The gloom of a wet and cold October morning is no match for these vibrant autumn yellows as they brightly dress the surrounding northern Minnesota landscape with their seasonal shades, looking on as yet another load of Cleveland-Cliffs ore from the iron mine at Babbitt drops downgrade, brake shoes squeling, past "Railfan Rock" behind clean, company NSM baby blue and white and its leased, ex-Norfolk Southern hand-me-down partner. Assisted with some automatic, howls of dynamic brake fans could be heard for miles, echoing off the colorful hillside as the engineer pushes his dyno stick ahead into the right corner, fighting against gravity to keep control of the heavy, 160 car loaded consist, currently shoving against the drawbars of his two EMD SD70s as they coast steeply down toward the processing plant and shipping port of Silver Bay. Northshore Mining Railroad's 47-mile long stretch of rail linking mine with port through Minnesota's backwoods was once again graced by the turning of steel wheels following an eleven-month operational hiatus which took effect May of 2022, ending recently in April of this year.
