Cross post from OutstateMinnesotaRail - been a while since I've actually "fanned" near the Twin Cities so here is a trip report!
Well, as most people know… this weekend was TrainFest in Milwaukee and I had full intentions on going but family issues, work, and fate worked against it. In the end I got a really nice consolation prize. Friday evening came along and it was decision time. I could bust down to Milwaukee solo and take in TrainFest and then drive back to Cass Lake in a two day mission… or, I could head down to the southeast fringes of OutstateMinnesotaRail and take in the snow action. The photos that follow will make it obvious at which choice I made.
Departing Cass Lake before sunrise, list lurker Steve Mansavage and I had our eyes set on Big Lake and Elk River to take photos. With nothing but cool temperatures and overcast conditions the first half of the trip was hopefully not a sign of what was to come. Checking the weather for updates, it was clear it was snowing in the Twin Cities and was expected to get worse. Listening to the top 45 songs on XM radio the scanner popped to life as we neared Motley. We crossed the tracks and looked off to the west and saw a headlight. The slow moving coal train came around the corner and I got a semi-decent zoom-pan.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/5180417291/If it were a sunny morning with a more attractive leader a chase east would have ensued. With better shooting conditions further south and hopefully more trains to come, it was off on highway 10. The scanner was full of radio traffic with lots of trains west of Staples and more coming from the east. With a parade of C44-9W’s in H2 paint allowed for an easy decision to continue towards the snow. Once we reached Little Falls our first sign of snow started. There were just a few flurries falling but that was a good sign. There is an old Indian tale around these parts that “small flakes mean big snow, big flakes means little snow”. Once we were south of St. Cloud approaching Clear Lake, the snow started sticking to the ground. Once we reached Clear Lake the snow was really coming down good with some accumulations on the ground. When we were going through Becker we caught up to a stack train that was calling a broken crossing gate into the dispatcher in Clear Lake. The dispatcher copied their information and then gave the train another malfunctioning crossing restriction, then another, followed by another.
I wasn’t sure we would get in front of the train before Big Lake, but to my surprise it stopped just west of Big Lake and then had to protect the crossing. The heavy snowfall caused the crossing gates to lower all the way to the ground. Some were even falling down after breaking at the break away joints. I got a shot of the train as it blared the horn for the crossing.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/5176842441/The train had to remain at restricted speed through the crossing because a signal maintainer was protecting the crossing and also working on the problem. This allowed us to get in front of the train two more times in Big Lake – try doing that to a stack train under normal conditions.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/5177485032/With only an inch or two of snow on the ground, I got to the crossing near the Northstar Station and got a broadside shot of the C44-9W passing. The gate was an example of all the crossing gates on this section of track. This one wasn’t touching the ground like other ones were, but still not in the normal position.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/5176904415/The eastbound stack train was meeting a long westbound manifest at Big Lake where the double track returns to single track at the Northstar Station. The two train crews were talking back and forth about the weather and asking where each other had hit the snow. The stack train radioed to the manifest that they hit the snow near Little Falls. The manifest radioed they’d hit it when they went on duty at “Downtown Northtown”. While the crews were chatting about their adventures in the snow, I looked at my car caked in the first snow of the year for me and had to take a shot. As the stack train cleared the manifest they gave them a good roll-by and then asked about one of their crossing restrictions and how it looked. The other crew gave the noble advice to follow the rules.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/5178510047/Then the long manifest made the trip into the single track and were on their way to Staples.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/5179101872/After the trains cleared, I tried to get a shot of the manifest’s DPU just as a truck pulled up and blocked the shot. It is nice to see DPU being used on the manifests again. It almost seems like that practice went away during the summer months or I was just missing them. I’m sure the colder conditions and braking may have something to do with it. After this train it was time to start getting into position for shots of the first inbound Northstar train.
