Best of MinnPics - September 2014

from flickr user Nick Benson
The Arcola High Bridge, or Soo Line High Bridge, was completed in 1911; the rail's nearly 200 feet above the water, and has total length of roughly 2,700 feet. Despite being an amazing structure, it isn't photographed too often by railfans on account of low train frequency (one train per day in each direction) and its isolated location.

 As the photographer mentioned in his more in-depth explanation of this photo, the 39 degree temperature in September made for a more hurried shoot than anticipated and with weather like that and an explanation of the location and circumstances surrounding the photograph, the moonlit photo of the Arcola High Bridge over the St. Croix River made September's choice one of the easier ones for 2014.

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Riding the rails - Owatonna, MN

from flickr user steve55126
As I sat alongside a Steele County road just south of Owatonna Sunday afternoon while we dealt with a crabby toddler, I glanced across U.S. Highway 218 and noticed another vehicle parked near the railroad tracks. Soon enough he stepped out of his car with camera in hand and focused on the Canadian Pacific train, pulling a mix of grain cars and boxcars, chugging down the tracks headed south towards Austin and points beyond. This was the very train, shown above, I saw being photographed and I like to think that as I sat in my red SUV that this photographer in the blue VW noticed me too. Throw in the fact that I found this photo today and that is what us in the business call fate.

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Fog on the tracks

from flickr user Urban Camper
Whether this photo is staged or simply a lucky capture, there is nothing more classically railroad than a lone man with a single bag walking down the railroad tracks. Coupled with the low light and fog dotting the sides of the tracks, this photo is truly wonderful.

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Best of MinnPics - April 2013

from flickr user orangedot777
April 2013 felt like the winter that wouldn't end. When it snows on April 23rd, that isn't exactly normal and when the snow falls in great quantities -- six inches in this case -- branches and entire trees come down under the weight of the heavy and wet snow. These railroad tracks near Northfield, MN likely remained impassable for at least a few days while the fallen branches and trees were removed.

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Railroad - Northfield, MN

from flickr user orangedot777
Rail yard. Northfield, Minnesota.

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BNSF Minneapolis rail yard

from flickr user Andrew Sonnek
Located between Minneapolis and Fridley, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) rail yard looks positively expansive in this black and white photo.

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History over the Red River - East Grand Forks, MN

from flickr user MinnKotaRailfan
The BNSF Grand Forks city job, led by a single BN GP30 rebuild, heads over the Red River of the North, with maintenance cars to be used for work out west. Behind the train is the Sorlie Bridge, built in 1929 to connect Grand Forks North Dakota to East Grand Forks Minnesota. Behind the Sorlie Bridge lies the center pier of a swing bridge built in the 1870's for the Great Northern railway. The bridge was removed in 2000 by the Army Corp of Engineers, and the pier stands as a memorial of the importance of railroads in North Dakota and Minnesota.

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Thief River Falls rail snow plows

from flickr user bkays1381
The photographer says: The resident Thief River Falls snow plows finally got used, although most likely during the night time. At any rate, CP 6236 & ICE 6401 had the honors of guiding the plows in order to clear crossing and drifts in the TRF Area. I have never seen these things used in all the years I have lived here...

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Do NOT Hump - Buffalo Lake, MN

from flickr user RyanShoots
In railroad terms, "do not hump" is actually not a sexual phrase, instead to "hump" refers to the practice of assembling trains (uncoupling/recoupling train cars) by pushing the cars up a small hill or hump and switching the tracks to the appropriate set of rails and assembling the trains that way. The warning of "do not hump" on the side of rail cars can be due to sensitive or dangerous materials they are carrying.

BNSF Railroad Bridge; Minneapolis, Minnesota

from flickr user alleyraven
Looking north from the Warehouse District in Minneapolis, MN to Nicollet Island across what can only be described as a decrepit railroad bridge.