Four Years in the Making…
I’ve always been interested in railroads and trains, for longer than I can remember. I’ve been photographing trains for about ten years, more seriously for the last four years. In the last three years, I have taken several thousand photos. Many of those photos remain locked away on my hard drive, only for my eyes to see. I try to maintain some standards in my photos I share and more so on what I put on my website. Ever since I saw the photo below taken by fellow Minnesota railfan Mike Vandenberg, I’ve been inspired to get a snow shot that exhibits the magnitude and power that is so evident by the vicious cloud of snow.
http://www.morris.umn.edu/~vandenbm/ind ... orris.html
While Mike’s photo displays the power of the train, busting through a snow plow drift at a grade crossing, my series of photos lacks that. My photos from this weekend’s storm doesn’t show the power of the train by throwing the snow feet in the air, but rather the unpredictability and impressiveness that mother nature has over us. The weather service was predicting four to eight inches of snow with isolated areas of ten inches to a foot. In the first few hours of Sunday, April 6 we had already received thirteen inches of snow. By the time the snow stopped falling, the storm total had reached 29.2 inches of snow. In my photos, the trains were struggling through the snow, traction was horrible, and visibility was worse.
The day before the storm, I had the scanner programmed to the Lakes Sub and Grand Forks Sub, just waiting for something to come to life. While not uncommon for this area, not a train had moved in over 24 hours. After the first foot of snow fell, I was out driving around trying to see if there was anything railroad related to shoot in the snow. Much to my disappointment the only thing on or around the BNSF was the big truck that’s always parked at the station sign. I went back home and tried to get some sleep as it was going on 4am by now, and I wanted to get up for the possibility of shooting trains in the snow. With my nephew pounding at my door at 8am in an ecstatic chant proclaiming, “It snowed! It snowed!” I leaped from my bed and made sure the scanner was on just to make sure I didn’t miss any trains.
I strolled out to my car and clicked the garage door open, as the door went up I wondered when the snow packed against it would end. After waiting for the door to go up over a foot, I finally saw daylight! Knowing that my Impala would be useless more than 20 feet out the door, I closed it back and grabbed the keys for the Dodge 4x4 “The Monster Truck”. Normally after a snow storm, the drill is to grab the broom and brush the vehicles off. It took nothing less than a shovel to get the truck cleared off and moving. Unfortunately when I got back to the tracks again it was the same results with no trains around. That was also good news though. It meant that trains hadn’t moved through and disturbed the fresh snow. I was able to shoot this near the east end of the yard though.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2397448917/
Once I got back home my sister, my nephew, and his father were ready to go to Bemidji. I decided since I hadn’t heard anything on the scanner and there were no signs of any trains I would join them in having dinner. When we were in Bemidji we had to pick up someone else that was going to Grand Rapids. Knowing that my chances of catching the M-SUPMIN would be better if I went with them with scanner, I volunteered to drive them through the blinding snow storm. I didn’t have a chance to stop and check the internet, but I got a text message from OutstateMinnesotaRail list member Jake N. that Dave S. had posted that the M-SUPMIN had left the Twin Ports. With the train leaving Duluth and our location, I knew the timing would be nearly perfect for a meet in Grand Rapids.
When we approached Grand Rapids, the CTC signals at Cohasset were red. I figured it was the Grand Rapids switcher working or something. As soon as we got to the mall in Grand Rapids I saw two EMD SD60s pulling the M-SUPMIN. As we dropped off our passenger, more like threw her out of the car so I could race back to get in front of the train we lucked out and got green lights at every intersection. I figured with the way highway 2 was, I would only be able to get ahead of the train once. Much to my surprise the train had some work to do in Grand Rapids or something, because we caught up to it by the time we got to Deer River. The first official snow busting shot I have been satisfied with would be caught.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2397009332/
Seeing that the train was crawling through Deer River, I figured I would have enough time to get ahead of him by Bena. Well, that was before I saw that highway 2 had turned from poor to dang near impossible to traverse. The good thing for me was the train was experiencing the same problem and was limited to about 25MPH. I set up at a grade crossing right at the entrance to the Chippewa National Forest. The forest normally provides shelter from heavy snow from accumulating on the tracks, especially drifting snow. The problem with this snow is it was coming down in blankets and nothing could stop it. I also set up the video camera. I had to adapt my surroundings as I forgot my tripod. I set up the video camera on the back of the truck in about a foot of snow. Easily conformed to build the perfect base!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2397010430/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2396175987/
Blasting west on highway 2 at a blazing 30MPH, we had to slow and actually stop several times because of visibility issues. At several points along the way there were trees that had fallen under the weight of the snow. There were a dozen stops on highway 2 where we had to drive in the opposite lane avoiding downed timber. We easily beat the train to Bena where I trudged through the knee deep snow to get a shot of the train busting through the grade crossing and the crossing gates. I misjudged again how far away the train was. I stood in the pounding snow and cold for about five minutes. When I returned to the car, my nephew brushed the snow off my hair and there was easily an inch of accumulation on top of my head!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2397011650/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2397012384/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2397013162/
After these shots the crew was called by the dispatcher inquiring on their status and how far they had made it. The crew told the dispatcher they were only to Bena and that they couldn’t see where they were going and were only running in the upper teens. They continued to say neither of them had ever seen anything like this before. The dispatcher told them to take it easy and make it there safely. Just as the dispatcher was getting ready to get off the radio, the crew said, “Hey dispatcher, I got something for ya!” He replied and asked what it was. The conductor said, “If you can believe this, there is a railfan out here chasing us!” He busted out laughing and replied, “Well that’s good, you’ll be on a calendar somewhere!” I had enough time to duck into Schley where I shot these shots.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2396179171/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2397014750/
