Last light E&LS... Part 4 of 4
My E&LS adventures came on the last day of my Fall 2020 trip to the Upper Peninsula, which meant I needed to make the drive back to Dubuque yet that evening. I stayed longer than I probably should have to shoot the E&LS Wells switcher tying up at the shops (previous photo). Then I was delayed a little bit longer because my trip south from Escanaba coincided with the departure of CN train A450 from Gladstone, the daily eastbound for Green Bay. I stopped a couple times to shoot them but started to find long shadows everywhere I went as the sun quickly dropped. As the A450 was near Powers they got a new warrant through Marinette from the RTC, because the "train there has cleared up." I figured that was likely E&LS M&M Job going back "home" but also figured they'd be long tied up before I got there. However, as I pulled into the north side of Menominee just a few minutes before sunset, the E&LS radio channel chirped to life with a conductor counting off car counts as a train was backing up - so they weren't tied up yet!
I headed straight for where I knew the E&LS engine house in Menominee, MI is along 4th Avenue... sure enough, there was the M&M Job with the ELS 1201 and 1202 backing slowly down the lead to the engine house, apparently moments from being done for the day. The setting sun was almost gone but I found one last sliver of drop-under light at this spot to illuminate the nose of the 1201 at least, as well as the surrounding fall foliage. The door to the engine house can be seen on the left behind the tree. Not the greatest shot of the M&M Job ever perhaps, but still a neat way to close out my adventures in the Upper Peninsula and Northeast Wisconsin. And as I have said, I definitely didn't expect to shoot 4 trains on the E&LS in one day!
The 1201 is a former Reserve Mining unit with its distinctive light package that has been on the E&LS for a long time, and assigned to the M&M job for quite a bit of that time. The 1202 is a former ISLX engine that has been with the E&LS for a few years too. Before coming to the E&LS its last assignment was on the Mineral Range railroad in Ishpeming, MI. I caught it there in 2014 when it had been lettered the M.R. 907 (link to a photo in the comments). Sounds like these two units are the currently regulars on the M&M Job, which means I'd really like to get back here and spend the day with these guys sometime...
Last light E&LS... Part 4 of 4
My E&LS adventures came on the last day of my Fall 2020 trip to the Upper Peninsula, which meant I needed to make the drive back to Dubuque yet that evening. I stayed longer than I probably should have to shoot the E&LS Wells switcher tying up at the shops (previous photo). Then I was delayed a little bit longer because my trip south from Escanaba coincided with the departure of CN train A450 from Gladstone, the daily eastbound for Green Bay. I stopped a couple times to shoot them but started to find long shadows everywhere I went as the sun quickly dropped. As the A450 was near Powers they got a new warrant through Marinette from the RTC, because the "train there has cleared up." I figured that was likely E&LS M&M Job going back "home" but also figured they'd be long tied up before I got there. However, as I pulled into the north side of Menominee just a few minutes before sunset, the E&LS radio channel chirped to life with a conductor counting off car counts as a train was backing up - so they weren't tied up yet!
I headed straight for where I knew the E&LS engine house in Menominee, MI is along 4th Avenue... sure enough, there was the M&M Job with the ELS 1201 and 1202 backing slowly down the lead to the engine house, apparently moments from being done for the day. The setting sun was almost gone but I found one last sliver of drop-under light at this spot to illuminate the nose of the 1201 at least, as well as the surrounding fall foliage. The door to the engine house can be seen on the left behind the tree. Not the greatest shot of the M&M Job ever perhaps, but still a neat way to close out my adventures in the Upper Peninsula and Northeast Wisconsin. And as I have said, I definitely didn't expect to shoot 4 trains on the E&LS in one day!
The 1201 is a former Reserve Mining unit with its distinctive light package that has been on the E&LS for a long time, and assigned to the M&M job for quite a bit of that time. The 1202 is a former ISLX engine that has been with the E&LS for a few years too. Before coming to the E&LS its last assignment was on the Mineral Range railroad in Ishpeming, MI. I caught it there in 2014 when it had been lettered the M.R. 907 (link to a photo in the comments). Sounds like these two units are the currently regulars on the M&M Job, which means I'd really like to get back here and spend the day with these guys sometime...