Steel Rails Through the Snow

Railroading in winter makes for an enthralling experience – and compelling photography.

Words and Photographs by Gary Dolzall.

Railroading is captivating and memorable year-round, and yet there is perhaps nothing more enthralling than railroading amid the rigors of winter’s cold and snow.

For railroaders, winter often means an always tough and sometimes unforgiving job is made all the more difficult by numbing temperatures, frozen switches, balky equipment, and snow measured sometimes in feet rather than inches. So, if working railroaders don’t necessarily embrace the wonders of winter railroading, surely we understand.

For the railfan, though, and especially the railfan photographer, winter brings both hardships (who among us has not waited half-frozen on an overpass waiting for a late train!) and intrigue. To come home and warm up after a winter day in search of trains, knowing that your camera holds some memorable images of a train hustling through blinding snow or simply making its way through a brilliant snow-dressed rural landscape, is to know the day was a successful and memorable one. And is there anything more compelling to the soul, or inviting, than a passenger train on a snowy night, whether witnessed from trackside or on board riding curled up under the blankets in a darkened sleeper peering out at a moon-lit winter landscape?

Of course, not all regions of the world are visited by snow and cold in winter, but for those that are -- the boundless Midwestern plains of America, the majestic Rockies of Canada, the wind-blown pine forests of Finland, or the towering snow-dressed peaks of New Zealand -- winter is a time for the railfan to bundle up; put on the boots, heavy coat, and gloves; bring along fresh hot coffee (or tea) – and venture out to discover steel rails through the snow.

A January blizzard is raging, and the steel rails are all but covered, but Soo Line EMD SD40 754 and a sister are nonetheless on the roll, fighting blowing snow and frigid temperatures as an eastbound freight passes through Duplainville, Wisconsin, bound for Chicago. Soo Line, now part of the Canadian Pacific, and its employees knew well the rigors of winter.

That winter could prove tough and unforgiving for railroads and railroaders is on full display as an hours-late Amtrak Empire Builder makes it crew-change in sub-zero weather at Fargo, North Dakota, on New Year’s Day in 1978. Caked in ice and snow, Burlington Northern heater car No. 19 is helping keep the train comfortable inside, and indeed shortly after taking this photo the author would be snug aboard an Empire Builder sleeping car.

In a Christmas-card setting, Louisville & Nashville General Electric U23B 2370 leads a southbound freight through snow-dressed Hunters, Indiana, on January 9, 1977. The route is the ex-Monon, much beloved as “the Hoosier Line,” which was merged into the L&N in 1971.

On a cross-border run between Chicago, Illinois and Toronto, Canada, the VIA Rail-Amtrak jointly operated and appropriately named 'International' scurries along Conrail trackage as it passes through Porter, Indiana, on February 25, 1989. The train has a fascinating consist of a VIA Rail EMD F40PH and low-slung lightweight LRC coaches.

The New England region of the United States is no stranger to winter. At the summit of the rugged and scenic Berkshire Mountains, a heavy eastbound Conrail freight with General Electric C30-7A 6599 on the point of a four-unit lash-up grinds through a rocky cut framed in ice at Huntington, Massachusetts (above). Farther south, along the ex-New Haven main line now served by Amtrak and Metro-North, a string of Metro-North’s classic and now-retired M-2 EMUs glide through snow-dressed Southport, Connecticut (below).

Waves of exhaust heat pour into the cold winter air as Union Pacific General Electric Dash 8-40C and a lash-up of Chicago & North Western power work a Minneapolis-bound train through wintry and scenic rolling farmland at North Lake, Wisconsin.

Few are the places in the world where the railroading is tougher or the winters longer than in the “iron ore” country of Upper Michigan and Minnesota. At Partridge, Michigan, in February 1987, an SD50-SD60 combo of Chicago & North Western EMD diesels draws a ponderous train loaded with taconite ore through the region’s remote pine country.

Is anything more compelling to the soul, or inviting, than a passenger train on a snowy night? Its headlights searing into the darkness, Amtrak’s Floridian has left sunny and warm Florida far behind as it makes its late-night nocturnal stop in Bloomington, Indiana. Come morning, the train, powered by a pair of Amtrak’s EMD SDP40F diesels, will reach its Chicago Union Station destination.

In some areas, wintry weather conditions pose a significant risk. Railfans are encouraged to adhere to the advice of local weather warnings and COVID-19 guidelines.