The sun is right on cue as three amigos hustle this tac train toward a crew change at Willmar.

A shot I've had my eye on for quite some time. I think the light would be perfect here for morning westbounds. Until that happens, a snowy mid-April shot will have to do. Since the Great Northe... (more)

Up until a couple of years ago, you could find the 192, and two of her twin sisters lugging 100 car trains of coal to and from the Hoot Lake Power Plant in Fergus Falls. Starting out with the NS,... (more)

Nearly 12 hours ago, CP put 14 loads of crude oil on the ground at about mp 157. Or just north of Parkers Prairie. It looks like the line is now open as a couple of eastbounds have been through.... (more)

In an extremely rare move, power from the Watertown Local heads down the seldom used western end of the Watertown Sub. Since the plow train has been working up and down the line, a meet had to ta... (more)

In a rare move, the W-WTRWLM makes a run down the seldom used western end of the Watertown Branch. The plows were summoned so the local could run to town here and pick up two centerbeam empties. ... (more)

It's hard to believe that a year ago today, there was not a trace of snow and temps were in the 70's. Today is a little different. 50 MPH winds the night before prompted BNSF to send a plow down... (more)

When it rains it pours. Already being late, the eastbound Empire Builder 8 was fitted with a dash 9 as is sometimes necessary due to winter conditions or faulty equipment on Amtrak's end. For some... (more)

Crude oil loads are becoming very common on the staples sub. Since several terminate on the east coast, NS visitors are becoming more and more common, in fact, some people are saying NS power is ... (more)

A tad behind the advertised (nearly 8 hours to be exact) Amtrak 7, the westbound Empire Builder, would be through at sunrise here, just east of Minot, ND. Since today's power includes an SD70MAC,... (more)

A lone GP20 Cat rebuild gathers some coal empties from the Ruebel sugarbeet plant in Renville, MN. Today, they'll make it as far as Montevideo, from there, they'll be handed off to the BNSF at Ap... (more)

For only the 2nd time since NS started their heritage locomotive program, one has led through the state of Minnesota. In September, the Virginian led ethanol empties on BNSF's Wayzata Sub. Today,... (more)

With rumors flying around of this one of a kind paint scheme being covered up, I figured my chances of seeing it were dashed. Even when it was planned to come through again, it would be in the we... (more)

Having to protect a malfunctioning crossing gate back in Perham, we were able to overtake this, and another oil train. Here, one is flying through the small town of Frazee, MN, with a very rare N... (more)

With the storm of the year (possibly decade) bearing down, I figured i had a slight chance at catching a rare weekend operation on the OTVR. Like many shortlines, weekend work is "as needed". An... (more)