Just under Highway 169, BLE 909 hugs the curve leading 138 loads of fresh made marbles from U.S. Steel, Minntac bound for Proctor.

Went wide here as pellets for Two Harbors roll down the hill. A few miles later engine troubles would bring this train to a crawl and they would limp into Allen Jct. to await rescue.

DMIR 400, complete with a little duct tape holding the number board secure, leads loads of fresh made taconite pellets down from the massive U.S. Steel Minntac plant on a cold February afternoon. ... (more)

DMIR 403 leads loads of fresh made taconite pellets down the CN Minntac Sub on the way back to Two Harbors, MN. A part of the massive taconite plant (The Minntac plant is the world's largest tac... (more)

DMIR 405 leads 135 cars of steaming taconite pellets down the hill from the U.S. Steel Minntac plant ( some of which can be seen in the upper right) on the CN Minntac Sub and towards Two Harbors i... (more)

Under a drab sky, IC 6254 leads 136 car loads of still steaming taconite pellets down the hill from the U.S. Steel Minntac plant heading for Proctor, MN. Of note: CN has been installing new modern... (more)

A loaded limestone train approaches its destination at U.S. Steel's large Minntac (Minnesota Taconite) plant on the former DM&IR.

The last maroon tunnel motor leads empties into Mintac under a mid April snow shower.

A steamy load of taconite pellets departs Mintac behind three tunnel motors on a cold, windy and snowy April afternoon.

Freshly baked taconite pellets steam in the sub-zero temps on New Years Day.

A B&LE trio heads down the hill from the U.S. Steel Minntac plant, which is the world's largest taconite processing plant, with another train of fresh made taconite pellets heading to Proctor, MN.... (more)

U789 has just departed Minntac with another load of freshly baked taconite pellets, headed to Two Harbors.

A blustery cold winter afternoon on the first day of the new year and the Minntac taconite plant is churning out hot pellets for the steel mills. The IC 6252 is in charge of this string of 142 ca... (more)

The snow from the morning storm is tapering off now as DM&IR 406 leads 135 loads down the hill from the U.S. Steel Minntac plant in Mountain Iron, MN for the docks in Two Harbors, MN.

With Two Harbors experiencing a severe power shortage, the 40 year old DMIR 405 and another unit were grabbed out of Keenan and now lead this dry ice, er taconite, train out of Minntac for Couple ... (more)