A once common sight some 20-30 years ago, an Illinois Central SD40 departs the former IC Iowa district, entering the former IC Chicago district, at Metra 16th street tower.

IC 6252, one of the few remaining SD40-2s on CN's roster that still retains its Illinois Central paint (which includes an Operation Lifesaver logo), rolls through Hillside, IL at a moderate pace, ... (more)

A trio of IC SD40-3s prepare to pull iron ore loads back to Proctor yard from United Taconite. While the mine is still making marbles to ship, the ICs are no longer in CN's ore power fleet having ... (more)

Pulling U.S. Steel made iron ore pellets south down the Missabe Sub for Proctor yard.

In honor of Star Wars Day, A Deathstar leading a T-Bird on a gloomy November afternoon.

A trio of IC's load taconite bearing rock at the United Taconite coarse crusher.

CN's L594 job from Two Harbors, MN up to Keenan yard is running away from the sun on this cold afternoon as they are making the return trip towards home.

Coming up from Two Harbors, MN with miscellaneous freight, IC 6252 makes their way through Iron Jct. with the planned stop at Keenan yard about a mile further down the Missabe sub.

It was certainly a surprise to hear about then to actually see three IC "Deathstars" assigned to T-Bird service, albeit briefly, while the new kids on the block the much bigger AC44C6Ms ... (more)

An early morning T-Bird loads rock at the coarse crusher as the sun comes up for the day.

The last rays of sun for the day catch three "Deathstars" as they pull 95 ore cars loaded with taconite bearing rock towards the plant.

Bringing taconite bearing rock from the mine down to the plant and passing west wye at Iron Jct. MN.

The Thunderbird Mine stands in the background as the Deathstar trio is ready to make a pull. The crew is preparing to shove the train to the loader. The thick cloud cover made it tricky to find su... (more)

A trio of IC SD40-3s on temporary assignment working the T-Bird job at Largo about to shove back to the coarse crusher to begin loading taconite bearing rock into 94 old DMIR ore cars.

IC 6252, 6251 and 6260 slowly roll along, approaching Fairlane with loads from the T-Bird mine in Eveleth. EMD's are rare on T-Bird trains, making a trio of Deathstar SD40-3's that much more of a ... (more)