I also shot video at Schley but the snow was simply too heavy here. You can’t even see the train in the video. The horn was so muffled I was only able to hear the short and long burst of the grade crossing warning. Some snow had also made its way to the lens of the camera so the focus got jammed up on that. We got back on highway 2 for the final stretch of our trip. We got caught in a long line of cars that was going 5-10MPH so I wasn’t able to get to my next target spot, the Pike Bay Loop Road. I did manage to make it to the Cass Lake Yard before they pulled in. Just as we got to the wayside rest in Cass Lake, there were cops blocking the road and everyone was turning into the parking lot. While I am not certain, they must have closed the highway until they could get the trees removed. I nearly got the truck stuck on the road in the deep snow!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2398310176/
Not wanting to get stuck, I parked the truck there and turned the hazards on just in case there was any other traffic. Sure enough as soon as I got a couple hundred feet from the truck another truck came. He saw that I was “stuck” and backed out to the main road. I walked over to where the switch tender was working and started snapping some photos of the train. The crew was just getting off the train and I approached them. Listening to their chatter on the radio, I knew they were in a good mood and seemed friendly so I approached. I snapped a few photos then the conductor came up to me and said you have to talk to the engineer, he wants this photo! I went over and he wanted me to take his photo next to the snow splattered train.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2397015460/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2396181067/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2396181813/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2396182411/
If you notice the train is missing a ditch light. It must have burned out from all the moisture hitting the lens because it was working earlier in the chase. I talked with the engineer for a while and gave them both my business card so they could check out my report. He indicated that they were waiting for the M-MINSUP to take east and that is why they were putting their train in the yard. Hearing this I notified Jake N. so he would be able to shoot it coming through Bemidji. The crew then went to assist the switch tender clear the switch. What a mess that was.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2396194757/
Knowing that the M-MINSUP was due, but running late, I went home to charge up the batteries in my video camera that last only about 20 minutes. I kicked off my soaked shoes and socks and traded them for dry ones. Only a few minutes after doing this my phone indicated I had a text message from Jake N. advising me the M-MINSUP was already through Bemidji. I grabbed everything in a mad dash to the truck and then had to clear off another couple inches of snow before I could move. I struggled making it to one of my favorite desolate crossing just into Hubbard County. Just as I turned on to the side road, I had a huge plume of snow fly up on the hood and on the windshield. Unable to see I locked up the brakes fearing I was heading for the ditch. I knew since I had stopped it would take far too long to clear the windshield again so I grabbed the camera and made my way through the now nearly waste deep snow. The shot below, I am actually on the road in the lane of traffic, not in the ditch.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2398312572/
I grabbed a shot of the train busting through the tree line at 19MPH. The crew was talking on the radio and said they had never in their life seen anything like this before. One of the crew members said the only other time they had seen snow like this was drifting out in Aberdeen and when he was working on the Soo Line. The other crew reminded him, “Yea, but these aren’t drifts. This is all fresh snow that has just fallen. We’d be in a world of hurt if it were drifting. These trains would be stuck.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2396195599/
MONEY! This is the shot I have been trying to get for years!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2396196213/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2397031638/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2396197611/
I hardly made it to Cass Lake before the train did. I was able to shoot both trains here. In the second photo even the Sheriff’s Department parked all their squad cars and took out every pick up and sport utility vehicle they had. The crew did a main line crew change, which gave me hardly any time to make it to the other end of the yard, but I did make it and was able to shoot the train one last time.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2397032958/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2396198901/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2397034330/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2397034906/
At the other end of the yard it was awesome seeing the trench the M-SUPMIN dug when it pulled into the yard. I shot the M-MINSUP passing it wide angle, then zoomed more in on the train as it got closer. This was the same crew that brought the M-SUPMIN to Cass Lake turning around and heading back. They said there was no overnight stay for them in Bemidji and were running back east until they died on their hours. The crew was awesome! The engineer waved at every crossing and even stuck his head out a couple of times, trying to get himself into the shot. That would have been an awesome addition of human element, but the snow was just too heavy and you can’t see him.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2396200809/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/2396201419/
And last but not least… the video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WOlPGOJRC8
This is possibly one of the longest reports I have written, but what an awesome chase! Everything just worked out together. Cass Lake officially took the “golden shovel” for the Paul Bunyan Region with over 29 inches of snow which was the official report by the National Weather Service. While we lost power several times during the storm, it wasn’t for very long. I did notice that there were several places around Cass Lake that had sustained some kind of damage. The awnings of a couple businesses were damage or destroyed and lots of trees were down. The burms in the roadway were the biggest I have ever seen in my life. It is very hard to believe that just hours before the snow started my nephew and I were enjoying a warm afternoon in shirts at the park and him riding his bike on the dry snow-free bike path. Thanks for reading and hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.
-MN Chris
http://www.geocities.com/railtalk
P.S. I love getting comments on my photos so please leave some!
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