Photo albums of my trip to "Da Range".
New (Feb. 28, 2005) Photos from the Range. Brian and I decided to take a couple days and see what we could see. Friday (Feb 25th) was snowy in the morning, but cleared to a slight overcast in the afternoon. Our trip started in Proctor. It was surprising to see 193 sitting there. Saturday (Feb 26th) was clear and cool (about 9 deg f). We spent most of our time in the Kelsey to Virginia area. We caught a lot of action - both CN and Missabe - ERail (empties and full), T-Brids, Empties quads to Minorca, Loaded quads from Minorca and Fairlane to Proctor, Limestone, and MFR, not to mention a CN loco sitting at Wolf with mechanical troubles. Late Saturday, we chased a loaded Taconite from Minorca to Proctor. A great couple days with a lot of action.
Photos from this years MRHS convention and Railfan trip. Brian and I spent Thursday and Friday doing the 'Railfan' thing. The convention was on Saturday and Sunday , with a Friday evening being time for registration and social mingling. This album is a sampling of the more typical photos of our trip. Thursday, we spent the first half of the day in Proctor - and then chased a freight job to Keenan. We went back to Kelsey and chased the Limestone from there to Mintac. On Friday, we caught an empty going from Keenan to Minorca, via Shelton. We also caught an empty ore car train heading to Mintac (ore cars? what were they for?). Saturday was the MRHS tour of the west end of the Range. After a brief MRHS meeting on Sunday, we headed to Hibbing for a look at Hull Rust - the pit was empty of water as they were mining the pit bottom. We then swung back to the Iron Junction area. When we were waiting for what looked like a ballast movement from Keenan to Allen (this must have been the ore cars we saw on Friday), we caught it at Iron, crossing Hwy 7. As the train was crossing 7, a gray Jeep SUV pulled up with a couple of very funny girls (locals, maybe?). They obviously wanted their picture taken by a couple of weirdoes taking pictures of the passing train (grin). We left on Sunday afternoon, and as Chuck would say, we were "deranged".
Photos from THE RANGE - We once again did our typical pilgrimage to 'da Range' - June 16 to 18, 2004. Over the three days we covered both the Iron Range division and Missabe division. Day one - We started in Duluth/Proctor - caught the job at Nopeming (and a few other places on route). Then headed for the overpass at Spirit mountain hill - maintenance equipment. The Duluth Dock had some side-dump cars being loaded. We would have hung around there longer - but, heard on the radio of someone being sent to investigate some people taking pictures (that would be us). So, we moved on. Later, we caught the move of the side-dumps up the hill, back to Proctor - "WAY COOL!" After a brief stop back at Proctor, we headed to Two Harbors for the evening. Ended catching some action there as well.
Day two - chased a local switch to LP. But, the main goal was to chase an empty from PC Hill all the way to Wolf. It was a challenge, but we did it. We caught it at the 61 bridge, Waldo, Highland, Wales (no pictures here, too close to Highland), Fairbanks, Wyman, Aurora, Biwabik, and finally Wolf. Later, we went to Iron World Discovery Center - interesting place. For the remaining evening hours, we hung around the Fairlane to Shelton area (can always catch some action there).
Day three - was again spent in the Iron area. The highlight of the day was a meet of an empty and a full at north Fairlane. They almost crossed at the crossing. Stereo P5s - Way Cool! Before we took the Mintac tour (recommended), we caught a ballast movement in the Wolf/Nomi area. After the tour, we were treated to a limestone train making it's way to Mintac.
On a couple of occasions, we met up with a couple other out-of-town rail fanners - some from New York and some from Massachusetts. Nice guys. The three days were very successful. We accomplished most of our goals. The one item we missed was chasing something back to Proctor on Day 3. Something for next time (hopefully). My thanks go out the crews of the former Missabe. They are a great bunch of people. Thanks for being tolerant of us rail fanners and still putting on a great show.
Photos from THE RANGE - A friend and I spent two days in March (25th/26th, 2004) on the Range. Most of our time was spent in the area from Fairlane to Nomi (Wolf). The weather the first day was very overcast - and later turned to pouring rain - melting most of the remaining snow. In the evening, when it stopped raining, conditions were perfect for a very thick fog. We could hardly make out the white or yellow lines on the road, in front of the car. We were pleasantly surprised the fog did not hamper our night shots - it actually made for some eerie effects. A better part of the second day was spent in the same area. By afternoon, we headed back to Proctor/Duluth.
Photos from THE RANGE - I went to Wolf/Nomi for the day (Feb. 3, 2004) to get some better pictures of the side dump cars that had derailed in the area. I also caught several trains in the area (between United Taconite and Wolf). On my way home, I stopped at the overpass at the south-west end of Proctor yard and snapped a few photos.
Photos from THE RANGE. A friend and I spent two days in January 2004 up on the Range. The first day was around 30 degrees, very little wind and overcast - a pleasant day. The second day was clear and cold - it was 2 degrees when we got up, with a minus 30 wind-chill (ouch!). We spent most of the two days around the Iron Junction area. We did wander off to Bovey and Biwabik to snatch a few photos.
Photos from the Missabe Railroad Historical Society annual convention, August 2003.
Photos from THE RANGE - A 2 day trip - June 2003.
Photos from THE RANGE (a two day trip and 650 miles later - June 2002).
Photos from Colfax RR Museum (they have a website and e-mail address, but I have not been able to get a hold of them). Yeah, I know - it is not Missabe, but I thought the place was neat.
Some of my favorite photos:
Here are some panorama pictures I have taken (in album form). Some of the files can get kind of large - about 2 meg. (be forewarned - if you have a slow connection)