Sometimes when extra empty covered hoppers came into Mason City off the Marquette Trains, an extra job would be called to go out and spot them. As is the case with this job this day. Here the extr... (more)

An extra local out of Austin rumbles south down the Owatonna Sub in northern Iowa. The train is passing thru Grafton and is 14 miles from Mason City. These left over IMRL units held some time in t... (more)

In true CP fashion, I was only able to drum up one train moving around Mason City and lucky for me it had a NS GEVO leading. Here B32 rolls thru Grafton about 15 miles from Mason City. This is the... (more)

The 944 local works back to Mason City as they pass thru Grafton. The IMRL mainly kept these SRY units captive to the 5th Sub and normally worked the Wells, MN, job during the week, and sometimes ... (more)

The Austin local heads back to Austin out of Mason City with a plow and a handful of cars. Here the job pushes thru Grafton at MP 14, 14 miles north of Mason City.

The Mason City to Austin, MN, and back local has the #616 ethanol train out Welcome, MN, in tow as they head back to Mason City. Since the crew has the 616 and 4 motors they will take the Iowa Nor... (more)

3 relics of times past Depot, Elevator and old IMRL paint job Pass thru Grafton a relic in it's own right.

The Waseca, MN, to Mason City, IA, freight blast thru the small town of Grafton with 66 cars for Mason City. This ex-IMRL unit is looking pretty tattered now days. Grafton is located 15 miles nort... (more)

The aftermath of cutting a snow drift, Air filters full of snow, Walkways full of snow and the horns full maybe by the end of the day

Just 10 minutes after sunrise and the Russell plow is out and touching up the line.

Winging snow Vary hard snow

Heavy snow begins to fall as the Jordan Ditcher works their way north out of Grafton. The ditcher will work all the way to Jackson, MN on this trip over the next 5 days. Heavy winds have pretty mu... (more)

This Mason City local kicks up snow as they roll south thru Grafton. When this train went over the detector at MP 32 it read out -29 degrees, which means the crew has to have permission to run whe... (more)

The LMC slows up for the 25 mph head end slow order thru Grafton, before pounding back to 40 mph again. The train has just passed thru MP 14 and only has 14 miles to go to Mason City. The LMC has ... (more)

The Mason City-Austin turn is on the way home after switching out IC&E's yard in Austin, MN, seen here at Grafton, Iowa.