Coming out of United Taconite and crossing over to Main 1 for the trip back north to the mine to reload.

Asking for and receiving the necessary lights to leave the plant's yard and head back to the mine's course crusher to reload taconite rock before returning and doing it all over again.

Today the snow is falling, the wind is blowing and it's 22 degrees which is a far cry from 48 hours ago when it was sunny and 72. A T-Bird rumbles and rattles the old steel bridge spanning the sw... (more)

Quite the change from forty-eight hours ago when the snow was almost gone and the temperature was 72 degrees with sun. Fast forward and it's 22 degrees with snow falling and the wind is howling as... (more)

A T-Bird mine shuttle train rolls over the swollen Elbow Creek as they south.

A week ago it was 10 degrees and snowing, today it was 70 degrees and sunny. The snowmelt was fast this spring across NE Minnesota and took less than a week so the rivers are high and moving fast... (more)

Leaving the mine and heading to the processing plant with taconite rock.

A T-Bird has pulled up and called the CN RTC desk looking for lights to leave the plant and head back to the mine to reload. Seems to be lights all around.

Before departing back to the mine to reload, DMIR 400 has to wait for a pellet loader out of Proctor to clear first.

A cold morning as evident by the heat distortion off the locomotives and the exhaust from the Minntac taconite plant located about 12 miles back.

Taconite bearing rock rounds the bend just south of Iron Jct. MN on a cold but clear winter day.

DMIR 404 and IC 6251 are now a set assigned to mine shuttle service from the Cleveland Cliffs United Taconite Thunderbird mine down to their Fairlane plant.

A pair of anniversary Dash8's lead a mine shuttle train south down the CN Missabe sub.

Matched Dash 8's pull rock loads from United Taconite's Thunderbird north pit down the Missabe sub and will soon be making the left turn to deliver into United Taconite's Fairlane plant property.

Bring taconite rock from the mine down towards the plant.