CN's All-Rail Iron Ore Trains 1 | CN Serves the North

[@vote4carp]

Man, I love when the crew acknowledge people that are there just simply to watch them do their job in darn big machines.

[@ArchTeryx00]

You got a hella lot of talent with that drone, and you really know your subject matter. KZbin needs a lot more railfans like you!

[@NapoleChan]

Damn that drone shot over the river was beautiful. Like a still of the video could be a painting beautiful.

[@trainzguy2472]

Man the crews on this route sure are friendly!

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

"Yoopers" are friendly folk. It'd say the best three words in general for the bunch would be tough, hardy and friendly.

[@TOOCOOLFORME]

Another great video. The best RR videos on the net.

[@ericsundell9978]

So glad to see someone documenting my home, the UP! While its not a hotbed of rail activity anymore, its still got an interesting history and charm that I'm glad someone of your level chose to cover! Awesome video!

[@unclespongehead]

My favorite of your videos so far. Your commentary, your production values, and the raw video you capture is unmatched. I've watched this video twice, so I could follow your travels on Google Maps. I've stopped your video, backed up to re-listen to your commentary. Your videos are engaging. Your videos are awesome! Can't wait for the ride to Algoma!

[@fnstirling]

Completely addicted to North American freight trains - here in the UK our railways are dull in comparison (although loving our new Class 68's). Your videos are very clear and really love the aerial view shots, great work!

[@Roadhogg24]

Excellent video, as usual, Alex, keep up the great work, nice aerial view as well, stellar! Thanks

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

Thanks, Saul! Hope to see ya on the next one, too :)

[@dirkvanelteren5234]

Very nice work, thanks for that 👌🏻

[@phillipgrey]

I love the reverberation of the horns. Great video mate.

[@iusetano]

Excellent video Alex. I'm looking forward to next part of this saga.

[@zacpeck1985]

Thank you for a great video of the UP! Beautiful country up there!

[@paullusignan8809]

Very nice video with beautiful shooting and good reviews!

[@thunderegg670]

16 minute mark: I used to work in the Bentonite mineral product industry as a production mill supervisor at a plant in eastern Oregon. We would often load hopper cars with pit-run bentonite at a UP siding located in Nyssa, right next to the Oregon-Idaho state line, destined for Texas.

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

How sticky is that stuff, if you were to say, stick your hands in the pile? I assume it is shipped mostly dehydrated? Just curious! Thanks for sharing your story, Phillip!

[@thunderegg670]

@@ThornappleRiverRailSeries : Yes, the whole process, from mining to shipping, is dry. It adsorbs (different than aBsorb ;) ) water, so it has a swelling characteristic. For example, it's great for sewage holding ponds. It creates a barrier so as to prevent contamination of the ground and water table below.

[@stephengrybowski9573]

Very nicely done! I especially liked the drone footage and pacing shots.

[@jackkreacherr9339]

Beautiful! Thanks for the video!

[@larryblaha]

Great aerial photography.

[@joelkirchner8476]

Very nice work.

[@irelandbloke]

Awesome trains, and videos ! 👍🏻

[@HyperActive7]

i noticed how receptive the CN crews were towards you.. Not used to many people filming their operation in those parts :D

[@J3scribe]

Great video Alex. Very informative, beautifully shot.

[@CoalChrome]

I wanna see a ES44 turned into an end-cab (like a SW1500) I think it’d look cool

[@thetransitofvenus8927]

Amazing video!!!! Thank youn for creating this.

[@canadiantimberwolf1]

Great video, and the CNR crews give you a lot of waves and an extra horn or so... Good thing when you respect their rules, they seem to be more appricative of your safety and thiers... Nie Job, I look forwards to more of you hard dedication of rail-fanning...

[@PhilippePariseau]

Another TRRS home run! Great video!

[@500vdc]

Great video! Some really excellent shots. I fiddled with Google Map's Measure feature, and got about 227 miles of track from Eagle Mills to Algoma Steel.

[@stephenbennett3126]

enjoyed the iron ore trains

[@bennycdn]

C-vision came out with a video of this area, your's is better. Good job again.

[@01chrise]

Another great video!

[@camsmith7651]

Love to see a decent looking bc rail locomotive pulling it's weight.

[@robertrussnogle7449]

Do like those drone shots

[@electric7487]

10:37 There are a bunch of supports that appear to have been for another bridge at one point. Any idea on ehat that other bridge was used for?

[@poodlesgalore2327]

GREAT video of my area of the country! Just a heads up.... those are not aspen trees but tamarack near Partridge. They are the only evergreen that turns color in the fall.

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

*facepalm* I knew that...switched my yellow late-turning trees. Will issue a correction in the description.

[@BNforever2009]

Super video!

[@SuperRede4u]

Another great video Alex. I replied to a question down below about the the thumbnail for the video. You might find the trivia interesting.

[@coquitlam_railfan5686]

@ 12:16 is that a K5L also double ditch lights yeah

[@gunnyu.s.m.c8606]

great video and that's going to be one hell of a lake and I see at last train the cars have a few full loads and the rest barely have anything in them, My Compliments Sir

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

The iron ore weighs so much that all of those cars *are* fully loaded to maximum weight. The shorter red cars do fill up cause they have way less volume. This density is why ore jennies are typically used for ore - 24' cars are capable of handling a full 286,000 lbs or ore. The hoppers are used here for the Sault Ste Marie bridge, as we'll see in part two of this saga due out within the next couple weeks.

[@BessemerLakeErie902]

This is excellent video and well put together! I don’t know if I could do this well!

[@WhiteRiverRails]

Awesome video!

