Stumbling Into Position
Our second day on the range, it was pretty clear we needed to hang out around Iron Junction. As the central connector between the Missabe, Iron Range, and Rainy (DWP) subs, it was bound to be a busy place - and it was! After shooting some southbounds closer to Proctor, we ventured north and nabbed a myriad of traffic, including some local freights in okay-ish-light, and learning about how deep and strong the snow was. Not long after arriving at the large wye that is the junction, ATCS showed dispatch lining a T-Bird out of, get this, CP T-Bird. Bound for Fairlane, we had ourselves a little train to nab.

I'm not exactly the most steady or agile person on a good day, but when you put snow into the mix, I'm a hot mess. I quickly learned the value of snow shoes (and probably weight loss, to be really honest) as my lack of them led to my sinking into snowbanks rather easily. It took stumbling across a tall barrier made of heavily packed snow to get into position to snag CN2112 come through West Wye and through Iron Jct. The C40-8 was given a special paintjob, faintly visible here, along with sister 2107. They both wear the CN colours, but their long hood has a special 15-years-of-privitization design drawn across it. A nice surprise to catch that leading for sure!

T-Birds, like the one led by CN2112 here, are an important piece of the taconite puzzle up here. They bring the raw taconite, fresh from the mines, to the taconite plant. There, limestone and bentonite clay and a liberal application of heat - among other things, no doubt - will be used to refine the raw taconite into the little pellets that the railroad will later haul to the docks to be loaded into Great Lakes freighters. No T-Birds, no tac trains!
trains railroad c408 cn2112 ironjunction ironrange canadiannational cn snow winter minnesota missabe tbird