Searched around Coulee yesterday to no avail for their depot. Did a bit of sleuthing on http://www.greatnorthernempire.net/GNEDepotsNorthDakota1.htm and found Coulee's was moved to Stanley, and Aurelia's to Donnybrook. It is now a gas station, and the structure vaguely looked like a depot, minus bay window, and it's right on US-52. I figured it might be ex-Soo, but it's ex-GN. Passed it yesterday and didn't know it was GN! Next trip out there, I'll try to bag a shot.
I have been itching to get south of Niobe some more and get more shots of that more remote section, and I did! Welcome to Hartland, ND. The elevator is derelict and no longer rail served (or functioning for that matter):
Sad to watch the prairie skyscrapers disappear. Every year, fewer and fewer remaining. They are indicators of individual communities, being lost forever.
I then set off for Aurelia, and a shot I had only ever seen in poor light or blue hour. "Brown Season at Aurelia" The Northgate Local plies the rails of the Crosby and Niobe Subs on its trek to the international border at Northgate, its namesake. At Aurelia, ND, the branch soars over a coulee on a fill and wooden trestle over a creek. I tried like heck to get ahead of the Local as it (seemingly) sprinted (at 25MPH) north, but failed to get to the underpass I had chosen next, as I had two crossings to traverse so I had to pass.
