Fall colors are starting in north central Minnesota as a westbound empty oil train rolls through lake country on BNSF's mainline behind a pair of NS locomotives. For a minute I thought I was in Kentucky or Tennessee. We spotted 11 trains between St. Cloud and Dilworth on this mainline in about 3.5 hours.
Tier IV locomotives are the safest, cleanest, and most fuel efficient locomotives on the rails today. Unfortunately, most of them are ugly and are as quiet as an ACS-64.