Epic Adventure Pt. 1

Last winter I proposed and epic adventure to my friend HK. What if we covered a ton of ground in Minnesota and North Dakota in 3 Days? I had certain hot spots in mind and HK and I refined the trip over a couple of month and then "BOOM!" it was here. In three days we covered around 1280 miles. The first day of the trip we started in St. Paul, MN. We bypassed our normal spots and we picked up the BNSF Staples Sub. in Elk River, MN. A better morning could not have been had. The sun was behind us and BNSF had stacked a steady stream of eastbound (EB) trains at us... here are a few of the highlights from before lunch on day 1:
The Saint Cloud local came screaming through with the extended cab GP50 BNSF 3158 on the point.

Next in line was an unit oil train from the Bakken Oil sands. We noticed an odd splash of color in the consist... 

The second unit was the NS 8101, the Central of Georgia heritage unit. What a surprise!

That was followed by another unit oil train. The odd thing here was an ES44DC on the point in the H2 paint scheme. 

A few miles up was another unit oil train. This one had BNSF 9794, an old school SD70MAC on the point, with the NS Operation Lifesaver C40-9W #9256 in the consist.

 We finally got a little manifest action, led by BNSF ES44C4 #6626 another mile up the road.

Soon we made it to Little Falls, MN and we let a westbound (WB) empty oil train catch up with us. We photographed this one from the old Soo Line bridge (now Soo Line Trail). BNSF ES44C4 #6962 was notched up and putting the miles down after clearing a track crew. The airhorns on this one popped me a couple inched off the bridge deck. What a great start to the day...