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With dynamic brakes whining, an eastbound loaded ore train on the Canadian National Iron Range Sub is about to pass under 20th Avenue in Two Harbors, Minnesota. The loads of taconite are bound for the docks at Agate Bay. Power is Illinois Central SD40-3 6255, Bessemer & Lake Erie SD40T-3 904, Illinois Central SD40-3 6253 and Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range SD40T-3 405 with around a hundred hoppers.
It's about 6:30am on Lake Michigan near Port Washington, WI downbound on the MV Indiana Harbor with taconite pellets out of Two Harbors, MN for the Arcelor Mittal steel mill at Indiana Harbor. Meanwhile, the sun is working it's way up to the horizon lighting up the underside of the clouds to the east.
Duluth Missabe & Iron Range Yellowstone mallet 2-8-8-4 No 229 at The Depot Museum in Two Harbors, Minnesota.
Details on the Duluth Missabe & Iron Range Yellowstone mallet 2-8-8-4 No 229 at The Depot Museum in Two Harbors, Minnesota.
This locomotive was built during the war year of 1943. In the thirties the locomotive companies had been adding decorative aluminum cowlings for a stream lined effect. Since there was a war on, these sorts of extras were done away with. On this rail line, the train hauled one thing IRON ORE! The runs were 60 to 120 miles from the mines inland, down to the Lake Superior, were the ore was loaded on ore boats for shipment to the lower great lakes, and places like Cleveland OH, Gary IN and Pittsburgh PA.
The reason it was not smelted in Minnesota, is because Minnesota sits in the middle of a tectonic plate and has no coal or petroleum deposits. It was cheaper to move the ore to the coal, then it is to move the coal to the ore. But to get from the mines to the lake, the railroad had descend into the Lake Superior basin a difference of about 800 feet (250 meters). Either was a big engine was needed to hold back fully loaded cars down hill, or a long train of empties back up the hill. Iron ore hopper cars are stubby. They are about 2/3 the length of a regular hopper car, due to the fact the freight is so much heavier.
An eastbound loaded ore train on the Canadian National Iron Range Sub approaching the Big Rock Road crossing at MP 5.92 in Stewart, Minnesota. The train is bound for the docks at Two Harbors. Power is Illinois Central SD40-3 6255, Bessemer & Lake Erie SD40T-3 904, Illinois Central SD40-3 6253 and Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range SD40T-3 405 with around a hundred hoppers.
An eastbound loaded ore train on the Canadian National Iron Range Sub on the Route 12 crossing in Waldo, Minnesota. The train is bound for the docks at Two Harbors. Power is Illinois Central SD40-3 6255, Bessemer & Lake Erie SD40T-3 904, Illinois Central SD40-3 6253 and Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range SD40T-3 405 with around a hundred hoppers.
According to the Duluth Shipping News, this Laker is in fact a tug with a fitted barge. The Presque Isle measures 1,000 feet long. It was photoraphed while at Two Harbors, MN, on the morning of January 4th, 2015.
An eastbound loaded ore train on the Canadian National Iron Range Sub on the Big Rock Road crossing at MP 5.92 in Stewart, Minnesota. The train is bound for the docks at Two Harbors. Power is Illinois Central SD40-3 6255, Bessemer & Lake Erie SD40T-3 904, Illinois Central SD40-3 6253 and Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range SD40T-3 405 with around a hundred hoppers.
Details on the Duluth Missabe & Iron Range Yellowstone mallet 2-8-8-4 No 229 at The Depot Museum in Two Harbors, Minnesota.
Fishermen line up on a cold January day along the breakwall in Two Harbors, MN. It is picuresque with the sunrise occurring and an unidentified laker gliding by, but it is only about 15 degrees farenheit.
Taken from the downbound MV Indiana Harbor on a hazy afternoon about an hour southwest of Eagle Harbor on the Keweenaw Peninsula of Upper Michigan, we see two upbound vessels off the starboard side. In front to the right two and a half miles away is the Algoma boat MV Algorail destined to the CN Dock in Duluth, MN to load pellets. Behind to the left and 4 miles away is the ITB Presque Isle destined to the CN Dock in Two Harbors, also to load pellets.
An articulated Mallet engine.
First what is a mallet engine. It is one with 2 boilers for more power, moving steam from one boiler to the other to get more use of the steam before it escapes as exhaust. If you want to get more technical, Google or Wiki it.
And now articulated. This engine was so long, it sort of had to be split. Both boilers were carried on one frame mounted on the the rear set of drive wheels. But the fron set of drive wheels were not on this frame, they were more or less free floating. So watching one of these engines operate, the front boiler would not begin turning in a curve until the second set of wheels hit the curve. this meant the top of the fron front of the locomotive was still heading straight, while the bottom of the front was making a curve, This made the locomotive stick way outside the right of way of the tracks. Similar to what happens to those accordion buses.
sorry for not getting the description up sooner ...
