and Basin transloads is very tight. For- tunately, there are public roads at each end. Again, truck traffic is heavy not only because of the oil trucks, but also because of construction vehicles work- ing on further expansion. While train operations are “as need-
ed,” the oil trains tend to be “needed” more often now. U.S. Route 52 is within sight of the DMV&W until near Lig- nite. From there State Route 5 follows the DMV&W the six miles to Stam- pede. Currently, with a ten m.p.h. speed limit, it is possible to make use of the numerous side roads off these high- ways to get good shots of oil trains in a variety of settings (These gravel side roads are not recommended in bad weather).
It was good fortune to get two oil trains from Flaxton to Stampede. The first was a combination grain and oil train as far as Lignite Junction, eleven miles west of Flaxton at MP 551. Lig- nite Junction was created by 1961 when the parallel Great Northern branch from Berthold to Crosby was combined with that portion of the Soo’s
RIGHT: Stewart Southern Railway 4255, hav- ing run around its empties using the Stoughton elevator track, takes them north to the transload two miles north of town on Septem- ber 17, 2012. BELOW: Canadian Pacific 8972 leads a crude train at MP 415 on the Portal Sub in North Dakota on September 29, 2012.
Whitetail Sub between Lignite and Crosby. To facilitate this combination a new connection was built between the Soo and GN.
Today, DMV&W trains operate over
the ex-GN line between Lignite Junc- tion and Crosby (161.265/AAR 77 on your scanner), and their cars are fre- quently staged on the former GN branch. After much switching, four ex- Canadian National GP40-2LW’s head- ed west with 59 hoppers for grain ele-
vators west of Stampede. Meanwhile a pair of SD40-3s, also of CN lineage, put together a 26 car train of tank cars for Stampede. After a day of switching the transload, it brought back 26 loaded tank cars to Flaxton late in the after- noon. These cars were spotted for easy pick up by southbound (timetable east) CP trains. The next day another round trip to Stampede brought 80 loads for Albany back from the Global Transload. Head-
30 MAY 2013 •
RAILFAN.COM
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