Today's Train of Though- A Boy Named Soo; Feb 6, 2011

Although at first blush it appears to be something from the upper Midwest, Today's Train of thought brings us back to the western shores of Lake Champlain under more harsh and unforgiving circumstances.

Railpictures.net contributor Kevin Burkholder has managed to capture a good amalgamation of Canadian Pacific's latter day acquisitions on a wintry day in Upstate New York, with Soo Line and Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern motive power handling a Canadian Pacific ethanol train on Delaware & Hudson rails.

Here, Soo Line SD60 #6034 is seen leading a trio of DM&E SD40-2s southbound along the frozen shore of Lake Champlain at Port Henry, NY with unit ethanol train 666-801 on January 16, 2011. The train is bound for Whitehall, NY where it will be interchanged with the Vermont Rail System's Clarendon & Pittsford. From there, it will be routed over the Green Mountain Railroad (another VRS subsidiary) between Rutland and Bellows Falls, VT. From there, it will be interchanged with Rail America's New England Southern and the Providence & Worcester en route to its final destination of Providence, RI.

Soo Line power appearing on the D&H isn't that unusual- six axle Soo motors have been appearing on coal and grain trains traversing the original 'Bridge Line' since the early 1990s shortly after the Canadian Pacific takeover. However, the appearance of DM&E's blue and yellow SD40-2s (some of them purchased secondhand from Canadian Pacific) is relatively new while still looking right at home in such frigid conditions.

Today's Train of Though- Wedge Strategy, Dec, 29, 2010

Today's train of thought comes to us with plenty of ice to go around, between the frozen West Fork of the Des Moines River and the reporting marks on equipment from the Illinois, Chicago & Eastern.

The IC&E Predecessor was the I&M Rail Link- a sister company of the Montana Rail Link which purchased the former Soo Line trackage between the Twin Cities and Kansas City and the former Milwaukee line across Northern Iowa and on into Chicago back in 1997. In 2002, the line was purchased by the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern and renamed the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern before both the DM&E and IC&E themselves were acquired by Canadian Pacific in 2008.

However, one would be hard pressed to tell that CP was running the show for over a year in this shot taken by railpictures.net contributor Scott Marsh. Here, IC&E SD40-3 #6442 is in charge of a plow extra as it cautiously treads its way over the West Fork of the Des Moines River at Emmetsburg, IA on Dec 27, 2009. The train was sent out to clear the line and retrieve any cars along the Mason City line that were left out in the snow. It's slow going on the 90 pound rail, and the crews must also clear any highway crossing they come to by hand, as the accumulated snow there is packed down by passing cars and could cause the plow to derail.