June 20, 2009

McNair Park in beautiful downtown Verndale was my destination on a perfect Saturday for railfanning. Today was Verndale Rail, a gathering of fellow railfans from around west central and northern Minnesota. This was Jim's territory, hopefully I would finally have a chance to meet him (and many other railfans that I only knew via email and online forums). I put fresh batteries in the camera and scanner, filled the car up with gas, filled myself up with chocolate milk and donuts from Willie’s Super Valu, and headed north toward Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s busy Staples Subdivision.

I arrived in Wadena around 10:45am with the windows down and the sunroof open. It just so happens that the heat of the day hadn’t really kicked in yet, so I was happily singing along loudly to the iPod for all to hear. Just as I came to the first stop light in town, I heard the defect detector at MP 174.1 chime in with a report for a train on main track two. As I turned left on Jefferson St, the scanner came to life again. “BNSF Staples Dispatcher to the BNSF 4051 East, here comes your line up at Wadena.” While crossing the tracks I looked to the west and spotted an eastbound stack train bearing down on downtown Wadena. With that, the first chase of the day was on. The gathering in Verndale did not start until 3pm, so I was planning on spending several hours enjoying the sun and trains in Lincoln on the shores of Fish Trap Lake. “Why not chase this stacker to the old Hwy 10 overpass in Lincoln?!” I remember thinking to myself. The stacker arrived at Lincoln five minutes after I did.

With the first train of the day under my belt, I headed back to old downtown Lincoln for a few hours of relaxation and train watching. The windows went down, the sunroof opened up, and Minnesota Public Radio became my new companion. In the three hours that I listened to Car Talk, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, and This American Life, four trains went by. Three westbounds, all which were high priority Z trains, and one more eastbound stack train came through the curves in Lincoln. This, of course, meant that I had now seen more trains in three hours than I had seen in the last two weeks! Ah the Staples Sub, the definition of a railfans delight… “Whoops, look at the time!” I thought, time to saddle up and head for Verndale.

In true railfan fashion, I took the back roads from Lincoln to Staples. This was to make sure that I didn’t miss any trains! Sure enough, as I got west of Philbrook I could see the tail end of another Z train heading for Staples. The gates in downtown Staples were just coming back up as I got to the crossing near Hwy 10. I could now see that the Z train was a short one, with a few autoracks up front behind the power. You all know what that means, right? Correct you are, this was the Z-CHCLAU which runs from Cicero Yard in Chicago to Laurel, Montana. The zipper kept pace with me to Verndale pretty well, I only beat them by a minute or so. As I pulled up to the picnic shelter in Verndale, the railfans were already running to grab a shot of the incoming westbound. I elected to let the train go, but did make it to the tracks in time to give a wave to the crew. Once the train had passed, it was time for some long awaited introductions. The gang was all here, Chris and Steve from Cass Lake, Jim from Wadena, and Mitch from Brainerd. Soon after, Jeremiah from Brandon, and Bryant from Brooten pulled up and joined the party. Chris got the grill started, which was good because my donuts and chocolate milk had worn off hours ago. It didn’t take long for the stories to kick into high gear, which was what I was looking forward to. Jeremiah and Bryant has basically been all over the entire state before 3pm, so they had a lot to talk about (and photos to post I’m sure). As the conversations and train watching continued, we were joined by Scott from Duluth and two up and coming young railfans. Here’s a good way to describe the scene… Imagine 7 or 8 guys sitting around a picnic table, tossing back cold Mountain Dews, running like mad for their cameras every time someone yelled “Hot Rail!” all while trading stories using gibberish language that mere mortals would never understand. Was this the best day of the summer up until now? You better believe it!

There was another member of our group, who we all felt as though we knew personally even though we had never met him. BNSF dispatcher S.W.A. was in command of the Staples desk tonight, as he often is on the 3-11pm shift. Jim had brought his laptop along so we were able to watch our friend, the dispatcher, work the signals on the ATCS (fancy term for a computer program that shows railroad signals). Think of it as a fish finder for railfans, no more guessing on when a train is going to show up. The trains continued to be steady for most of the evening, which was excellent. A couple eastbounds showed up after dinner, since the sun would be behind them it was time to try some different shots.

I decided to try and catch the Verndale station sign in a shot with an eastbound, which should be no problem. As luck would have it, fellow railfans Bryant Kaden (L) and Jeremiah Rindahl (R) made the shot while they catch the eastbound Z train. This train, like many today, had a brand new General Electric locomotive on the point. You could almost catch that new train smell coming from the cab, oh wait that was just the diesel fumes...

As the sun started to sag in the sky, it was time to practice my glint shots. This is something that I've always wanted to improve, but the train traffic in Morris is so slow these days that I never get the chance! The unit vehicle train on the right arrived first and the Z train on the left was close behind.

After the eastbound zipper cleared Verndale, the sun began its descent behind the horizon marking the end to a great day of new friendships and of course, plenty of trains! Jim’s computer did show a pair of westbounds coming our direction, but S.W.A. had other plans for those two trains. The first one was lined into the siding at Randall and the second one was lined into the siding at Darling. Figuring that both would be waiting in the siding for the eastbound Z train to go by, the packing of cameras, grills, coolers, and folding camp chairs began. The six hours in Verndale at McNair Park sure went fast, but we could not have asked for a better day. I would like to thank Chris and Jim for all the work that went into putting this day together, it was just an absolute pleasure to be a part of it. I know I found myself driving home to Morris with a new found appreciation for the hobby and all those people that call themselves railfans.

On the left is a group shot of us in front of an old BN caboose that now calls McNair Park home. On the right, a few of us decided to chase a coal empty west of Verndale and happily used Jeremiah's pickup bed to gain some elevation. (L to R, Bryant, myself, Jim, Jeremiah - Chris had camera duty)

After a cool trip to the Wadena Model Railroad Club (many thanks, Jim!), it was time to head for the hideout. I swung through the DQ in Wadena for a cool treat; I had already had my hot eats for the day. With my mint oreo blizzard in hand, it was time to roll down the windows and crank the iPod for the exciting drive on Hwy 29 to Alexandria. In a fitting end to the day, I had the privilege of waiting for a westbound CP freight as I went through Hoffman on my way home.

To all the railfans that I met today, may we meet again trackside much sooner than later. Until next time, stay safe and happy train hunting!