I try to see a train each year on my birthday, ideally with the opportunity to take a good picture of it. This year, most of my birthday was taken up by work, but I found a little time to spend along the Canadian Pacific's Tracy Subdivision in southwest Minnesota. Things were looking bleak with no trains moving and cloudy conditions, but just as I had resigned myself to heading home empty handed, a westbound Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern train appeared. Even more spectacularly, the clouds parted for all of one minute, and I was left laughing and smiling ear to ear at my incredibly good fortune. It was a great birthday gift!