Western Railroad Discussion > A few from the Northland of Minnesota

Last weekend I took part in a Bonspiel (Curling Tournament) in Grand Rapids, Minnesota which is between Bemidji and HIbbing.  I didn't have much time to railfan nor was that the purpose of my downtime but I did catch a few railroad related things.

1. Ex-Great Northern Station in Princenton, MN which is now a museum.  
2. Ex-Northern Pacific Depot in AItkin, MN which is along BNSF's Brainerd Subdivison.
3. Ex-DWP Depot in Downtown Virgina, MN


 

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4. A sring of Mesabi Ore Jennies in Virgina, MN.

After visiting the US Hockey Hall of Fame in Eveleth, MN I decided to swing by Iron Junction to see if anything was moving.  
Well I managed to catch not one but two trains.  
5. A Southbound CN Limestone Train heading Southbound.
6. A very dusty train.

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7. Following the Linestone train came what looked to be a ballest train with sidedump cars.
8. Two Harbors Depot.

Hope everyone enjoyed the photos.  

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Nice.  We'll be in the area in June and also plan of visiting the US Hockey Hall of Fame.  We do plan on riding the train at the museum in Duluth, but not sure how much other rail attractions we'll get to see.  

Nice shots. Your southbound loaded train would not be limestone but loaded raw ore. There is a special shuttle train nicknamed the “Thunderbird” running in a continuous loop from a mine of the same name onnthe north side of Elveth to the taconite plant at Fairlane about 10
Miles south where the raw ore is processed into taconite for shipment to duluth. The second southbound with the side dumps would be an empty limestone train.

Posted from iPhone

DJ-12 Wrote:
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> Nice shots. Your southbound loaded train would not
> be limestone but loaded raw ore. There is a
> special shuttle train nicknamed the
> “Thunderbird” running in a continuous loop
> from a mine of the same name onnthe north side of
> Elveth to the taconite plant at Fairlane about 10
> Miles south where the raw ore is processed into
> taconite for shipment to duluth. The second
> southbound with the side dumps would be an empty
> limestone train.
>
> Posted from iPhone

Thanks! I learned something new today. I didn't even know raw ore shipments were a thing.

Sadly I didn't have time to get to Fairlane but hopefully next time I'm up there I'll have more time.

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P Wrote:
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> Nice.  We'll be in the area in June and also plan
> of visiting the US Hockey Hall of Fame.  We do
> plan on riding the train at the museum in Duluth,
> but not sure how much other rail attractions we'll
> get to see.  

The museum in Duluth is definitely worth checking out. I did it a number of years ago.

Posted from Android