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Two Northern Plains Railroad ex-CN SD60Fs head West through Radium MN along the Wheat Line towards Warren and the Red River Valley.
Northern Plains Railroad's job to Thief River Falls arrives at the yard to drop off its interchange traffic with nothing to bring back yet west until deliveries are made by CP. The power will spend the night on one of the roundhouse tracks before turning back to Fordville tomorrow.
A pair of NPR ex-CN motors haul a shorter train west past Radium along the Wheat Line towards Warren and the Red River Valley.
Former CN 1406 has been on the NPR roster for several years and has been in Thief River Falls for a while.
grain empty stuck in the snow, just east of Kenmare, ambient temp -15. the joys of 50mph winds and railroading in north dakota
I like wandering the alleys and out of the way spots in Napier for shots like this. I really like the textures and "feel' of old paint and neglect.
And who is this NPR? It's very unlikely to be the radio network they have in the US. Mrs M and I got hooked on that particular NPR on one of our road trips through the States and I still listen occasionally via TuneIn and I always listen to NPRs weekly "All Songs Considered" podcast - I discover so much great new music on there.
Well, that turned out to be a love letter to NPR, so maybe that graffiti was meant for me after all - Love NPR!
© Mike Mulcahy 2021
Caught up with the Northern Plains Railroad at Warren. I was surprised with the speed at which they make their turn at the yard in the Thief River Falls. When I saw the return traffic it all made sense. Two of the railroad's SD60Fs haul a single box car into the heart of the Red River Valley. Box cars usually go to the bean facility in Oslo, which is likely the next stop.
Remote power switching at the AL-Corn Ethanol plant in Claremont MN. Taken with permission.
Not sure if this was an SD 40-2T owned by Northern Plains Railroad or perhaps it was owned by National Public Radio :>)
Northern Plains departs Thief River Falls for a brief journey on the Noyes Subdivision before turning onto home rails at Dakota Junction. Plenty of empties for delivery to elevators in the Red River Valley. Meanwhile, NPR has yet to acknowledge that some of their power still has obvious CN nose heralds, though for the casual observer, like me, I encourage keeping them around. I think it is inevitable that Northern Plains will recycle these motors for lease service or function as switch power somewhere. The face of NPR is continuously changing.
The wind howls and occasionally some gaps in the clouds and snow allowed the sun to poke through, such is the case now at the yard in Thief River Falls where four of Northern Plains Railroad's SD60Fs idle over MLK weekend waiting for empty grain hopper to bring west on the former Soo Wheat Line.
Three of NPR's SD60Fs bring a long train into Thief River Falls for interchange with the CPKC, including a number of ballast hoppers. I find myself using this angle increasingly adding the Minnesota Northern's milepost 22.1 bridge into the scene. The bridge was built by Great Northern as a part of its branch line to Lake of the Woods via Thief River Falls, Greenbush, and Roseau.
Former Northern Lines 1411 that lived in St. Cloud, Minnesota now makes Grand Forks, North Dakota as a Northern Plains locomotives in contract switch service.
Northern Plains power at Fordville. Taken with permission. I was overnight on business in Grand Forks and I called the railroad to ask if I could take a night shot at their Fordville yard and was told that I could but no one would be there so I had an opportunity to take a number of shots.
NPR 5517 sits on the Northern Plains Railroad mainline northwest of Thief River Falls. The train has been tied down for a couple of days, and who knows when it will be able to interchange? Regardless, it was in a nice spot for a photo at milepost 311 with a ridge-side farm greening up in the background.
It has been standard practice this harvest season of 2025 for the Northern Plains Railroad to tie down their inbound train to Thief River Falls northwest of town. Thief River Falls has been busy moving grain from Northwest Grain, receiving empty hoppers, and preparing loaded hoppers. The business seems to affect when NPR can deliver its interchange traffic. So, trains tend to sit for a while until the moment is just right for interchanging traffic.
“Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.”
Wallace Stevens
I saw a man skip stones on the surface of Greenlake. Every few steps he will dig the frozen soil with his index finger and carve one out to skip with. It made a wonderful sound. I asked him to skip another stone for me just so that I could hear that sound again. And it was even lovelier.
Rocks Striking a Frozen Lake in Winter All Things Considered, January 10, 2007 · Listener Charles Skinner of Northfield, Minn., hurls rocks on the frozen lake near his home, creating a SoundClip that a caveman could have submitted — assuming he had our e-mail address.
jeep hell, npr sliding downhill into the des lacs river valley and interchange with the CPRS at Kenmare, just west of CP Cronenberg....18 degrees, 2nd of April, gotta love this place
Northern Plains Railroad 1508 sits in the CPKC Yard in Thief River Falls among a frost-covered landscape. The unit is formerly Progress Rail, CSX, and C&O according to fellow Flickr contributor Steve Farrel. He spotted this unit among a Toronto-bound train CPKC 420 about a week after it was here in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. See below in the comments for Steve's photo from the CPKC MacTier Subdivision:
Not the radio station, the railroad. A pack of SD40's lead a train into the setting sun west of Warren, MN.
Former Milwaukee Road 2032 now wears a new pretty red dress. For now the Northern Plains Railroad is painting their new former CP GP40s this way,
after their interchange with the CPR in Kenmare, the NPR heads east with mixture of traffic,
Kenmare, North Dakota
A couple of former CN SD60F's lead a long train west through the Red River Valley. The Northern Plains Railroad now owns and operates these on former Soo Line trackage, the "wheat line" that extends into northeastern North Dakota. It's all 25 mph now with some 10 mph slow orders thrown in, as they traverse some of the richest farmland in the world. One of the last drive in theaters in Minnesota is across the road, the SKy-Vu Drive In of Warren, MN.
These SD60F's have found a second life on the Northern Plains Railroad. They display the effects of long service to their original owner, Canadian National. This is a view from the ground from a couple months back when I chased them from Warren to Alvarado. Not too difficult when they average about 15 mph.
R476 NPR & R482 NPR are pictured at Yellow Buses Depot in Bournemouth about to depart to Ensignbus, Purfleet . R482 NPR only made it to the Depot gate before having gearbox problems.
Every once in a while I get lucky when out railfanning. Monday the 16th was one of those days. After work Greg LeJeune and I were out exploring a few old Grain Elevators on our way back to Grand Forks. We were looking in the doorway of the old wooden elevator at Ardoch, ND when we heard a horn. to our surprise it was an Eastbound NPR train on the approach to Ardoch. Turned out they were there to pick up three BNSF boxcars for a customer over in Johnstown. First step was to run around the cut of covered hoppers they had in tow, then grab the three boxcars and head back West, with a former NP/BN/MRL GP-9 as a leader, the chase was on. once the turn was made to the South onto former BN jointed rail the chase slowed as the track speed dropped, but that gave us plenty of opportunity to work with the changing scenery.
Given the wide open scenery and small wood bridges along the line I opted for a pan shot over one of them. this was between Forest River and Johnstown.