The sun has been up for just a few minutes, but it has already managed to light the rails aglow in the small town of Audubon as a fast moving priority intermodal train flies west.
As the St Croix joins the Mississippi in Prescott, mixed freight behind a pair of BNSF motors bangs over the lift bridge from Minnesota into Wisconsin.
With a perfect trio of Burlington Northern cascade green leading the way, the JY Local cruises east over the nearly 100 year old Hi-Line trestle that spans the Sheyenne River at Valley City.