We stopped at Hardees to grab some breakfast as the soda and sausage tornado from Holiday in Walker wasn’t a sufficient breakfast. After a long wait for the world’s slowest service we were off to the tracks and were scouting out a spot to shoot in the snow. Trying to find an out of the way spot wasn’t too hard as traffic was really light with the blinding snow. We parked on Railroad Street and waited. I figured the train would be through Elk River around 10:30 given their scheduled stops at Elk River and Big Lake. So at 10:28 we stepped out in the snow for a shot. At 10:29 we were firing and shooting.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/5173605821/Despite the very heavy snowfall the train was on time and making good time as well. The horn sounded like a goose being tortured flying around the corner. Much to my surprise, the quick reaction and focus from my 50D allowed me to pop a couple shots off of the train closer and then again going away.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/5174170084/http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/5178526909/With the first inbound Northstar train screaming towards Minneapolis I figured there would be a surge of freight traffic and I was right. We first navigated over to the parking lot across from Grand Rental Station. It wasn’t long after and the sound of a horn rang to the west. You could hear the train coming around the corner and crossing Main Street before you could see. I love shooting in the snow, but it was almost snowing too hard to get a shot.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/5173587905/Not a fan of the last location we ventured back over by the dental office in Elk River east of Main Street. It was a short walk up to the grade crossing for shots, plus the fact trains had to protect the crossing to the east. It wasn’t too long and I happened to look up between drying off my camera and clearing the video camera’s lens when I saw a headlight. A quick run up the snowy hill yielded a stack train westbound.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/5178552139/This was about the climax for the heavy snow as the train came around the corner. Here is a wider shot.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/5178567863/After gaining the attention of Elk River PD, we decided to move back to the parking lot across from the rental station. This is also where we were going to meet Todd R. When we got to the parking lot, Elk River Street Department was already plowing the lot so we had to park off to the side to let them work. When I was reaching into the truck for more paper towels to dry my camera, another horn blasted. I jumped out of the car and took a shot of the train which turned out to be a unit tank train.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/5179192890/Completely saturated from the heavy wet snow I had to get in the car to warm up. My feet were dripping, my pants looked like I had been caught in a rain storm, and the snow on my head was melting and running down my face. Just before the end of the train arrived I reviewed my pictures and remembered there were only two locomotives on the point so that meant there was likely on in DPU. I got a shot of the DPU going through the curves in Elk River.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/5178603525/Todd was arriving and I actually wanted to hit the CP Paynesville Sub for a chance at catching the high-wide load that others caught. Navigating the snow covered roads was easy until we were on the county roads that had yet to be plowed. The several inches of slush limited our speeds, but we finally made it. Unfortunately the dispatcher had issued track and time to a maintainer and we knew that would hamper our results on the Paynesville Sub. We did find a train parked at Dickenson though.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/5178621645/Hearing the Soo Line 6052 as the leader on another westbound train, Todd made the bet I couldn’t get him in front of the train so he could get a shot. The wager was dinner. Well, you bet me a meal I’m going to win. Sure enough, east of South Haven we caught up to the parked SOO 6052 and grabbed a few shots.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/5179244358/Not knowing exactly what was going where or who was coming, we held around South Haven when we heard an eastbound train. We got into position east of Kimball for the eastbound, but then heard the westbound was heading for the hole at South Haven and were about to die on their hours. It wasn’t certain how far out the eastbound was so we gave up on it and went for the shot in South Haven.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/5178567863/Still not sure on the eastbound we decided to work towards Minneapolis and see if the high-wide was near the yard or where it was. As we approached Rockford we got a shot of another westbound that was parked waiting for the congestion ahead to clear. This was about the line where people started driving like they were insane. There were cars in the ditch everywhere and lots of accidents. Rockford fire was also blocking off the roadway at one point where power lines were across the road.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/5179299118/With the light fading fast and the grim news the high-wide had already arrived in Glenwood it was hobby shop time. I was trying to rush as safely as possible to get to Becker’s before they closed. It wasn’t hard at all. MnDOT does a great job clearing the roadways in the metro… up north, not so good! If they used half the salt up here they do in one storm down there – it would last us all winter! After spending a small fortune at Beckers it was off to two more hobby stores to find other items. I’m in the middle of building an N-scale layout for my nephew’s Christmas present and needed some supplies and Beckers only handles HO-scale. After the third hobby shop it was time to cash in on my prize for catching up to the SOO 6052. A great dinner at Pizza Luce closed the day…. so I thought.
Finding Christmas music on the radio Todd and I decided to torture Steve by belting out holiday melodies that were playing on the radio. Thank God Steve forgot about the video feature on his camera. After dropping Todd off at his car it was north on highway 10. We encountered snow the entire ride home and it got worse the closer we got to Cass Lake. Up here in the land of deer and sticks, they don’t plow until it is over and done with. By the time we got to Cass Lake, some four hours later… there was about three inches of snow. The last shot was taken on the way home, this is what we saw for 200 miles.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/railtalk/5179310200/Here is video of the trains we caught:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pE4xvut-gc-MN Chris
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