UP 5341 heading back to Proctor, MN after delivering limestone to the U.S. Steel Minntac plant. The two UP units were horsepower payback and have since been returned.

The Keenan switch heads south with a trio of geeps.

A cold in hell is a common phrase used to describe a rare occurrence or event and since it was bone chilling cold on this day with a air temp of -20 and a wind chill reading making it feel much co... (more)

It's a cold winter's day as KSC 5000 leads a loaded U.S. Steel Minntac to New Orleans pellet train down from the plant on a frigid afternoon in NE Minnesota. The world's largest taconite plant is... (more)

Heading up to Minntac from Proctor to load taconite pellets on a foggy, frost filled afternoon.

After switching empties and loads at the U.S. Steel Minntac commercial yard, R901's next task was to shove two tank cars into the "dunk tank" (that's what the crew called the area) which... (more)

Rolling back towards Keenan yard after serving the commercial yard at U.S. Steel Minntac, GTW 4906 stands out amongst the white landscape.

Coming down the mountain from U.S. Steel Minntac at m.p. 5 on the CN Minntac sub, CN 2040 leads 145 ore cars filled to capacity on a frost covered afternoon as they head for Two Harbors, MN.

GTW 4906 and crew heading up to Minntac with bentonite hoppers to switch out loads and empties in less than ideal conditions.

With U.S. Steel continuing to keep idle their Keewatin Taconite plant due to the soft demand caused by the pandemic, they are using their other Iron Range plant, Minntac, to produce pellets for th... (more)

A four pack of IC EMDs scream through South Mt. Iron Minnesota with a load of fresh ore pellets from Mintac bound for Two Harbors. Leading the pack is an SD40-3 still sporting its Black IC Dea... (more)

CN 2948 comes around the bend from U.S. Steel Minntac with the first seasonal loads of BFT (blast furnace trim - crushed raw taconite) for CN-Hallett Dock 5 in Duluth. The train brought up car lo... (more)

Perhaps the first Minntac BFT train to run this season but unlike previous years, BFT is now being routed through CN-Hallett Dock 5 instead of Dock 1 in Two Harbors. This train brought limestone l... (more)

Descending from the USS Minntac plant with 130 loads of pellets the CN crew is heading for CN Keenan yard with this BNSF all-rail train that is going to a final destination at Granite City Works b... (more)

An interesting mashup of power on this empty taconite train bends around the curve through freshly snow flocked trees approaching Minntac where they will load more pellets before heading southbou... (more)