Well Tim, everyone is uploading some nice "springy" photos. I don't have any though. Winter is back, or more precisely, it hasn't left. On Monday I was working in Marshall, MN and heard things were getting really bad a little further north. I quickly finished up my work and headed up there! I wasn't disappointed--it was NASTY! The wind was blowing out of the north at 45-55 mph, and temperatures were in a free fall. Already it was down to +12 and it was only 4 PM. I caught up with BNSF 1024-north about Granite Falls, MN. The weather and roads got extremely bad as I went on. I caught the train again at Maynard, MN and watched it pass a dead grain train in a siding. The 1024-N plowed more snow onto the parked engines. (photo 1) In Clara City, the wind was blocked by the town and I got a clear shot of 1024-N as it went by me. (photo 2) There was a s/b train in the hole waiting, CSX4737-S. (Photo 3) They radioed the dispatcher to report that two of their three engines were dead and they had six warning codes from them. They didn't think they had enough power to continue on, and didn't have much faith their remaining CSX engine was going to stay running either. Dispatcher suggested they limp down to Maynard and pull two engines off the parked train. The crew on the 1024-N cut in and said, "Negative. Those engines are buried in there. You'll never pull them out." The 4737-S crew then asked the dispatcher if they could just pull a couple of NS units off the train parked on 3-track Clara City. Dispatcher replied, "Those engines have died too, clogged with snow. Crew had to abandon it there at 14:00." The 4737-S crew said some very negative things about NS and CSX engines, something about how they don't have it takes to run in our conditions, and [they] need to quit sending them up here before somebody dies. Mechanical came on the radio and reset the warning codes and eventually got one of the dead units powered up. The engineer on the 4737-S told the dispatcher, "We're powered up and going to give it a try. Keep a van ready though!" Dispatcher advised them that the van drivers were refusing to go out on the road. The 4737-S approaches a grade two miles south of Clara City. (photo 4, 5) A little further south they set off a detector: "BNSF detector, Mile Post 22.2. No defects. Total axles 282, temperature eight degrees, out." I thought it had got a little colder! The wind continued to pick up too. Final shot, the 4737-S passes the Maynard engines, kicking yet more snow on them. I considered sticking around for some night shots, but heard they were going to close the highway down. Visibility was down to about 30 feet by then, so I decided to head home while I still had some daylight. I was about 130 miles from home, and it was going to take me awhile to get there. And, it wasn't like this was going to be the last snow of the season--more is coming tomorrow. I'll be out there! Anyway this was quite a nice little workout for my brand new NIkon D7100. It worked perfectly, even at temps near zero!
Kent in SD
But anyway, to cheer us all up with some images of real railroading and the like, here comes Midweek Photos!
