Four ex BN EMD's lead a 59 car L MON8331 04I into Berthold, cruising along at the restricted 40MPH due to a pesky empty sand hopper. The 833 local, also known as the "Ross Turn" services the grain elevator in Berthold, Sandtrol in Blaisdell, setout/pickup in Stanley, works a handful of industries in Ross, and then heads West to Manitou (MP 67) where Plains LPG has a loading facility for propane and crude oil. It then returns to Minot, but, typically not on the first crew. Today's train is on its second crew, one of the Minot "shuttle" crews is on and engineer Mark Grindy has her under control down the near-1% grade nearing Berthold, only 24 miles from Minot.
It was nice to shoot the local, especially since I personally put the power together with the photo shown in mind! ;-)
