh well, three out of four isn't bad. Not often that I see a solid set of CITX units operating in this part of the country.



The last train that was leaving was the original merchandise train the wife and I had seen the night before. Shortly, the Dash 9 got a signal and was soon headed east as well.


I headed back to Wadena with a bunch of photos to process and some good memories. I was glad I made the decision to head east this morning and look 4 trains.

Jim