Fresh off North Americas largest taconite operation, U.S. Steel Minntac property, BLE 909 hauls steaming taconite pellets south for Proctor yard and ultimately the storage facility at CN's dock un... (more)

A T-Bird loads at the Thunderbird North Loadout on frosty afternoon. The steam plume in the background is from Minorca.

After dumping limestone at Minntac, a trio of BLE's come down from the plant with their train in tow.

A black and white landscape with some CN red passing through hauling steaming pellets down from the U.S. Steel Minntac plant bound for Two Harbors.

With stone loads in tow, CN U714 rolls through the swampland outside of Mountain Iron, Minnesota behind a pair of SD40T-3's bracketing an SD40-3 and a C40-8. The train is now on the Minntac Sub as... (more)

A local heads south out of Mountain Iron on the Missabe Sub.

As the thick cloud cover clears away, DMIR 400, DMIR 406 and DMIR 409 call to depart Minntac for Two Harbors with favorable signals for the start of the journey they drop down the hill at m.p. 5 o... (more)

Another triple set running around NE Minnesota garnering a fair amount of attention is this set of former DM&IR units. Here they are coming down from U.S. Steel with steaming taconite pellets in t... (more)

After bringing up limestone from Proctor to the Minntac plant, CN 2039 backhauls a 50-car train of crushed taconite rock (blast furnace trim) as they head back to Proctor.

A frosty fall morning as steaming pellets descend from the U.S. Steel Minntac plant bound for Two Harbors, MN.

Repainted BLE tunnel motor 900 leads ore empties through Mountain Iron.

One-hundred and thirty-six loads of taconite from Minnesota’s Minntac iron ore operation heads south (eastward) at Mountain Iron toward Two Harbors and a date with a Laker at the ore dock there ... (more)

An all-rail taconite train departing the U.S. Steel Minntac plant located near Mountain Iron, MN the taconite capital of the world.

CN 3137 departs Minntac with a Southbound all rail taconite train.

A cold crisp and refreshing....photo depicting a train descending down from the U.S. Steel Minntac plant loaded with fresh taconite pellets that are still steaming away.