On an overcast Labor Day weekend, a sharp looking pair of Canadian Pacific EMD products slowly maneuver mixed freight #493-06 out of Humboldt Yard and across the 900+ foot Mississippi River truss bridge at Camden, suburb of Minneapolis. Currently operating over the Paynesville Subdivision, former SOO Line, this train will immediately cross atop BNSF's Northtown Yard behind me at Marshall St, exit the main at CP University onto the Shoreham Intermodal Loop Track and make a complete 360 degree turn before shoving itself out onto the BNSF St. Paul Sub at University Ave for its trip northward. This 493 and southbound counterpart 492 both utilize trackage rights on multiple different BNSF lines, though spending the most of their runtime on the Hinckley Subdivision for nearly 137 miles between Coon Rapids, MN and Boylston, WI, for gaining access to and from Stinson Yard in Superior.
62 cars make up the Sunday edition of this twice-weekly ran train including a headend block of nine limestone slurry loads for the Sappi Global paper mill in Cloquet, MN. Leading today's train is CP SD70ACu rebuild #7030, which wears special nose decals that pay tribute to Lord Strathcona's Horse, an armored regiment of the Canadian Army based in Edmonton, AB.
