This came into my FB feed thought I would repost the picture here. I believe this is the former DM&IR dock on Lake Superior and they are testing their drop door interaction with the dock before returning them to the yard in Proctor.
https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/406540797_10231045424222366_5788994513336258273_n.jpg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=c42490&_nc_ohc=rG94yp0R0uYAX-W0yxF&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=00_AfBNk8J6ZreHo3QF1AcGfLXtHIYfRHtooxNjDwcO_R7Rzw&oe=6576DDFB
And an Illinois Central locomotive on an ore dock!
It seems like they were made in Mexico.
greyhounds And an Illinois Central locomotive on an ore dock!
The DM&IR is a haven for IC SD40-2's. Here's a photo of a matching trio from last year: https://flic.kr/p/2o23pVJ
No good P$R road wastes money on repainting.
CSSHEGEWISCH greyhounds And an Illinois Central locomotive on an ore dock! Not unlike a pair of MRL SD40's working Clearing's hump. As an aside, several DMIR and IC locomotives have been repainted in CN colors, but with the appropriate sub-lettering on the cab.
Only took 25 years in the IC's case. Based on the photo histories of individual units, it appears that some of CN's shops have touched up the black on some of the remaining Deathstar IC units over the years. Hey, I'm not complaining.
IC 1036 visiting the IMRR (ex-C&IM) yard in Springfield, IL on November 8, 2023
ns145 CSSHEGEWISCH greyhounds And an Illinois Central locomotive on an ore dock! Not unlike a pair of MRL SD40's working Clearing's hump. As an aside, several DMIR and IC locomotives have been repainted in CN colors, but with the appropriate sub-lettering on the cab. Only took 25 years in the IC's case. Based on the photo histories of individual units, it appears that some of CN's shops have touched up the black on some of the remaining Deathstar IC units over the years. Hey, I'm not complaining. IC 1036 visiting the IMRR (ex-C&IM) yard in Springfield, IL on November 8, 2023
It's still odd to see big 70 series units in local service. CN has a few SD75I's running around here on the GTW in local service.
CMStPnPI believe this is the former DM&IR dock on Lake Superior
That does look like the shore end of CN6 in Duluth. Busy dock, that, especially now as winter is comin' in.
Those are the docks at Duluth Harbor. Here are the coordinates:
46.75169782226378, -92.13437304645554
They also have the dock in Two Harbors. Here are the coordinates:
47.01541998512521, -91.6756209444077
Copy and paste into Google.
CN replaced many of the DM&IR's Ore Jenny fleet with two batches of new cars, the first batch from Trenton Works in Trenton, Nova Scotia. The second larger batch came from National Steel Car in Hamilton, Ontario.
The remaining fleet of original DM&IR jennys in used in summer Limestone service and in hauling ballast service.
The photo of the new ore cars looks like 175,4000# capacity, which is 87.7 tons. I wonder why they did not extend the sides to hold 100 tons?
MidlandMikeThe photo of the new ore cars looks like 175,4000# capacity, which is 87.7 tons. I wonder why they did not extend the sides to hold 100 tons?
Guessing - car capacity is related to pocket capacity of the Ore Piers that load ships. Suspect that 100 tons would cause a fractional overload of the pocket capacity.
When I was in Baltimore, there was a lot of loading ore from ground storage pads around Curtis Bay Yard. A Cat wheeled bucket loader would be stationed at the pad. Cars would be spotted on a track adjacent to the pad - loader operator would take note of the stenciled capacity on each car, the operator will place X number of bucket loads in each end of a 70 ton car, Y bucket loads in each end of a 85 ton car and Z bucket loads in each end of a 100 ton car.
That I have seen the Duluth Ore Pier pocket have a defined size - cars need to be sized to load a specific fraction of the total pocket capacity.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
The extensions on ore cars wasn't done to increase capacity. Taconite pellets are less dense than raw iron ore, so a 70 ton ore car loaded with pellets as high as possible might only have say 65 tons of pellets. The extensions allow the car to be filled with pellets up to it's capacity. (Plus adding an 18" extension wouldn't increase capacity by 25%.)
The ore dock pockets generally take (I believe) two loads to be full, so I don't think 100 tons would be more than it's capacity. But the pockets are on 12 foot centers, so you need to use 24 foot cars, and a car that short has a limited capacity. There are 100 ton ore cars on BNSF (built originally for BN) that are used only in taconite pellet service and not used on the ore docks, they are IIRC 34'.
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