blog logo

Fun in the Sun - Elk River June 20th


There's no excuse for not getting out lineside today. It was gorgeous! Temps were well on the way to 70 as I left work this morning. Not  a cloud in the sky. I figured conditions were pretty darned good for catching east bound trains on the curves in Elk River. I was not to be disappointed. First up not 2 minutes after I arrived was a pair of SD's No. 8808 is an SD70MAC and behind it is No. 9398 an SD70 ACe. I would have rather had the cleaner ACe at the front. Honestly some folks are never happy... Plenty to be happy with about the shot though.
No. 8808
Next was a west bound. Lighting was totally wrong for the shot but I've managed to pull something out of it. But its only a C-44 leading so who really cares?
No. 5402
Trains were stacked up coming east so I knew I was in for some fun for a while. Next up was No. 4531 a... (you don't need telling do you?) that had an SD40 No. 8175  behind it pulling containers and autoracks.
No. 4531
This was too easy, stuff just kept coming east. I expect I was grinning like the proverbial Cheshire Cat. Presenting themselves to my camera next was a pair of SD40's No's 6824 and 6785. I like SD40's in green there's a squashed quality to them from the front. Kind of like someone sat on them...
No. 6824
Honestly this is better than beer... The high from this continuous procession of east bounds was incredible. I still wasn't done, there's a right mixed bag here behind SD75M No. 8229. There's remote control SW1500 No. 3456 (double points for a number like that) and 8602 a B40-8 which confused me when I saw it. I don't see many of them.
No. 8229
I couldn't take any more. I was drained.  Luckily that was it for the eastbounds, there was one other westbound but you can tell what was leading that. Six trains in less than 90 minutes can't complain there.
Time for a rest and gather my strength for another day.