Tunnel Motor Tuesday: Minorca extra
After Cliffs announced the idling of Minorca in March production wrapped up pretty quickly. A few weeks ago we started hauling 40-50 car cuts up there for them to load reclaim pellets using front end loaders. The neat thing is now that the other captive SD40 variants on the Missabe have been assigned elsewhere the power has been what will now become standard MRF and extra power, Missabe tunnel motors. Except for a pair of geeps necessary in Keenan the only captive EMDs left on the Missabe are the remaining DMIR SD38s and tunnel motors (minus 403)
Knowing that UTAC was down for maintenance I rolled into Keenan just before 0700 and saw two tunnels tied on to a string of 7 series ore cars and instantly knew what my chore would be. Sunshine the whole morning turned into a wall of clouds as I left Virginia but luckily by the time I started onto the loop some breaks appeared. With the move being no rush I had plenty of time for extracurricular activities and stopped the head end just into the loop and walked up track a bit for a wedge. In maybe 4000 feet the 405 will be where I'm standing to take the photo.
Tunnel Motor Tuesday: Minorca extra
After Cliffs announced the idling of Minorca in March production wrapped up pretty quickly. A few weeks ago we started hauling 40-50 car cuts up there for them to load reclaim pellets using front end loaders. The neat thing is now that the other captive SD40 variants on the Missabe have been assigned elsewhere the power has been what will now become standard MRF and extra power, Missabe tunnel motors. Except for a pair of geeps necessary in Keenan the only captive EMDs left on the Missabe are the remaining DMIR SD38s and tunnel motors (minus 403)
Knowing that UTAC was down for maintenance I rolled into Keenan just before 0700 and saw two tunnels tied on to a string of 7 series ore cars and instantly knew what my chore would be. Sunshine the whole morning turned into a wall of clouds as I left Virginia but luckily by the time I started onto the loop some breaks appeared. With the move being no rush I had plenty of time for extracurricular activities and stopped the head end just into the loop and walked up track a bit for a wedge. In maybe 4000 feet the 405 will be where I'm standing to take the photo.