Midweek Photos 2/1/2017

I had to look closer! I thought the BigBoy was being trucked somewhere. That may not even be possible, but it looked that way at a glance!

Thank you (and the others) once again for providing these photos every week.

Yes thanks.  I seem to be always pressing rivets into cab roofs - photos like that help.

This week's chapter is entitled "Foolishness."    I was sitting around late Sunday afternoon and heard the BNSF "tones" go off on my radio.  It was an inbound grain train heading to the Canton, SD elevator complex.  Not much to photo on that short run, but then the dispatcher said something about another train at the even bigger Marion SD elevator/ethanol plant getting a crew.  OK, where's my coat?  I headed west to Marion as the sun was going down.  I got there about the same time as the crew, but didn't catch them before they disappeared into the ethanol complex.  I did figure out that they were going to pull a loaded grain train west.  Good enough!  They told the dispatcher it would take them an hour to get rolling.  I automatically add at least half an hour to any time a crew says.    That gave me time to get some gas and a bite to eat at the Tank-n-Tummy.  I decided to intercept the train at Doland.  This is another tiny faded town that has no businesses any more--just a hodge podge of old run down houses.  It's sometimes hard to tell which are abandoned and which still have someone living there.  I parked at the edge of a field opposite the abandoned elevators, and started setting up flash in the dark.  Back at my car, I heard a door open and a small yappy dog came out of an unpainted house and began incessantly barking at me.  I could see the outline of an old woman in the doorway, eyeing me suspiciously.  To head off an interruption by the Turner County deputy, I hollered at the woman, "I take pictures of trains at night.  I'm harmless."  She hollered back, "Trains?"  I replied, "Yes, trains."  She called her dog back in, and I heard her say, "Such foolishness!"    I got everything set, tested, and began the wait.  What the crew said would be an hour, and I assumed would be hour & half, turned into two hours.  Finally I could hear the low rumble of the engines, then the horn sounding the gravel road crossings, and finally there was a glow to my east.  Train slowly rolled by, I popped the shot.  As a bonus I also caught the DPU--I consider those, "Buy one, get one free!"  I packed up my six flash and got home in plenty of time.

Also included here is a photo from my collection.  I collect historical photos 1864-1920s, and over the years have put together a pretty nice album.  Below photo was taken in 1880 by Frank J. Haynes of Fargo, DT.  I consider him the most prolific RR photographer of all time.  The shot is taken from a stereoview, and is of a Northern Pacific train being loaded onto a ferry.  This was at Bismarck, DT.  (The engine is a Baldwin 0-4-0.)  Note the ties--they appear to be ax cut!  The NP was stopped at the Missouri River but then began building tracks on the west side for their main line.  A bridge was being constructed (opened 1882), but in the mean time they loaded their trains on the ferry to cross the river.  How cool was that?  So, what did they do in winter, you ask?  It can hit 40-50 below zero in winter; the river freezes four or five feet thick.  The NP simply laid track over the ice and carried on!

Kent in SD