Heavy Equipment
After a bit of a wait for traffic ahead - and for the dispatcher to finally answer the radio so they could get a new warrant - the CP 6241 and CP 6306 are finally moving down the mainline near the north end of the siding at Harpers Ferry, Iowa. The BAL-05 with it's two sets of GREX belt cars are loaded with rock from the Waterloo, Wisconsin pit on the WSOR. The north end of Harper's Ferry is adjacent to a sand pit currently owned by northeast Iowa contractor Skyline Materials/Bruening Rock Products. The Mississippi River Valley in this part of the world has quite a few quarries and sand pits, thanks to the sandy deposits at the bottom of the bluffs and the limestone and other harder rocks that make up the bluffs and make for good building materials.
The train is passing the head end of a 377 hopper train that has been stuck in the siding for a bit while waiting for three trains to pass - and there were two more trains down at Marquette meeting as well headed for the Mason City sub. It's been busy times on the modern CPKC lines along the west edge of the Mississippi River Valley, and this ballast is being moved to support more of the expansion and upgrade efforts.
Heavy Equipment
After a bit of a wait for traffic ahead - and for the dispatcher to finally answer the radio so they could get a new warrant - the CP 6241 and CP 6306 are finally moving down the mainline near the north end of the siding at Harpers Ferry, Iowa. The BAL-05 with it's two sets of GREX belt cars are loaded with rock from the Waterloo, Wisconsin pit on the WSOR. The north end of Harper's Ferry is adjacent to a sand pit currently owned by northeast Iowa contractor Skyline Materials/Bruening Rock Products. The Mississippi River Valley in this part of the world has quite a few quarries and sand pits, thanks to the sandy deposits at the bottom of the bluffs and the limestone and other harder rocks that make up the bluffs and make for good building materials.
The train is passing the head end of a 377 hopper train that has been stuck in the siding for a bit while waiting for three trains to pass - and there were two more trains down at Marquette meeting as well headed for the Mason City sub. It's been busy times on the modern CPKC lines along the west edge of the Mississippi River Valley, and this ballast is being moved to support more of the expansion and upgrade efforts.