by Kevin EuDaly/photos by the author
Almost as far back as I can remember I’ve loved to read. That love really took root when I was about 11, and by the time I was 13 or so I discovered J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. What happened then was memorable — I read the three books in five days, a hearty task for an early teen. For whatever reason, Tolkien drew me in quickly, and once I arrived in Middle Earth I never really left.
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It was cold and dark when the alarm went off in the early morning hours on January 19, 2009. Before long, the wheels were humming on I-35 as Mel Wilson and I headed north for Minnesota’s Iron Range. Our target was Northshore Mining. Mel had been pestering me to accompany him on a trip to shoot the iron ore-hauler, and though I was less than enthused with the prospect of blue and white locomotives, anything to do with iron ore will usually get me on board. Mel’s guarantee of riding ore trains led by SD40-3s added the necessary enthusiasm to hit the road headed north.
ABOVE: This view, taken from the sanding tower in Silver Bay looking north, shows the layout of the yard and the plant. At left, SD40-3 657 leads the 7am Job getting ready to return to Babbitt with 80 empties. The 5am Job has already departed with 88 empties, and the loads the two jobs brought in can be seen on the left side of the yard in the distance. The 653 is on an empty tailings train at right, which will eventually shove under the huge tailings bin that dominates the middle of the scene. The track at right leads down from the yard to the plant, which can be seen at far right with steam plumes from the taconite pelletization process. Access to the plant below is via a switchback by the lake north of the plant.
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When I reached the end of The Return of the King, all the light bulbs were on. I not only understood Tolkien’s world, I’d gone there. I’d fled the black riders, fought orcs, and trudged up Mount Doom. I’ve been back many times over the years, and I’ve reread them to the point where our family would often play a game where they’d pick up any of the three books, read me a couple of sentences, and I’d tell them where we were in the story and what was going on. It rarely took a third sentence.
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Photography started at Proctor on CN’s former Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range early in the afternoon, which was mostly cloudy and cold. A limestone northbound had Bessemeer & Lake Erie SD45T-2 903 leading CN-painted Missabe SD45T-2 401 and a CN SD40-2. It met a southbound taconite load behind two more Missabe-sublettered, CN-painted tunnel motors with a CN SD40-2 in between. But this was just a quick stop on the way north.
ABOVE: The 5am Job on January 24 rolls down the 1.5 percent grade passing milepost 5 at 8:29am with 76 loads — a reduced train size because of frigid temperatures. Milepost 5 is between the two curves in this photograph, both of which are three degrees. The railroad is generally engineered with maximum grades of 1.5 percent for westbounds (empties except for the tailings trains) and 0.5 percent against eastbounds. Five minutes after this photograph was taken, the 6am Job rolled by westbound with tailings.
Our first Northshore Mining catch was a westbound loaded tailings train at milepost 6, with SD40-3 653 in the lead and SD40-3 651 on the rear, standard for the tailings trains running from the taconite plant in Silver Bay to the Milepost 7 Tailings Basin. An hour later, we nabbed the 6am Job eastbound with three SD40-3s at milepost 4, and five minutes later the tailings train came back, now empty, headed for Silver Bay. Seven minutes later it was officially sunset, and we headed for Jimmy’s Pizza — the first day was over.
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How did Tolkien do that? The fact that he did it at all is a miracle. World War I broke out in August 1914 and Tolkien enlisted in 1915. He headed for action in June 1916 and found himself in the Battle of the Somme, which lasted from July to November 1916.
Four months in the trenches and Tolkien came down with what was known as trench fever; that typhus-like malady kept him out of action for the remainder of the war. He lost most of his friends in what was called the Great War, and there is little doubt that his great fantasy novel was heavily influenced by his war experiences, if not birthed directly from them.
ABOVE: The morning fog has cleared as SD28 1236 leads SD40-3s 652 and 650 and SD18 1231 on the 7am Job on January 23. With 156 loads in tow, the consist is rounding the two-degree curve at milepost 6 near Silver Bay.
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The second day, January 20, would have plenty of thrills, though photography took a back seat to experience. I should back up and say that well before this trip, Mel somehow “got in” with Northshore Mining. He’d gone up to the christening of one of its newly rebuilt SD28s (into an SD28-3), and in usual Mel fashion had become entrenched with the railroad. John Sandstrom was in charge of the railroad for Northshore Mining, and he opened all the doors for Mel (God bless both of them); I was happy to tag along. For a number of years we had the run of the place, a scarcity in North American railroading in the 21st century.
On this day we chose to ride the 5am Job from Silver Bay to the mine in Babbitt, then return on the 1pm Job from Babbitt back to Silver Bay. The day started with a mountain of images in Silver Bay of the 5am Job arriving, dropping its train of loads, and getting on its train of empties in preparation for the westbound trip. The round trip took all day — they let Mel (a BNSF engineer at the time) pull the pin on the loads in Silver Bay at 3:10pm. We wrapped up the day at the dispatcher’s office and the rotary dumper.
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How tragic it would have been if Tolkien’s life had been cut short by the war, and the world would never have been treated to his imaginative works. The Lord of the Rings would simply be vacant, on a list defined as “that which could have been.” Fortunately, for his legions of fans, it’s not on that list. At the same time, the crucible of war at least gets some credit for Tolkien’s experience and producing the imagery for that piece of fantasy…
