Coming down the mountain from U.S. Steel Minntac at m.p. 5 on the CN Minntac sub, CN 2040 leads 145 ore cars filled to capacity on a frost covered afternoon as they head for Two Harbors, MN.

GTW 4906 and crew heading up to Minntac with bentonite hoppers to switch out loads and empties in less than ideal conditions.

With U.S. Steel continuing to keep idle their Keewatin Taconite plant due to the soft demand caused by the pandemic, they are using their other Iron Range plant, Minntac, to produce pellets for th... (more)

A four pack of IC EMDs scream through South Mt. Iron Minnesota with a load of fresh ore pellets from Mintac bound for Two Harbors. Leading the pack is an SD40-3 still sporting its Black IC Dea... (more)

CN 2948 comes around the bend from U.S. Steel Minntac with the first seasonal loads of BFT (blast furnace trim - crushed raw taconite) for CN-Hallett Dock 5 in Duluth. The train brought up car lo... (more)

Perhaps the first Minntac BFT train to run this season but unlike previous years, BFT is now being routed through CN-Hallett Dock 5 instead of Dock 1 in Two Harbors. This train brought limestone l... (more)

Descending from the USS Minntac plant with 130 loads of pellets the CN crew is heading for CN Keenan yard with this BNSF all-rail train that is going to a final destination at Granite City Works b... (more)

An interesting mashup of power on this empty taconite train bends around the curve through freshly snow flocked trees approaching Minntac where they will load more pellets before heading southbou... (more)

Always nice to see an old veteran plying the rails as they come around the curve and down the hill from the U.S. Steel Minntac plant with steaming hot taconite pellets on a cold winter's afternoon... (more)

North from Proctor, MN to load under the west loadout pocket then move over to weigh on the east pocket scale and travelling back south to the yard at Proctor with taconite pellets in tow.

The CN local R901 gets on the move south down the Minntac Sub after finishing work in Mountain Iron, Minnesota. A pair of former IC GP38-2's lead today's train, consisting mostly of BNSF covered h... (more)

Departing Minntac for Proctor with fresh baked taconite pellets that will be bound for the dock at Duluth, MN.

Some nice afternoon light as this trio of GE's lead taconite pellets down the hill from U.S. Steel's Minntac plant and will be traveling to Two Harbors, MN arriving well after dark.

Some nice afternoon light as this 4 pack of EMD's lead taconite pellets down the hill from U.S. Steel's Minntac plant and will be traveling to Two Harbors, MN.

As the daylight for the summer solstice 2019 comes to an end, a flashback to a as cold as it looks afternoon on December 29th 2017 as DMIR 403 leads steaming taconite pellets out of U.S. Steel Min... (more)