A great afternoon:

For about an hour I got to witness something which is not seen very often, and is getting rarer each year; a SOO Line road switcher doing some switching off the main.  Brookings has a gravel pit with a spur or two running into it, and on the bike ride I happened to catch Soo Line GP-38-2 #4431 doing some switching at the gravel pit.  what ade it even better was that all the cars also said Soo Line on them.  I am a young modeler, being 19 years of age, but this afternoon I was transported back to the 1980's when the Soo Line was still king of the Eastern Dakotas and Central Minnesota.  CNW, BN, and Wisconsin Central had more trackage, but the Soo Line hauled grain, no just surviving, but thriving on the rural elevators and ethonal plants.  Not many other railroads can make that claim.

Canadian Pacific bought Soo Line way back when, but the logos, rail cars, and other equipment have performed well despite the general lack of maintenance (not to mention repainting and rust prevention) CP Rail has allowed for their purchase SOO Line stock.

Anyways, enjoy the videos and photos I took of the train's operations here.  It's five minutes long and I think it's worth a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRaIiNy-NOU&feature=youtu.be

New Addition...

I probably should have done this earlier, but it has come time to make additions to sites I follow. The main site which I have been following for years is the online forum, freerails.com.  Free Rails is supported by many excellent modelers, and in fact there are too many to list on this site. But, I think few forum members would have objections to me featuring the following member:

Number one on the list so far this year is a freerails.com forum member, Mr.  Ricard.

Mr. Ricard, in my opinion, is one of the best modelers I have seen from the vast sources of the Internet.  He has built a small On30 Layout that demonstrates his modeling methods.  You can see the layout on this forum thread: Spruce Coal & Timber.  I also recommend checking into freerails periodically to follow Mr. Ricard's progress.

Additionally, Joey has a website for his modeling products: Trackside Scenery.

If wanting to see more of his excellent layout, Mr. Ricard has also set up a Youtube page:

http://www.youtube.com/user/imjoeyricard?feature=watch