Being new to this list again, I can post on Staples Sub happenings, and one big one this winter has been the parking of trains on M2 starting at Becker on west, some of which sit almost a week! I can keep updates to what is parked including numbers for those who might be interested in roster shots or others.

_________________
-Jacob Nelson

RRPA: http://nels1jac.rrpicturearchives.net/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21929373@N05/

Trains are starting to get backed into open spaces near Becker to get tied down. The spud crossing had an opening and I received a heads up from railfan Eric Warhol that an oil train was there now, so it must have pulled down M1, and backed up to the spud crossing, have not heard of that happening before. There are still 3 trains parked around Clear Lake that have all been there a week now, a 4x1 manifest east of town, a manifest parked downtown with a pair of GEVO's, and then the CN duo with the IC blue up front west of town. Sounds like there may be another one or two west of town, but I do not know what they are.

_________________
-Jacob Nelson

RRPA: http://nels1jac.rrpicturearchives.net/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21929373@N05/

Trains are starting to get parked on M2 west of 421 to Big Lake. Late last week it was an oil train and then a coal train, and for the last two days it has been the same two coal trains. I also noticed another oil train has been backed into M2 in Becker to the spud crossing since Saturday night. Nothing great for power except for the outward facing DPU, CSXT 3091, a boxcar paint job. I did see a pair of PTI vans heading west on my way into work, so maybe they were off to rescue some of those parked trains or possibly further up the line. The 3 around Clear Lake have now been parked for over a week, longer than any I have ever seen.

_________________
-Jacob Nelson

RRPA: http://nels1jac.rrpicturearchives.net/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21929373@N05/

Very odd to see the oil loads parked. They like to keep them moving along.

_________________
A BNSF fan by default.

I agree they do. Seems they sit just a minimum of a day if that and then move along. The manifests that have been sitting in Clear Lake must be bottom barrel NTW bound ones if they have been allowed to sit over a week now.

_________________
-Jacob Nelson

RRPA: http://nels1jac.rrpicturearchives.net/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21929373@N05/

Some of the oil trains do not have a destination point when they leave ND, thus while the brokers are getting bids these trains will rome the system for an extra day sometimes so it is easier to park them north of the various interchange points in CHicago and Kansas City just in case.

_________________
Milwaukee Road Matt

The NTW hump is only precessing 600 cars a day right now. Without being able to process all the inbound cars, the dispatchers are filling every available siding with inbound trains. This is making it close to impossible to move anything as there are no sidings available to have meets at.

Trains 1 and 2 that were parked in Clear Lake, the one with a 4x1 configuration left sometime in the morning and the 2nd train in downtown that had a couple GEVO's on it are on the move waiting on Northstar and possibly going to get a new crew around Coon Creek. Just one more parked train west of Clear Lake with the IC/CN duo.

_________________
-Jacob Nelson

RRPA: http://nels1jac.rrpicturearchives.net/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21929373@N05/

The SUPNTW was sitting at SSS Cambridge today, no crew and looking like it hadn't moved in a day

_________________
A BNSF fan by default.

They were still there on Monday.

_________________
-Jacob Nelson

RRPA: http://nels1jac.rrpicturearchives.net/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21929373@N05/

Well... as of this morning (2-5-13) main 2 has been cleared of the parked trains from Becker to St. Cloud. There were a couple of double stack ones, but I assume they will move on. Then again, I have seen those parked for a few days too.

_________________
- Eric

The train or two near 421 has also cleared, NTW must be catching up.

_________________
-Jacob Nelson

RRPA: http://nels1jac.rrpicturearchives.net/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21929373@N05/

Looks like the trains are starting to bunch up again along M2 at Becker to Clear Lake, and also at 421. On my way into work today, I'll see if I can ID what they are, not actually ID's, but stack, oil, mixed freight etc.

_________________
-Jacob Nelson

RRPA: http://nels1jac.rrpicturearchives.net/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21929373@N05/