UP 5517 leads a train of crude oil from North Dakota's Bakken Oil Field over Canadian Pacific's New Town sub between Butte and Kief, ND. This is a former Soo Line branch that ran from Drake to Sanish, ND, and after the creation of Lake Sakakawea to New Town, a very literal name for the village formed from the abandoned towns of Sanish and nearby Van Hook, both inundated under the new lake.
For most of the lines history it was nothing other than a granger branch line with sparse train traffic, but then in 2010 new traffic was brought to the line in the form of crude oil loaded into unit trains at New Town. With 100 year old 80 pound jointed rail on significant stretches of the branch it wasn't well suited to heavy oil trains and six-axle power was prohibited. Now a few years later relaid 115 pound welded rail (in addition to some 80 pound CWR already in place) has been put down allowing heavier trains and power. Until recently it wasn't uncommon to see four or five SOO and CP Geeps pulling these oil trains off the branch, but that era has ended with the new rail and now road power, such as this runthrough UP power, now handles the oil trains on the branch.
