I can't imagine them closing Havre Shops, it's right in the middle of the Northern Transcon. They'ed have to drag a loco a long ways for anything more than maintainence.
Haven't heard about Havre. Glendive is the nearest shop in the middle of nowhere. Northtown is 10 hours highway driving east. West? MRL and their shop in Livingston. Service track by MRL in Laurel. It will leave them dragging units a long way, but the SF has never had a problem with that. I did hear Minot and Mandan also got it.
The first year I was in Livingston, my parent came out in June. We got snowed out in Yellowstone Park! Love it! Caught this GP-39 setting in the yard on the dead line/stored units. Still the best looking diseasel..... Also caught some deer racing across the tracks ahead of a slow moving freight ,
@badlandnp I can't say that I envy you. Because at this point I do. I really enjoy watching your videos and your photo's. I cannot wait until I sign for our house, because having the Mississippi Export in the backyard will be a treat for me. Here's what I mean.
It's kinda like being in a railfan paradise, ain't it? I look forward to seeing vids and pics from there. Now if there was only steam around here.......but, I can imagine it! Was doing a brush and leaf burn on Sunday, and took a few pics of what was down at the turn table, and on the storage/ready tracks,
Yeah. SF doesn't like 4 axles. Almost all of the GP's here are stored for dispo. Only the two that are setup for snowplow power are still in use. Switchers are a total waste to the management. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
From back in April 2013, some off road power on an eastbound grain train, well the Warbonnet is home power, but unusual for here,
Any chance for a link to that story? AFAIK, Minot doesn't have a facility per se` for locomotive maintenance, so I'm assuming their machinists assigned are being reassigned or cut. Any capabilities Minot has for loco repairs has to be minimal anyways.
Here's the local news article: https://www.rangerreview.com/bnsf-diesel-shop-closed And here's a different one; https://www.rtands.com/freight/bnsf-announces-furloughs-and-shop-closures/ The rumor going around is that they will be re-opening the service track area again in a few months. That would be an un surprising move for them. My stepson worked in Minot for a while as an electrician at the service track there. He said it was a fairly minimal job, as was the Mandan job he got bumped to after a bit longer. It will be interesting to see just how this ends up playing out. In other news, went to Billings and back yesterday, saw a total of 5 trains, on coal empty, one parked grain, and three mixed freights. Was able to get a video of only one of the mixed freights, at Custer on the way east, the coal empty and the other two freight were surprises with either no chance to get a pic or only a poor one, the coal empty power at Hysham in the pic below, And this power switching at Forsyth on our way to Billings,
I don't know if Minot ever had a diesel shop, but any forces it has in that department are minimal. Sad to hear the closure, and poor timing amid the current pandemic, but I guess the bean counters have spoken...
There was a roundhouse once upon a time. I believe there was a diesel shop until the late 70's early 80's. Seems like some of these old heads here talked about it. The Mandan, Minot and Glendive shops are in the same seniority district for the shop forces, so guys could get bumped around some and go from place to place.
I have some photos of that old shop from downtown Minot, but at Gavin? I doubt it. Rather than hijack your thread, you can see what once was in Minot in this one: https://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?threads/minot-and-soo-tower-then-and-now.130150/page-2
Got a quick opportunity on Sunday, 17 May, to catch this train stopping on the west end. Also, that date is Norwegian Independence Day, which is only important if you are Norse!
Yesterday I got distracted on my way to lunch by a BN hopper, Which naturally allowed me to capture thirty minutes of fun! The M train the hopper is in was ready to head west, but had to wait for this empty oil can to arrive, So then I figured they would leave town, but no, they had to wait for the yard crew to back an empty coal train out of the yard, across the main, onto the wye which leads over the Yellowstone bridge, then through a reverse turn so they could back these cars up to the Circle branch for storage, what a crazy long move!
After all of that, the 5737 and crew finally got the clearance to head out! There was quite a bit going on here. In the long empty move, you can see glimpses of it going through the trees in the background. Also, the oil can left as they were backing the empty up, it was a quick crew change. Then later in the day I saw the power from the empty parked on the east end of the yard with a train of gravel, from the gravel pit up the same Circle branch. All in all, it was a rewarding 30 minutes of busy-ness and fun for me!
