Dilworth Yard Action

I mentioned that I was down in North Dakota back in May with my family. After I did some quick scouting, I spent some time in downtown Fargo shooting a few trains. We pick up there as I headed east from Fargo into Moorhead, Minnesota. Fargo and Moorhead and Dilworth (MN) are all basically stuck together and it's hard to tell where one ends and the next begins. BNSF has a yard that begins in Moorhead but the majority of it is actually in Dilworth.

I remember I stumbled across this pair of engines at the head of a coal train waiting to head west.


Remember that this was early in the morning (8 AM at this time) so the sun was still fairly low in the sky to the east. I was happy to catch a "Grinstein green" engine, more commonly referred to as the "BN Executive" scheme. BNSF 9528 is an SD70MAC.

Moving west, I came across the area where BNSF stages its engines for refueling, recrewing and so forth... here. There was a cluster of about a dozen engines, including BNSF 6672, an ES44C4. This is similar to an ES44AC in the GE Evolution series of engines, except that the middle axle of each truck is unpowered.


Slightly farther west in the yard, I saw BNSF 5520, a C44-9W.


I went down to the very end of the yard, where there is a large grain elevator and an overpass over the tracks. This is called WATTS, mile 1.0 of the K O Subdivision. I found BNSF 4852 (another C44-9W) at the head of what I believe was an oil train, at rest at 8:15 AM. I did not see any crew and it did not move.


To the east, a coal train was waiting to enter the yard, with BNSF 5884 (ES44AC) at the head. You can see that shooting into the morning light was not a great idea.


I decided to wait here to see what might happen. I was hoping for the oil train to start rolling but there was nothing going on there. After 25 minutes of waiting, my friend BNSF 4920 came rolling by with the same intermodal train I saw in downtown Fargo earlier in the day.


The only other activity was BNSF 2793 in the distance, working the yard with BNSF 2344.

After an hour of waiting, I decided to go up on the overpass and shoot the waiting coal train. With a bit of careful positioning, I was able to overcome the low morning sun at 09:10 and get a shot of BNSF 5884.


There was another "BN Executive" engine, BNSF 9442.


I came down from there and of course the BNSF coal train started moving then, so I missed them coming through the crossing where I had been waiting. Oh well.. here they are rolling past BNSF 2793, a GP39-2.


I was just about out of time at this point. On my way back through Dilworth and Moorhead, I stumbled across a steam engine on display in the "Whistle Stop Park". This is Northern Pacific #1068 together with caboose #1651.


On my way back toward Fargo, I saw BNSF 5884 and train waiting at the west end of the Dilworth Yard.

That was a good morning!

After some final shopping, we headed north from Fargo toward the Canadian border. Somewhere between Fargo and Grand Forks, I spied a southbound freight train. I pulled over and took a series of shots of the approaching train.


I took a pan shot of BNSF 5271 (C44-9W).


Sorry to interrupt this BNSF marathon, but when passing Drayton, ND I spotted a trio of engines with a Union Pacific engine in the middle! I'm not sure what UP 4061 was doing deep in BNSF territory...


*That* was the end of my railfan adventures in North Dakota. Good times.

Further Reading

• Grafton Bound
• A Few Hours Around Grand Forks
• North Dakota's High Line Bridge
• Grand Forks Sightings
• BNSF in North Dakota