Epic Adventure Pt. 8

I figure I should keep going while I'm on a roll with this trip. Closing in on the end of the second day we came to the little town of Herman, MN, there we came across a nice set of elevator critters. NREX SD40-2s 7931 and 7211 were waiting quietly to start another round of loading unit grain trains. These would be the last trains we would shoot today, as the sun set on us. We did see one more BNSF freight heading through Holloway, MN. ILSX 3109 had been on my list to photograph there, but it was bedded down for the night at the elevator. I guess I'll get it next time.

With the sun set for the evening we crashed for the night in Appleton, MN. After 14 hours of photographing, the adventure would continue on Day 3.
Morning came quick. We barely got moving from the hotel when we bumped into an ex-RRVW CF7 in Madison, MN. Don't expect to find much in the way of coffee there. The gas station has a pot they put on, but you need to beat the farmers to it.

While the sun had remained hidden behind clouds for most of two days it did show itself while we were in Clarkfield, MN. It came out just in time to illuminate this ex-PRR GP10.

Down the road in Marshall, MN, at the big ADM plant, one gen-set was switching in the yard while ADMX 1401 was refueling.

Not seeing much for trains today we rolled into Tracy, MN we found this freshly cleaned up DME Jordan Spreader. The glad handles were still shining on it!

At this point we had put down so many miles I think HK and I were both a little overloaded. My camera was having trouble with the color white, which would be a minor problem, especially for some of the engines we saw on the last leg of the trip. We turned the corner and were pointed home.

Epic Adventure Pt. 7

We headed to the large Cargill Elevator in Breckenridge It is right next to the RRVW yard and seemed to be a busy place. ILSX GP39-2 #1389 and RRVW GP38-2 #2628 were working cuts of cars the yard.

Next door at the elevator RRVW SW1200RS #1276 was getting ready to pull a cut of cars through the loadout. The engineer eased the throttle up to where we were photographing from. He opened the window and asked if I wanted to ride with!

HK gets credit for photographing the moment. The engineer thought we were with a group from corporate who had come out to tour the facility. I rode through until the first car was spotted for loading. Luckily HK found me as I was now 1/2 mile from where we had parked. This really tipped the day to epic!

Here are the elevator switchers. They are owned by the elevator, but leased to RRVW when they are not in use (at least that's what the engineer told me). The second unit is RRVW SW1200RS #1213.

Heading south from town we caught another earthworm, this one let by BNSF Dash 9 #5447. It was kicking up pheasants as it cruised the countryside at track speed.

By the time we hit Norcross, MN we were catching grain trains 2 at a time. Here BNSF AC44CW #5707 overtakes BNSF ES44C4 #6688 which was sitting idle on the siding. This isn't quite the middle of nowhere, but you can see it from here.

Epic Adventure Pt. 6

Wow, I really need to get caught up on posting Epic Adventure pics. After rolling south out of Grand Forks, we headed south to Fargo, ND. This started a stretch of earthworms like I have never seen before. The first was being loaded at the rural elevator in Thompson, ND by ILSX TR4a #916. This ex-BRC unit still sounds like it's running strong!

The next unit grain train was led by BNSF Dash 9's 4793 and 4743.

From Fargo we made a quick run West, to Casselton, ND, at the Ethanol Plant there we found this little jem, NIWX NW2 #9251. The Northern Illinois & Wisconsin is a leasing company based far south of here.

After cheching out the Ethanol plant we headed back East to Dilworth, MN and the awesome BNSF yard there. BNSF ES44DC #7343 was leading an auto train just east of town.

At a crossing on the east side of the yard we caught a nice 5 engine lashup on an oil train with some CSX run through power in the mix.

 After Dilworth we turned south again. Next stop: Breckenridge, MN. The first engine we found in town was RRVW GP10 #404, this one is sublettered for MOW and was hooked to the ditch sprayer.

 By the elevator in town we found a pair of forlorn CF7's RRVW 309 and 303 have been sitting a while.

Looking at the front of 303 behind the Jordan Spreader you can see the damage from a vehicle collision that side lined the unit years ago. The spreader has probably seen more action the last couple of years that the engine.

 

There was unit power for another grain train sitting by the elevators, but they wouldn't be the most interesting item of note while we were in Breckenridge...