Spirit Mountain High
Count the pixels if you dare. The sun wasn’t even up at the start of my fourth day out venturing around Minnesota’s Iron Range. I would get an early start around 06:00 for the morning 23:59 Proctor Switch, R92481-09, even with heavy fog hovering over the greater Duluth area. Spirit Mountain was the go-to location with the little time available to beat the Switch up the grade.

Seven minutes before the clock struck 07:00, CN R92481-09 peeked around the corner, long audible before visible, lugging up to the top of Proctor Hill. Consecutively numbered Illinois Central painted SD40-2s, #IC6251 and #IC6252, lead, with two corporate dressed EMDs assisting in trail, all four roaring away at notch 8 in unison. The Switch is charge of handling 60 loads of loaded limestone from Hallett Dock to Proctor Yard; the traffic is destined for U.S. Steel’s Minntac taconite facility up by Mountain Iron. From Proctor to its destination, a different crew will be in charge of transporting the limestone north along the Missable Subdivision.
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Proctor, MN
CN Missabe Subdivision

Date: 11/09/2022 | 06:53

ID: CN R92481-09
Type: Unit Limestone
Direction: Westbound
Car Count: 60

1. IC SD40-2 #6251
2. IC SD40-2 #6252
3. CN SD40-2u #6024
4. DMIR SD40-3 #408
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© Vicente Alonso 2022
6252 ic6251 ic6252 6251 6024 408