[@iceclimberGD]

I love your videos!

[@jamesburnside3023]

Going past the woodpile love it.

[@Chasingrail]

Awesome!

[@StormySkyRailProductions]

Very cool video.

[@CoalChrome]

I love those carbody Dash-8s

[@CoalChrome]

I must say the ES44s look way better with MAC style windows

[@FredLock]

That shot at 1:32+ Wow!

[@CoalChrome]

I can safely say I’ve never seen a standard cab SD60

[@livingroomset2084]

Those C40-8s will likely be staying there for a long time since CN just received a bunch a few months ago.

[@CTTrains193]

So does CN still run ore trains even with the empire mine closing? 20 per day?

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

The CN doesn't run ore jenny trains anymore in Michigan. Their only ore involvement is the U745

[@frankguyton9596]

Great Video what Camera did you use??

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

All equipment I use is in the video description

[@robertrussnogle7449]

Would like to see the loading and unloading of the coal cars and the grain cars. Think that can happen?

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

Both the Tilden Mine and Algoma Steel Works are highly secure facilities with no public sightlines to their loading or unloading areas.

[@robertrussnogle7449]

OK Thanks for the reply

[@parkerdaniel4547]

AMAZING video idk how ya do it!??!

[@darylhannon4723]

4644 I drove that lots on the BC RAIL

[@TheJchulce]

How does LS&I's ore recovery work? I presume they're somehow collecting the ore that spilled along the tracks?

[@Jimboslice425]

They have a highrail vehicle that has a conveyor-belt that fits in between the rails. It scoops up the spilled ore and dumps it into a ore jenny. The spill off to the side of the tracks does not get picked up.

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

They use a vacuum truck predominately now. It can get the whole ballast cross-section, and they usually clear out everything above the ties at least once per year, based on what I've heard. However they must clean out switches much more frequently to keep them throwable. They combine the spillings and rejected "fines" from the mine for a boatload per year of the cheap ore which is sold at a steep discount. Usually it gets loaded out in the late fall.

[@railsofthenorthland1181]

Thornapple River Rail Series ive seen it happen on the CN missabe sub, they vacuum up the pellets and bring them to the plant where they wash them and ship them off.

[@cheeze5875]

When was this footage taken?

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

Hi Thomas. Fall 2016 through Fall 2018, though mostly from '17 and '18.

[@shiftintohigh5564]

wow! 👍👍😎🇺🇸

[@wisconsinrailfanner8963]

Another amazing video! I love it! Also, what kind of camera do you use?

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

All of my equipment is listed in the description! I recommend each item fully

[@wisconsinrailfanner8963]

Thornapple River Rail Series ok, thank you!

[@railhunterproductions]

12:27 S&HC?

[@TSBY]

I’m disappointed there are no videos of the Viking and I know for sure he was spotted when chasing the 4644. B.C.O.L that is.

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

Lolz...not much but a flash at 40 mph!

[@ynigospov1853]

Whats that loco in the thumbnail

[@SuperRede4u]

That's a BC Rail engine from BC Canada. It was a wholly owned provincial railway until the government of the day (Liberals) decided to sell it off to CN. Obviously the paint job outlived the railway. A real cool bit of trivia - BC Rail engineered and built a electrified railway (complete with purpose built engines) for a new (at the time) run from the new coal mines up North in BC. It was built on time and on budget and was powered by one of our nearby hydro electric dams. There's a great video here on KZbin that chronicles the construction of it. Worth the time to view, just don't expect much for video quality as it's from long ago.

[@ThSandyRavage]

Why in good fuck is there so many adds....

[@FDNY8231]

I like your videos, and continue to watch them, but EIGHT ADS in a video is a TON ... You can turn those off you know.

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

KZbin thinks you like ads then! I'll go back in for this one and manually suggest the ad breaks - but mostly it is KZbin following your profile. The Ad revenue is what makes these videos possible!

[@terryboyer1342]

WTF? No graffiti? That looks so weird!

[@HesitantSignal]

The black ore cars on the U745 only see life between Marquette, Escanaba, and Sault Saint Marie. They do not go anywhere else and with them traveling through the middle of virtually nowhere, they are not susceptible to graffiti.

[@terryboyer1342]

@@HesitantSignal I wasn't complaining. I wish I owned a spray paint company. Where do those aholes get all their money to buy it?

[@HesitantSignal]

@@terryboyer1342 I never said you were complaining, I was just pointing out why these cars don't get tagged. Tagging is mostly done by gangs so they probably buy palletfuls of them and pilfer a rail yard.

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

I always figured it was all funded by the same means as all other gang activities: the sale of illegal goods and services! But yeah, as mentioned these keep to a very rural part of the country and are moving much of the time - hard to hit a moving target.

[@fiatman71]

No one says "B-col" It's BC Rail... or was, until CN committed crimes to prevent BNSF from obtaining the line through legal bidding.

[@milepostonemedia6868]

Actually, a lot of people call it B-COL because BCOL is their reporting marks. And technically, BCOL is still a company, but it is under a 999-year lease to CN, CN owns everything except the roadbed and ROW

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

Many people - in the midwest at least - like to call them "B-col". Do know the full name but it's just how most say the reporting marks.

[@fiatman71]

@@ThornappleRiverRailSeries Weird, must be a flatlands thing... never heard anyone refer to them as anything other than BC Rail or B-C-O-L here in the PNW. I should add, this is a great video, I really enjoyed it. And I enjoyed seeing the old BC Rail units, they're sparse out here anymore. Taking a trip up the old BC Rail this August.. haven't been since 1999, I am guessing a lot has changed.