Northshore Mining SD40-3 650 is tied down outside the Tailings Loadout at Silver Bay. The tailings, waste rock left over from the processing of raw Taconite are towed to the dump site at MP 7.

The morning silence is broken by the Northshore Mining 0500 Loads descending into Silver Bay, MN, approaching their destination of the Cleveland Cliffs processing plant.

Pair of SD70ACe's handle the 5pm loads to Silver Bay.

The 1100 loads pass under the mothballed Erie Mining/LTV Steel tracks.

5pm loads a few miles into their journey to Silver Bay for unloading.

The empties from the plant at Silver Bay are at the halfway point around m.p. 28 in the trip back to the mine at Babbitt, MN.

Empties head back west at about the halfway point in their journey between the plant and the mine.

NSM SD70ACe 672 leads an ore train South past railfan rock.

NSM SD70ACe 672 leads ore loads South past railfan rock.

NSM SD40-2 654 brings up the rear of a tailings train passing railfan rock in Beaver Bay.

As dawn approaches, NSMX SD40-2 651 leads a tailings train North through Beaver Bay.

The Northshore Mining Railroad runs 47 miles from the open pit mine at Babbitt, Minnesota to the huge mill and plant facility on the shore of Lake Superior at Silver Bay. Raw ore is hauled down th... (more)

A pair of ex-Alstom SD40-2's lead a train of raw iron ore towards the Silver Bay plant to be processed into taconite pellets to be loaded onto a ship.

A special high-wide move on Northshore Mining involving the transfer of a large dump truck from the mine at Babbitt to the tailings disposal site at Milepost 7. One of NSM's three former GCFX/WC/C... (more)

An empty tailings train rolls through a frosted forest setting as it heads back to Silver Bay from Babbitt.