Man I love these engines... creeping very close to my favorite engine of all time, which still remains as the SD40-2.

Near perfection in my book... perfect sky, excellent engine, clean power, and sun!

Coal empties wait in the yard for coal loads to pass through before heading east. The crew would swap out and take the other train the same direction they came from.

Taken from the Bandana Square parking garage. Not much warning when these things come flying around the corner...

Awaiting service in St. Paul... several other engines provide company for this rental.

As the sun sets of a very cold Minnesota afternoon, long winter shadows are cast contrasting against a delightfully warm train as the firey sunset behind me makes for the final catch of the day.

Waiting in the Cass Lake yard with the Cass Lake Water tower high above, this coal empty will have several more hours to wait for a crew to take them west. The temperature would fall to -34 in th... (more)

The Cass Lake local sits under a chilly sky on the Cass Lake Wye. The switch broom just out of frame has been used quite a bit this year, a long with the section crew cleaning out these switches.... (more)

A fairly rare move compared to the busy Staples Sub as three C44-9W's all in H2 paint go to retrieve a grain train at Ulen. It would have been an awesome chase south along the drifted over branch... (more)

Finally... some non-coal action. Brrrrrrrr is all I think of when I look back on this shot. The frostnip was only painful for a few minutes.

No shortage of AC power today... this DPU has slowed the train to a crawl. The water froze up and started to leak... how could that happen... oh yea, the windchills were 45 below zero!

Coal was certainly the freight of choice on this day.

Coal loads meet coal empties as back light provides the exhaust plume to be higlighted. The coal empty snuck up on me... I heard a distinct roar of two more EMD's and looked over my shoulder, sur... (more)

Early morning light exagerates the reflective material on this fiarly clean ACe as a coal empty creeps up behind me.

SD70ACes were in high numbers along the Staples Sub this day... and it was darn cold too. This DPU pushes on coal loads as wind driven snow flurries around.