Category: Photo Section

At Genoa, WI, an eastbound BNSF Seattle-Chicago intermodal trains passes one of the locks and dams of the upper Mississippi River.  Genoa is just south of La Crosse, WI, on the former CB&Q between Chicago and the Twin Cities, a route that carried two daily “Zephyrs”, the overnight “Blackhawk”, and GN’s “Empire Builder” and the NP’s “North Coast Limited”, and now serves as the eastern end of BNSF’s northern transcontinental route.  One of the most spectacular rail routes in North America, the CB&Q referred to the river-running between Savanna, IL, and Prescott, WI with the slogan “Where nature smiles for 300 miles”. (photo by Scott Wartchow, submitted by Fred Ripley)

Near Perham, MN, a westbound train of empty tank cars takes a curve on BNSF’s Staples Subdivision, the former NP main line between the Twin Cities and Fargo.  BNSF’s principal route across MN (and part of the Chicago-Seattle main line), the Staples Sub. is extremely busy with intermodal, coal, grain, and mixed freight.  In recent years, traffic has significantly increased with the “oil boom” in northwestern ND.  Of the 33 trains we saw this day (July 28, 2013), 8 or 10 were unit tank car consists. (Photo by Scott Wartchow, submitted by Fred Ripley)