A southbound BNSF ballast train that was loaded at the quarry just a few miles up the line in Granite Falls rounds a curve a few miles south of Hanley Falls, MN.

A pacing shot of two older EMD locomotives as they hustle south with the Marshall local, seen from Minnesota State Highway 23 between Granite Falls and Hanley Falls.

The BNSF's Marshall local heads back north toward Willmar behind a trio of older EMD power.

A BNSF manifest passes the Minnesota Falls Township hall that sits on the prairie between Granite Falls and Hanley Falls, Minnesota.

A new Tier 4 GEVO leads a southbound grain train near Hanley Falls, MN.

I wasn't expecting to find any drifts for this empty grain train to bust through on the Marshall Sub. As luck would have it, a local farmer had just finished clearing out the drifts in his drivewa... (more)

A long Willmar - Sioux Falls, SD local is struggling along at 30 mph past a loaded grain train waiting to leave the elevator track.

Priority merchandise from Northtown Yard clears the rails after an overnight snowfall in western Minnesota.

The Hanley Falls local accelerates away fro Hanley falls withan SD9 spliced between the two geeps

The second unit was really smoking as this priority merchandise train from Northtown yard heads for Kansas City.

The Marshall local makes a dash for Marshall to clear up for a parade of northbounds behind two rebuilt GP28s with neat histories, both rebuilt by BN from former (ex-CB&Q) GP9s.

Four GPs cruise east heading for work at Cottonwood, Marshall, and finally Sioux Falls, SD before heading back to Willmar.

High priority merchandise train heading for Galesburg, IL speeds through western MN.

A mixed bag of BNSF power heads east into the sun pass the grain elevators of SW Minnesota. It's a brisk 15 degrees this afternoon.