There is some contention about whether or not this was the biggest engine ever built, or if the American Locomotive's "Bigboy" Series is. They were both roughly the same size, though Bigboys had one more pair of guiding wheels on the front, making them a 4-8-8-4 instead of a 2-8-8-4. Both sets of locos were used heavily in the Rockies to pull trains over steep long passes. One such pass was at Soldier Summit UT.
Duluth & Iron Range 2-6-0 Mogul No 3 built by Baldwin in Philadelphia in 1883. She is on display at the Depot Museum in Two Harbors, Minnesota.
OK - for those of you who are not rail nuts, here is an explanation of what 2-8-8-4 means.
Usually there are only 3 numbers instead of 4. The first number is the number of guide wheels on the train. These wheels stabilize a train going into curves in the track. The last number is the number of trailing wheels which holds up the cab. And the middle number or for this engine middle two numbers is the number of drive wheels below the boiler. This loco had 2 boilers and 2 sets of drive wheels so therefore 2 middle numbers. So 2-8-8-4 means two guide wheels, 8 drive wheels over the front boiler, 8 drive wheels over the rear boiler and 4 trailing wheels below the cab. -- The information I did not know, I got off of Wiki and NO! I am not going to put in footnotes!
See how "lopsided" the drive wheels are? Those blobs of extra steel towards the bottoms of the wheels are counter weights. When those weights are towards the top of the wheel when it is in motion, then the weights push forward and down due to gravity. This in turn through the white driving rods on the sides of the wheels pushes the engines piston up into the cylinder removing room within the cylinder. Then when these counterweights are on the bottom like shown in this picture, steam is released into the cylinder, "pushing" the cylinder back down and thus through the driving rods pushing the counter weights back into the up position. The repetition of this causes the wheel to turn and the locomotive to move (I hope I didn't butcher this up too badly)!
Steam powered tugboat Edna G at Two Harbors, Minnesota. The Two Harbors lighthouse is in the background. This tugboat is 110 feet long and was built in 1896.
Integrated tug-barge Presque Isle of the Great Lakes Fleet loading taconite at Two Harbors, Minnesota. They were built in 1973, the tug at New Orleans LA and the barge at Erie PA and combined are 1000 feet long.
getting loaded with taconite at Two Harbors, MN on Lake Superior
length 767'- beam 70' -horsepower 7000 -capacity 25,300 tons
In August, 1983, experiencing strong winds in Duluth Harbor, she dropped anchor for control. When they raised anchor, they had snagged a crushed vehicle containing two decomposing bodies. The vehicle had been reported missing 5 years earlier.
Note reflection of red-roofed building with chimney and in the distance Lake Superior. Lens contains 256 prisms.
A beautiful summer day in Two Harbors, MN. Iron Ore from Northern MN, actually taconite pellets (containing iron ore) being loaded to take down to the factories on the 'lower' great lakes.
A former Bessemer & Lake Erie SD40T-2 leads an empty CN ore train back to the Mines as it puls out of Two Harbors, MN.
Laker Lee A Tregurtha entering Two Harbors MN on a cold, windy, cloudy morning. This vessel was launched from Bethlehem Shipbuilding in Baltimore in 1942 as the tanker Samoset. It was converted to a laker in 1961.
All the photos in this album were made within the harbor in Two Harbors, MN. My four days here were focused on the happenings there. A neat place for self reflections. :)
Laker Lee A Tregurtha entering Two Harbors MN on a cold, windy, cloudy morning. This vessel was launched from Bethlehem Shipbuilding in Baltimore in 1942 as the tanker Samoset. It was converted to a laker in 1961.
Laker Lee A Tregurtha maneuvering into the ore dock in Two Harbors MN. The tug-barge Prequel Isle is already loading. The former was launched in 1942 in Baltimore as the tanker Samoset and converted to a laker in 1961. The Latter was launched in 1973.
Two lakers passing well clear of each other off of Two Harbors, Minnesota. On the left the Walter J. McCarthy, Jr is heading for Duluth-Superior. She was built in 1977 at Bay Shipbuilding, Sturgeon Bay WI and is 1000 feet. The northbound vessel may be the Edgar B Speer of the Great Lakes Fleet of Duluth. She was built in 1980 at American Shipbuilding, Lorain OH and is 1004 feet.
arriving at Two Harbors MN on Lake Superior to load up. She is one of 13 1000' vessels sailing the Great Lakes
length 1004' - beam 105 - capacity 74,100 ton - horsepower diesel engine: 19,500 (largest on the Great Lakes)
The fog signal horns at Two Harbors Light Station overlooking Agate Bay, Two Harbors, Minnesota. These were orginally powered by steam. The small white house to the right was the power house. The small red building was the oil house.
Laker Mesabi Miner off Two Harbors heading for Superior. She is 1007 feet and was built in 1977. Taken from Silver Creek overlooking Two Harbors.
We were passing this building in Two Harbors, MN and saw this on the side of a building. We couldn't pass it up. My daughter jumped out to take a picture of it.