The Flickr Cpkcdetroitlakessubdivision Image Generatr

CPKC 241 (St. Paul, MN to Saskatoon, SK) crosses the Red Lake River in Thief River Falls. The train will hold up in the yard while a crew tends to a broken crossing gate system that was crashed into earlier in the day.

A crew works job J88 in at its origin in Thief River Falls. The crew is spotting a MoW flat car with equipment on the mainline and will soon run up to the yard for some routine switch work shuffling grain hoppers. Eventually, the train will grab grain hoppers and the MoW car and depart, but that wont be for at least another hour. Snow falls as winter returns for a few more days. View courtesy of the Soo Line Depot platform. This is one of my favorite TRF angles.

J88 is out moving around grain hoppers in Thief River Falls. The crew moved this long cut of hoppers all the way through town and will soon reverse the cars into place in the yard. A lot more switching will occur before the train departs town in earnest.

CPKC 240 crosses the Red Lake River in Thief River Falls. The ice is starting to get old, but it will be some time before the ice goes out. It typically starts to break up in early to mid-April.

CPKC 241 travel through the countryside of Pennington County where straw bales are still lounging on the landscape since harvest season. CP 8770 leads the train down the Detroit Lakes Subdivision mainline with another unit positioned mid-train. This spot is just a few miles south of Hazel. Soon the train will cross into Red Lake County.

CP 8638, one of the original CP Holiday Train units, brings up the end of a grain train heading over the Red Lake River in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. A pair of flags is painted near the cab of this unit - original to this unit since its build year.

Snowmobile tracks and a pair of cleared off ponds for hockey are present in Thief River Falls where the CPKC crosses the Red Lake River. I'd put railroad photography in the recreational category, too. The rinks were cleared for Frost Fest with hockey scrimmages held a couple days prior hosted by Rivers & Rails Brewing Company. Shout out to them for their delicious and smooth-tasting beers and providing a patio for watching the river and occasional railroad action.

CPKC loaded crude oil from Alberta approaches Hazel at milepost 299 of the Detroit Lakes Subdivision with KCSM 4879 leading the way. I like to get the modest farmstead and silos into the framing here whenever I can. Many farm houses have a similar look, and I theorize they were a mail order product from Sears or another large catalog.

Kansas City Southern de Mexico, KCSM 4879, leads train 576 through Thief River Falls, Minnesota on its way south from Alberta to Texas. Seeing this KCSM unit is very indicative of the modern era for the Canadian Pacific territory now merged with Kansas City Southern and subsidiary KCSdeM. Seeing such power is common and is finding its way into my camera's viewfinder.

Thief River Falls is originally a Soo Line town. Many of my early photos were a mixture of Soo Line and Canadian Pacific. Later it was exclusively Canadian Pacific, and now it is a mixture of power as a part of the CPKC Railway.

My last take of this day's CPKC 241 is north of Plummer near the county line between Red Lake and Pennington. Winds moved the snow squalls out of the way revealing clear skies and moments of low-angle golden sunlight. I caught 241 at Detroit Lakes while starting my own drive north to Thief River Falls, and to my delight, CPKC 241 was crossing the diamond and making its own way to Thief River Falls, too. Our paths diverged here where the railroad takes a more direct route than US 59 to Thief River Falls. It was a great chase!

CPKC 241 approaches Brooks in Red Lake County on its way up the Soo Line's Winnipeg mainline between Glenwood, Thief River Falls, and Noyes. Today's crew make the entire journey from Glenwood to Noyes on the international border. They previously made crew changes in Thief River Falls. The crew onboard will made it to Noyes well after dark with just over 100 miles to reach Noyes. There will be plenty of snow and wind to contend with on the way there, too.

Strong winds and fresh, soft snow have kept the roads quiet clearing the way for this scene unfolding south of Brooks, Minnesota. CPKC 241 approaches town while kicking up snow and leaving the rest to the gusting west winds. It was an incredible sight to see a 49mph train throwing the snow around with soft evening light. Moments like these are why I prefer winter for photography.

CPKC 241 continues its charge northward on the Detroit Lakes Subdivision, originally the Soo Line's Winnipeg mainline, toward Thief River Falls and later Noyes at the international border seen here south of Winger in Polk County. Winger has a gravel road underpass at this location, which I had intended to include in the scene. However, the timing was tight, so I opted for this framing with the various prairie grasses and snow. Next time.

Snow squalls meet CPKC 241 while it charges north of Erskine. Wind and blowing snow were already a factor before this blast of snow came through. It made for a dramatic winter scene.

CPKC 241 charges through the strong winds throwing snow and any loose material west to east across the open landscape around Mahnomen. It took about 25 miles to finally get ahead of this train from Callaway. It seemed that every time I would make gains another community or slow traffic would resist my progress. Most of the traffic thinned out at the Shooting Star Casino, so getting ahead of 241 became much easier. The dramatic conditions were amazing for photography!

Strong, gusty winds were the story of this day while heading to Thief River Falls. I was fortunate to be departing Detroit Lakes right when CPKC 241 was making its way across the diamond and heading toward Thief River Falls itself. I grabbed a photo north of Detroit Lakes then came to this open spot just south of Callaway where I shot the CPKC Holiday Train in December 2023. The strong winds and the train did their share to throw around whatever light snow was willing to get drifted.

CP 8789 leads train 241 north of Detroit Lakes after crossing the diamond crossing with the BNSF Staples Subdivision. It was serendipitous that I was turning north on US 59 right when this train was making a similar northbound turn underneath the US 59 and US 10 intersection. I would have a train to follow up to Thief River Falls! This was the first in a series of several photo location between Detroit Lakes and Plummer where I would lose light and diverge from paralleling the railroad.

Scenes from the 2024 CPKC Holiday Train during its run from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

The artists featured on this leg were Alana Springsteen and Seaforth, who performed 27 shows during the ten day journey. CP 2300 was added to the to the consist at Glenwood, Minnesota, to assist CP 2246.

2024 marked the 26th year of operation for the Holiday Train. Thanks to CPKC for making it all possible!

Scenes from the 2024 CPKC Holiday Train during its run from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

The artists featured on this leg were Alana Springsteen and Seaforth, who performed 27 shows during the ten day journey. CP 2300 was added to the to the consist at Glenwood, Minnesota, to assist CP 2246.

2024 marked the 26th year of operation for the Holiday Train. Thanks to CPKC for making it all possible!

Scenes from the 2024 CPKC Holiday Train during its run from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

The artists featured on this leg were Alana Springsteen and Seaforth, who performed 27 shows during the ten day journey. CP 2300 was added to the to the consist at Glenwood, Minnesota, to assist CP 2246.

2024 marked the 26th year of operation for the Holiday Train. Thanks to CPKC for making it all possible!