An Hour at Iron Junction

While I've never had the opportunity to do a lot of railfanning of the DMIR, my occasional trips to the range area are always interesting. I lived in Virginia when I was just a youth, and can clearly remember high nose SD's and beautiful wide vision cabooses working the industrial area, sometimes delivering coal hoppers to the municipal power plant across the street from the Junior High and Roosevelt High School. Oh to have had a digicam in those days!

Iron Junction is also the site of the first real railfan trip I ever took, which lasted a total of about 2 hours due to other commitments that same day. But I was lucky as the Missabe put on a show, with one of the then fairly fresh tunnel motors teaming with a pair of SD-M's on Minntac loads bound for Two Harbors. I still have that photo somewhere.

So when work takes me to the range area these days, I always try to find a little time to visit the Iron Junction area again. Today was one of those times, as I finished up with my responsibilites in Hibbing about 3:30 and left the building to an actual sunny spring day. I was off.

My wait for a first train was short as I soon heard a horn to the north. A short three car train behind a pair of units came off the Two Harbors main (I can never remember what is what in that area, sorry) and crossed over to the west main at Iron Junction. Hey, a GT unit and a CN unit. No maroon here.


It was only about a 15 minute wait for the next train. This one was a loaded T-Bird, with an IC "death star" up front and the 403 trailing, still in maroon! So far I've seen four engines, in four different paint schemes.


If you take a close look at those two pictures, you can see that a northbound green signal lit up between the appearance of the two trains. I figured I would soon see more action, and sure enough, here came a T-Bird empty behind a pair of repainted tunnel motors. Backlit, but there was some dust being kicked up. I've barely been there a half hour and already have three trains bagged.


For some reason (actually, because I had work waiting in my hotel room), I decided to head out. Just as I crossed the tracks on Highway 7, another headlight showed up. Off I went, to shoot my first J-ball, the EJ&E 674, on the point of some morphodite train. A few gondolas, three covered hoppers, and a long string of old low-side ore cars. There weren't enough for a whole train, though. I wondered if they were being taken to a scrapyard somewhere, given that new cars are showing up.



And with that, I did head for the hotel, albeit with a short detour to Shelton Junction in the hopes a southbound CN Manifest would roll through. No such luck, so back to Chisholm it was. And now that I have done my preparation for tomorrow, I found enough time to sort-of edit a few photos and make this post. It was a great evening, with less than an hour between the first shot and last. Now you know my story of an hour at Iron Junction.

Jim

4 Way Meet

Got a bunch of photos this afternoon, but wanted to share one now. The rest will trickle out over time.

Mrs. L4T and I wound up in Hawley and in the midst of a 4 train meet. I can't think of another time I have had the chance to get 4 trains in one frame on the Staples Sub, other than in the Staples yard.


I know it's hard to see the fourth train-a westbound coal empty parked behind the stack train led by a pair of NS GE's. Really, all you can see in this shot is the headlight. Still, it was kind of cool. It also created some interesting operations that I will detail in another post later.

Jim

Cloudy Staples Sub

Last Tuesday found me Owatonna bound. Travel from Wadena to Owatonna allows one to fan a good section of the Staples Sub, although the cloud cover on that day did tend to take a bit of the fun out of the adventure. Still, a train under cloudy skies is still a train. So, I remained intrepid as I patrolled the tracks.

While a number of trains were out plying the rails, my first photo was of an eastbound manifest stopped near Clear Lake. Once again, I caught a C44 with an unmatched nose door. Seems like they are common as hen's teeth once you notice.

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I hadn't made it 5 miles when the next train popped up-this time a coal empty headed west for more black diamonds. It was led by an ACe, and I grabbed a shot from the side of the highway to document its passing.

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I soon overtook another stopped eastbound. Although the photo makes this look like a worm train behind a pair of SD75's, there were a bunch of other manifest cars tacked onto the end of the train out of sight around the corner. It was kind of pleasant to see a decent looking pair of warbonnets on a train. The paint on these has surely held up better than the Santa Fe scheme on the GE's.

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After that, it was "petal to the metal" all the way to Owatonna, to make my scheduled session. Oddly, the UP blasted a northbound through town as I was getting out of my vehicle less than a block from the tracks, but I didn't get a chance to shoot the train. For as much time as I spend in Owatonna, I still don't have a decent shot from there. I hear trains frequently but never seem to get the chance to break away and shoot them.

I made my way home by Thursday, strangely enough, by way of Two Harbors. Again, I saw no trains until reaching Staples, where a loaded coal train was heading onto the Brainerd Sub. I got the DPU, again under heavy clouds, just as he left the Staples Sub. The dip in the Brainerd Sub is very apparent in this shot.

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And that was it for the week. Hopefully I will get a little time to fan on Sunday afternoon, as the weather sounds good and there would be no better way to usher in spring than a railfanning adventure. Til next time,
Jim

Springtime in Wadena...

I peered out the window this afternoon and was shocked to see a shadow on the ground. Amazingly, the sun had finally burned through the clouds for a little while at least. When I asked Mrs. L4T if she was interested in checking out the sun, she answered in the affirmative. And so we were off.

I knew we would likely see at least two westbounds, and I heard the broken up transmission of a detector at some .6 milepost, with a train on Main 1, so I surmised the first one was not far off. I beat him to Verndale by less than 5 minutes. Here's a preview of a possible Verndale Rail shot-you can tell it's springtime when the afternoon sun is far enough around to get a little nose light on this shot.


Since I was on the Verndale bandwagon, I decided to grab the next train right in town. Olsen's Farm Supply has been busy unloading fertilizer cars on the spur here for the last few weeks and two are sitting there now.


