Random Railfan Prototype Photos For All

Hardcoaler Mar 26, 2015

  1. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    "The Weed Route To Powers Lake"
    A unit grain empty going into storage was shoved up the Grenora Sub on Sunday. The Grenora Sub no longer sees regular service, but is not abandoned. Train movements on this branch are rare, but storage moves bring some action a couple of times a year. Six-axle units are forbidden and axle loads are limited to 268,000 lbs. The 110-car empty train backed up the branch to about milepost 22, tied down, and the light power headed east back to Minot. Just a mile or so out of Stanley, ND, the train shove past a canola field in bloom.

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    Here, the train is around milepost 6 or 7, shoving over a false summit on the 1% westbound climb.

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    Further west, the train passes the tiny hamlet of Lostwood, ND:

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    Kittelston Slough rests at the bottom of the valley between Lostwood and Lunds Valley:

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    Lunds Valley has some of the few wooden elevators along active (term used loosely) tracks in ND:

    _MG_4263.jpg
     
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  2. Mr. Trainiac

    Mr. Trainiac TrainBoard Member

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    This country has some beautiful landscapes, but I don't think many people take the time to appreciate or even comprehend the vastness of the West. I think my favorite part of this photo set are the grasslands. Seeing open pastures and natural prairies rather than square farm fields is so refreshing. It almost seems melancholy, just the train, the sky, and old abandoned buildings. I can only imagine what it was like before the railroad came through; no human development for miles.
     
  3. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    If those tracks were active, what would be shipped, except grain? I assume that commodity is trucked to some place such as Stanley? How far beyond Powers Lake does the track extend?
     
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  4. Mike VE2TRV

    Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

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    That's some beautiful - and big - scenery.:cool:

    I especially like the photo with the water in the foreground and the church up in the background.
     
  5. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Powers Lake is the terminus now. The tracks end just north of the elevator. Decades ago, it went to its namesake, Grenora, near the Montana border.

    Grain mostly, probably the odd carload of agricultural equipment too. Stanley and Bowbells likely are the destinations of grain harvested near the Grenora sub today.

     
  6. acptulsa

    acptulsa TrainBoard Member

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    I consider any American who has only flown over "flyover country", and never crossed it on the ground, uneducated.
     
  7. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    We have a part of it here, on our east side. In one respect, it is beautiful. On another, very sad.
     
  8. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    I did a lot of my growing up in IL, and though it was long ago, I still see beauty in farmland. My wife and I so much want to visit the Dakotas, Montana and Idaho to see a large portion of the nation we've never visited. We'd probably fly, then rent a car. MT is a looong way from the Carolinas!
     
  9. Kurt Moose

    Kurt Moose TrainBoard Member

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    Beautiful set of shots Hemi, very nice!!

    (y)(y)(y)
     
  10. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Be sure you plan waaaaaay ahead! If possible, before Memorial Day weekend, or after mid-September. Otherwise car rentals are ALL booked up solid and finding a needle in a haystack is so easily done, compared to getting a motel room. :eek::eek::eek:
     
  11. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    I like the slough photograph. It reminds me of several similar places along the Wisconsin/Iowa border, along the ol' Mississipp'.

    Doug
     
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  12. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks for the heads-up. It's crazy here in the Carolinas too. A friend of my wife's came home early with her family from Myrtle Beach, SC saying that restaurant waiting times were three hours at many places.
     
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  13. BuddyBurton

    BuddyBurton TrainBoard Supporter

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    [​IMG]
    CP 7057, 7044 leads the daily 475 northbound at Fairport, IA.

    July 14, 2021


    Most people get drunk, others want sex but as for me, I go Railfanning.
     
  14. r_i_straw

    r_i_straw Mostly N Scale Staff Member

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    I guess since the 4014 came on line, the UP has retired this old girl. Sure going to miss her. Here are a few photos from 1992 when the UP brought her to Texas for a tour of excursions. My dad and I rode from Houston to San Antonio via the old MoPac to Valley Junction outside of Hearne, to Austin and then down through New Braunfels and San Marcos to the old I-GN depot in San Antonio.
    Here it is in Houston before the trip.
    Challenge.jpg
    And then making a "left rurn" at Valley Junction, not far from the Armadillo Ranch.
    img20210715_18220822.jpg
     
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  15. Mike VE2TRV

    Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

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    Darn fine and very impressive machine. That photo really shows how massive it is.
     
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  16. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    Russell, I'm not sure 3985 has been "retired", merely sidelined for the moment. Last I heard, her tender is what's behind 4014.
    Kinda keeps 3985 from going anywhere, doncha know.
     
  17. r_i_straw

    r_i_straw Mostly N Scale Staff Member

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    I heard they "borrowed" a lot more than just the tender to get the 4014 going. I kind of doubt UP wants to keep three steam locomotives going in the program. Would be cool though. They would have to come up with another oil bunker to drop into the old Big Boy tender.
     
  18. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    It seems they took some driver bearings or other parts for 4014, too.

    Doug
     
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  19. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I seem to recall hearing or reading that 3985 was due for some major work, which was why she was inactive. Before the 4014 project came to life.
     
  20. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Glad to see 3985 photos, especially with it sidelined for an unknown amount of time.
     
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