Through the
Outstate Minnesota rail group on Yahoo! I heard about a "new" loco for
the Northern Lines Railway, so of course I had to go and check. As it
would happen I also had to go out to Saint Cloud on Friday afternoon to
pick up my race packet for the earthday half marathon the next day. An
excellent way to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. So here's
a few shots of the ex-BN GP10 No. 1444.
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There was
also another goody on display in Saint Cloud. The rather well known
BNSF coalporter hopper with the excellent graffiti was in the RIP
track. Most graffiti is normally is just the scrawling of stupid
sprayed signatures on items. So when someone takes the time to do
something like this it's quite refreshing. Yes I do like the work of
"Banksy" too...
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The car itself is a
bit of a mystery. Is it some kind of BNSF officially sanctioned
community arts project? Was the artist in question knowledgable of
railway practices and chose to leave the reporting marks clear of paint?
If the BNSF wanted to obliterate the artwork they easily could
but it would appear that they have chosen to work around this. Witness
the fact that the reflective strips on the side of the body are placed over the paint job. Also the car is
always clean. Cleaner than many hoppers on the BNSF. It's like the BNSF
like the work and are doing their best to look after the car. Perhaps
there was nothing wrong with the hopper and they chose to site it on
the RIP track for the public to see? Who knows? But later in the
evening BNSF #2735 one of the yard switchers was seen in close
proximity so perhaps it was
being readied to move out.
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April
was a very bad month for Trainspotting. With the quicker than usual
snow melt out west there were many reports of washouts on the
railroads. Trains were delayed or diverted, as a consequence whenever I
went out things were quiet. Too quiet. Lets hope for a busier May.
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