We had ideas about heading to Staples to have supper at the Spot Cafe. However, once we arrived, it was closed. New winter hours call for them to close at 2:00 PM on Sundays. That should change soon as winter is rapidly giving way to spring in central Minnesota.

So after a brief tour of the yard, where a single GP was coupled up to the east end of a long string of cars but nothing else was present, we headed back to Aldrich to get a bite to eat at Ted and Gen's. They have fantastic rib sandwiches. Just before we made it into town, I heard an eastbound clear up his Richards Spur to Wadena warrant and decided to try a backlit shot. Another short wait yielded this parade of GE's:


Then it was off to supper. One more westbound passed while we were eating. The clouds had moved in again by the time we finished, so straight home it was. It's after 7:30 as I write this and there is still light in the western sky. It must be spring.

Jim

Matched Power

So today, I had to make a trip to Perham for work. The endless drizzle stayed that way on the drive over, and rendered any photo opportunities useless. That was a shame, since in contrast with yesterday, when MOW crews were everywhere between Wadena and Lake Park, today trains were keeping both mains shiny.

After my meeting, I started for home about 3:15 PM under cloudy but not rainy skies. Just as i was leaving the office, I heard an eastbound blowing the crossings in Perham. This gave me hope I might be able to catch him in the 20 miles between Perham and Wadena, but it was not to be.

Headlights were peering around the corner to the east when I crossed the tracks in town. I reached the edge of town just as a coal empty behind three H2 MAC's was roaring up the hill. It was nice to see a matched set of power, as coal is often behind some mix of MAC's in exec or H2 paint, GEVO's, and/or ACe's.


Resuming the homeward trek, I set the cruise just above the speed limit and headed east. A glance to the east from the overpass again revealed headlights peering from the overcast. Just east of the overpass I picked my way through the ditch without getting wet and shot a matching pair of GEVO's on WEPX empties.


And that was the end of the trains for today. The real trains, at least. Today was also the day the Fed Ex man showed up at look4trains world headquarters with the latest treasure from ebay. I may post some pix this weekend.

Jim

Odds and Ends

Not sure if this ever happens to anyone else, but real life has interfered with my railfanning to a major extent recently. Between running up and down the road for work, a trip to Florida to see my parents, and other assorted obligations, looking for trains has taken a definite back seat.

Still, when I have a spare moment or the opportunity presents itself, I try to get a photo or at least do some trainwatching. Here's a selection of what I have seen over the last 10 days or so. On Friday Feb 26 Mrs. L4T and I headed over to Staples for supper and ended up spotting a couple of trains. The first was an eastbound coal load on the Brainerd Sub. Since the DPU was pointed the "right" way I shot him a bit east of Staples as the train picked up speed on the Brainerd Sub.


I knew a westbound was headed our way as well on the Staples Sub so I waited for the SD39-2 led train to show up. They were lined into the yard, which caused a short wait for an eastbound coal train near the Staples Depot.


The next day the Mrs. gave me a lift to the Cities to catch a plane for a visit with my parents in Florida. Although I missed out on Gopher Rail as a result, the trip was well worth it. As we were headed through Staples, I did a double take as I spotted another pair of SD39-2's as power on DAPX empties, behind an AC GEVO. Regardless of where the light was, this one had to be captured for posterity. Wonder when the last time these classic units were the power on a Staples Sub coal train?


That is not something you see everyday.

After returning home from Florida Tuesday evening (it was a great trip, although a little short on trains-I saw an FEC loco in Fort Pierce from a highway overpass, and two flat cars on my visit to the Kennedy Space Center), I was off again early Wednesday morning-destination Fairfax, MN, on the Minnesota Prairie Line. When I stopped in Paynesville, a diesel horn alerted me to a westbound and I quickly backtracked to near the spot where Highway 4 and 55 intersect. A westbound ethanol train was my target here.


Just like the post is named, nothing but odds and ends. The MPLI was quiet while I was in the area and by the time I headed for home Friday evening the clouds were moving in. I saw a few trains this weekend but no chases or photos resulted, so hopefully some travels along Highway 10 this coming week will produce some fanning opportunities.

All for now,

Jim

"Tending" to Business

On Saturday, as the Escape needed an oil change and Mills Ford had a service special going on, Mrs. L4T and myself decided to head over Brainerd way late morning. As is the norm, the camera came along for the ride.

I met a westbound train just east of Verndale, but the sun was behind it and I didn't attempt a shot. That turned out to be a good thing, as I was them able to shoot the eastbound I stumbled across just the other side of Bluffton. He was stopped when I first saw him but started pulling as I passed. I didn't have to wait long at CR 9.


Finally, a Dash 9 leader with a matching nose door.


Since I was on the south side of the tracks for this shot, I had to wait for the entire train to pass before proceeding. That gave me the chance to notice that one of the cars in the train was a BN fuel tender. I don't know if these things are still used in their tender role, but the car was definitely in a moving train.


After I got home, I did some research on the BN/BNSF fuel tenders. Turns out there is quite a lot of information about this project online.


I don't recall having seen one of these before myself. It seems this was a pretty well developed and long term program on various parts of the system. The tenders served with both SD40-2's and SD60M's out west. The highest number I have seen referred to was BNFT 47 so there were a fair number of these units developed. They seem to be conversions from old tank cars.

I thought it was interesting to catch one passing through Staples. Whether it is being used as a regular tank car now, transporting fuel for company use, or still serves as a fuel tender, it's something that makes looking for trains interesting.

Jim