GN 562 SD7 Ore Transfer and the Soo Connection at Saunders, WI. May 1970
This shot was taken from the stairs of Saunders Tower looking south (west). GN 562 is working the Saunders Transfer job today. The loaded iron ore cars belong to the DM&IR. The Missabe just delivered these cars to Saunders for transfer to the GN's yard at Allouez. The Missabe engines are still in the yard waiting for the Saunders Transfer to clear the lead so that the Missabe crew can continue their journey to Itasca. Look carefully in the weeds at left. You'll find the GN's head end brakeman giving hand signals to the 562's engineer as they double together the Missabe interchange ore. Soon enough they'll have the air back up on this train and they'll be off to Allouez just a few miles to the east. This was an every day event at Saunders. At least until the natural ore began to play out on the Mesabi Iron Range. By the early 1980s Allouez was converted to handle taconite pellets only. Scenes like this came to an end after roughly 100 years of daily repetition. The s-curve cross-over just to the right of the semaphore signal is the new connection between the Soo Line's mainline into Superior and the GN mains into Superior and Allouez. This track was added to allow joint NP/SOO Cuyuna Range iron ore trains to make direct runs to either Central Avenue yard on the NP or the GN ore yards at Allouez.
GN 562 SD7 Ore Transfer and the Soo Connection at Saunders, WI. May 1970
This shot was taken from the stairs of Saunders Tower looking south (west). GN 562 is working the Saunders Transfer job today. The loaded iron ore cars belong to the DM&IR. The Missabe just delivered these cars to Saunders for transfer to the GN's yard at Allouez. The Missabe engines are still in the yard waiting for the Saunders Transfer to clear the lead so that the Missabe crew can continue their journey to Itasca. Look carefully in the weeds at left. You'll find the GN's head end brakeman giving hand signals to the 562's engineer as they double together the Missabe interchange ore. Soon enough they'll have the air back up on this train and they'll be off to Allouez just a few miles to the east. This was an every day event at Saunders. At least until the natural ore began to play out on the Mesabi Iron Range. By the early 1980s Allouez was converted to handle taconite pellets only. Scenes like this came to an end after roughly 100 years of daily repetition. The s-curve cross-over just to the right of the semaphore signal is the new connection between the Soo Line's mainline into Superior and the GN mains into Superior and Allouez. This track was added to allow joint NP/SOO Cuyuna Range iron ore trains to make direct runs to either Central Avenue yard on the NP or the GN ore yards at Allouez.