Lake Superior & Mississippi RR 2013

On Sunday, July 21, 2013, I journeyed with friends to Duluth to ride the Lake Superior & Mississippi Tourist Railroad.  This train follows the first roadbed into Duluth, with the first train arriving in 1870.  This line had been out-of-service until July 13 because of a severe washout from the bad Duluth flood in the summer of 2011. 

The line's only engine is this General Electric 50-ton Center Cab switcher, built in 1946.

One reason I like to ride this line is their open-air car.  A flat car with sides added, the rider experiences nature first-hand.

Friends Rod Peters, Joe Lewis, and Roswitha Peters traveled with me this day.

The other reason I like this line is that the track is laid right beside the St. Louis River, where nature abounds.

Part of the line is owned by the BNSF Railroad and the rest of the line is owned by the City Of Duluth and maintained by the LS&M Railroad.  BNSF serves the only industry on the line, the Tate Lyle Company which makes sweetner for candy.

Come along for a ride along the St. Louis River!!

At the end of the line, the engine "runs around" the train and pulls it back to the station.

Near the end of the line we pass under the unique Steelton Bridge.  Connecting Minnesota and Wisconsin, Canadian National Railroad trains pass on the top level while automobiles and trucks pass on the lower level.

The road in the foreground becomes the bottom level of the bridge.

As we head back to the station, a CN stack train passes overhead!!

After arriving at the station we tour railroad sites in the Twin Ports including Proctor and Pokegama Yard before heading back home.  At Solon Springs we catch a CN meet with the northbound train headed up by 5 engines.

Another fun day of riding trains!!!

Operation Lifesaver 2013

On Wednesday, June 20, 2013, the Union Pacific Employees Club, of which I am a member, hosted its annual Operation Lifesaver train to be run out of Altoona.  This train is usually hosted on a weekend but this year was mid-week and so was advertised as being open to Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts.  With not enough Scouts responding to fill two runs of the train, other people were invited by the Union Pacific employees.  Our train consists of 3 passenger cars with an engine on each end.  I will be a host in the dome car.

This train normally operates from Altoona to Chippewa Falls and back but with so many sand trains on that trackage plus work being done on that section, today's train will go to Augusta and back.  But that's GOOD--I have not been on that section of track.  Here's a view of a train passing us before we take off.

 I knew the Employees Club would be short of car hosts since this train was run on a work day so I asked friends Rod Peters and Joe Lewis to help out.  They gladly obliged (they like riding trains also).

Just west of Fall Creek we pass under this neat wooden bridge:

 Friend Dave Voss was on the bridge for pictures during one of the trips:

Entering Fall Creek and passing by the elevators:

Just outside of Fall Creek we go around a curve and parallel Highway 12.

 Curve a mile from Augusta:

A shot from the vestibule of one of the cars:

Just outside of Fall Creek we pass under Highway 12.

 
And by their water tower:

Augusta is the site of the famous Bush Beans factory.  It's quite large and uses rail to ship product.  The box cars are inside the building so we don't see them here.

 Just east of Augusta we stop before proceeding back to Altoona.  We almost get to the big sand plant but just get a glimpse of it.

Coming back into Altoona, we switch to another main track.  In the old days, this line was double-tracked (2 tracks) from Minneapolis to Chicago.  Now it is single track except for passing sidings.

The Altoona yard is almost always full with cars and engines since the frac sand industry took off.

 The Altoona depot is on the left.

 Here is one of the engines:

 A view from the engineer's seat:

 And the engineer's controls:

 Since this was an Operation Lifesaver train (railroad crossing safety), a display was set up to show the results of a train hitting an automobile:

 A railroad safety talk is given by Union Pacific employees to all passengers.

 At the end of the day we set up for shots of the train crossing the Eau Claire River bridge:

Another fun day of railroading!!

Canadian National Santa Train

The Canadian National Railway (CN) refurbished the rail line from Ladysmith to Barron in the fall of 2012.  To celebrate that event, plus promote rail safety, the CN sponsored a 'Santa Train' on Tuesday, December 18th.  Friends Brian Sykes of Atlanta, GA, George Forero of Chicago, Rod Peters of Emerald, WI, and I journeyed to Ladysmith in the early morning to follow the train west.

It was stationed overnight next to the Ladysmith Rail Display which includes Soo Line F7 #500A, which was the first passenger locomotive on the Soo Line Railroad.

How rare is this shot??  An F7 posed next to an E9 on the Barron sub???

 The train was led by units #100 and #101.  Illinois Central #100 was built in 1949 as an E8, numbered CB&Q 9938A.   IC 101 was built in 1953, also as an E8 numbered CBQ 9977.  Both were renumbered by BN after a merger and rebuilt by MK as E9s.  BN sold these units to the IC.

 The train crosses Highway 8 between Ladysmith and Bruce.  These pictures don't show the large number of railfans that journeyed to Barron and Rusk Counties to watch this Santa Train.

The general public, including school age students, was invited to board the train, view the Christmas scenes, get a bag of gifts from the CN, and meet Santa Claus!!
 

 

The train chugs uphill near Strickland.
 

 Where Soo Line F-units once did the honors, now an Illinois Central E9 inches past the Weyerhauser depot.  At this time last year, no one had any idea that this type of event would happen--and it's all because of frac sand!!

The train crosses the very scenic Rice Creek bridge, just east of Cameron.

 And it passes the Barron depot, which is in the process of being refurbished into a coffee shop and artistic bakery.

To end our day, this would have been the depot agent's view of a train coming east through Barron.  Who would have thought we would ever see a 'covered wagon' pulling a passenger train by the depot in 2012??

Here is video of the Santa Train, taken by Chris Ausman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpMT3HIAKnA

A BIG Thank You to the Canadian National Railroad for sponsoring this event, enjoyed by adults and kids alike!!