It's snowing fast and furious as three Dash 8's descend the Minntac Sub with roughly 15 thousand tons of taconite pellets heading for Two Harbors, MN.

Snow falls as the Dash 8s descend the hill from the U.S. Steel Minntac plant with fresh made iron ore pellets that are bound for steel mill at some point in their future.

A few miles outside the destination of Kirk Yard, CN 2031 brings A490 over the Grand Calumet River in Gary.

CN 2031 leads their A490 train east as they pass the old EJE maintenance shack in Frankfort.

CN A490 crosses over the Des Plaines River in Joliet with two now retired CN C40-8's leading.

CN 2031 leads a southbound down the former EJE as they pass JB Tower in West Chicago. A nice bonus was the conductor grabbing orders on the fly.

Iron ore loads bound for Two Harbors curving onto the original D&IR grade with the tail end of the train still on the DM&N grade as they near Biwabik on the present-day CN Iron Range subdivision.

After departing the Minorca mine and dropping down the southside of the Laurentian Divide, CN 2031 next prepares for a meet at the former DW&P yard at Virginia before continuing on towards Two Har... (more)

Loaded iron ore train from the Minorca mine to Two Harbors, MN slowly creeps down the siding at Virginia while a loaded sand train is full throttle gaining speed and momentum about to start the cl... (more)

Empties at Two Harbors do not leave the way they came in. I believe that's due to the headroom issue at Two Harbors, loads are dumped and then shoved towards an outbound yard. Empties then depart ... (more)

Empties at Two Harbors do not leave the way they came in. I believe that's due to the headroom issue at Two Harbors, loads are dumped and then shoved towards an outbound yard. Empties then depart ... (more)

Descending from Minntac with 145 iron ore loads in tow while snow falls across the landscape.

As they climb the grade into Allen Jct. they are also slowing for a meet and greet with an empty coming up from Two Harbors, MN on this cold day.

After a meet here at Allen Jct. with a NB empty, CN 2031 is ready to pull for the rest of the trip back into Two Harbors to put these loads into stockpile until the boats can take them to a mill.

Just before the sun rises on a cold April morning, CN 2031 is scurrying along the CN Iron Range Sub and passing through the yard at Biwabik, MN heading towards home at Two Harbors.