CloudStrike
What does a cybersecurity company and airlines have to do with this picture of a CN train? Funny you should ask, of course there's a story behind this. It was an odd series of events that put me trackside, here, on this particular morning.
The previous week my wife was on a business trip in North Carolina. As the weekend drew near we started finalizing the details of a wedding we were set to attend that weekend. It was on the opposite side of the state so I booked a room in Fond du Lac. In the wee hours of Friday morning an unknown employee of CloudStrike pushed out a software update, not to a handful of beta testing machines but to everyone using their security software. It didn't work and set off a cascading series of failures in a lot of businesses that Friday, particularly some large airlines. My wife was checked in and waiting at the airport by the time the arrivals and departures screens went blank.
This was the start of a many day ordeal of her trying to get home. I was home, but it was apparent we wouldn't be attending the wedding the next day. There wasn't enough notice to get a refund on our room. I was annoyed by that along with the washout of the rest of our plans. Then I thought about it again, what if I didn't cancel the room? Afterall, now I didn't have a plan. The weather is nice, days are long, and Fond du Lac is a worthy destination. So I decided to pack up the camera and head out for a day and a half of photography.
So it was a morning where lemonade was made from lemons. I see enough CN that I tend not to seek it out and I haven't done much shooting in eastern Wisconsin for a good 20 years. At the same time I was interested to see what's changed in the area and some of the interesting motive power assignments.
Earlier in the week L516 ran fairly late so I was hoping for a repeat that would allow for some early morning shooting on the east end of the Minneapolis Sub. Unfortunately, that was not to be, so I made a bee-line for Owen where I could pick up the Superior Sub and follow it east. I didn't have to look far to find a meet underway between this ore train and a northbound manifest. Just south of Atwood this train bears down on Popple River Road. Copious amounts of new ties line the right-of-way as this key corridor gets plenty of attention from CN. July 20, 2024.
CloudStrike
What does a cybersecurity company and airlines have to do with this picture of a CN train? Funny you should ask, of course there's a story behind this. It was an odd series of events that put me trackside, here, on this particular morning.
The previous week my wife was on a business trip in North Carolina. As the weekend drew near we started finalizing the details of a wedding we were set to attend that weekend. It was on the opposite side of the state so I booked a room in Fond du Lac. In the wee hours of Friday morning an unknown employee of CloudStrike pushed out a software update, not to a handful of beta testing machines but to everyone using their security software. It didn't work and set off a cascading series of failures in a lot of businesses that Friday, particularly some large airlines. My wife was checked in and waiting at the airport by the time the arrivals and departures screens went blank.
This was the start of a many day ordeal of her trying to get home. I was home, but it was apparent we wouldn't be attending the wedding the next day. There wasn't enough notice to get a refund on our room. I was annoyed by that along with the washout of the rest of our plans. Then I thought about it again, what if I didn't cancel the room? Afterall, now I didn't have a plan. The weather is nice, days are long, and Fond du Lac is a worthy destination. So I decided to pack up the camera and head out for a day and a half of photography.
So it was a morning where lemonade was made from lemons. I see enough CN that I tend not to seek it out and I haven't done much shooting in eastern Wisconsin for a good 20 years. At the same time I was interested to see what's changed in the area and some of the interesting motive power assignments.
Earlier in the week L516 ran fairly late so I was hoping for a repeat that would allow for some early morning shooting on the east end of the Minneapolis Sub. Unfortunately, that was not to be, so I made a bee-line for Owen where I could pick up the Superior Sub and follow it east. I didn't have to look far to find a meet underway between this ore train and a northbound manifest. Just south of Atwood this train bears down on Popple River Road. Copious amounts of new ties line the right-of-way as this key corridor gets plenty of attention from CN. July 20, 2024.