A dismal first day of December finds Canadian Pacific’s B70-01 “Ipsco Job” returning back east to Nahant Yard past the massive Continental Cement plant along Highway 22 in Buffalo, IA on the Ottumwa Subdivision. Today’s morning edition of this train stretches out with 45 cars of empty scrap gons and loads of plate and sheet steel from SSAB Iowa, formerly known as Ipsco, west of Montpelier. This job works twice daily 7-days a week out of Nahant making a flip to SSAB and back with first shift (B70) going on-duty at 0100 and second shift (B71) clocking in at 1300. Assigned to this train are an attractive pair of ex-SOO Line EMD SD60 type locomotives; a welcome sight over the usual wide cab General Electric products that run these rails. The leader, CP 6306, was recently rebuilt and upgraded to an SD60-3 at National Railway Equipment (NRE) in April of 2018 and dressed in the railroad’s re-birthed “Golden Beaver” livery.
