MGPX No. 201, part of the first batch of Magnetation iron ore cars built by FreightCar America, arrives in Superior, Wis., in June 2014.
David C. Schauer
Q I live along the BNSF Railway main line west of Chicago, and I have seen black gondola unit trains with MGPX reporting marks. Even from my second-story deck I cannot see what they carry. What does this train haul, and where does it originate and terminate? – Fred Cramer, La Grange, Ill.
A The trains you see carry iron ore concentrate from Minnesota to Indiana. A total of 780 rotary-dump gondolas, starting at No. 101, were ordered from FreightCar America by mining company Magnetation Pellet LLC, with the first cars placed in service in June 2014. Magnetation uses a special process to extract iron ore from tailings that were discarded by prior mining operations on Minnesota’s Mesabi iron range.
The concentrate is moved by BNSF from Magnetation’s Jessie Loadout near Coleraine, Minn., to Chicago. There, the 120-car trains are turned over to CSX Transportation for delivery to a pelletizing plant at Reynolds, located in northwest Indiana on the railroad’s former Monon main line.
After the ore is rolled into pellets resembling small marbles, CSX moves the finished product to blast furnaces operated by AK Steel. Due to the weight of the concentrate, only a portion of each car is filled, making it difficult to determine if the cars are loaded or empty. – David C. Schauer
These comments brought back the “fun” of working on the C & P ore docks in Cleveland in the early ’70s, when a bankrupt Penn Central tried to dispatch up to 6 trains of ore a day using an array of beat-up 70-ton freight cars. The worst of the hoppers went “east for coal”, while we used rags and expanding foam to try to make the rest suitable for ore pellets. Many hoppers arrived at the mills in Weirton with half the load gone, and the ballast the whole way was fouled with pellets. We’d occasionally use the B&LE hoppers when system cars weren’t available. Those odd trucks with double brake beams meant that when a truckside needed to be replaced we’d wait forever for B&LE to furnish one. Sometimes we’d even get DM&I ore cars, the ones with the anglecocks mounted about 2 feet above the coupler, which made a simple air hose change a difficult task. And the PRR class G-38 “ore jennies” with the dual capacity empty/load brakes – repair parts for any of the brake equipment was rarer than hen’s teeth. Railroading under bankruptcy was always a challenge.
To determine loaded vs unloaded … check Spring compression.
There’s a bit of the problem with this article; the pellet plant has not only been closed for years (2016), but is going to be dismantled and shipped to Mexico. Magnetation itself has been shut down for several years, it was sold to another company that attempted to restart it, but they recently announced that they’ve given up and that will not happen.
That being said, I too have periodically seen these cars passing thru my hometown of Downers Grove, although the it’s been a while now. I have heard thru the railfan rumor mill that they were moving raw ore to a processing facility, but it could not have been Reynolds.
http://www.newsbug.info/monticello_herald_journal/news/local/reynolds-iron-ore-plant-may-move-to-mexico-in-pieces/article_2a111912-7fdb-564d-aaf5-68bc6a848af2.html
In reference to Mike Woodside comments the name of the is https://verdecanyonrr.com . My wife and had the pleasure of riding the Railroad last April.
Many people years ago thought B&LE, P&LE and other roads were moving empties toward Pittsburgh to be reloaded with “Lake Coal”. Those “empties” were carrying a small pile of iron ore over each truck. B&LE, in fact, had special hoppers for this traffic with two brake shoes on each wheel.
Nice article, informative. But one point reminds me of another, similar situation.
In AZ a tourist RR through a canyon there (pay extra and you can ride in the cab), starts at a unique place. A former refinery of copper ore into pure copper.
Seems the NEW refining process has made it profitable to refine the slag (tailings- ore still containing copper). Thus a huge, huge,huge pile of what would seem like refuse, is being recvered to make MONEY.
Can’t wait to get back and pay to ride in the cab
The owner of the RR is a real hands on guy. One of the workers says he sometimes help them load the train with supplies
It was excellently handled, hogger was experienced, the scenery is just awesome. Even if one is not a railfan the trip is very worthwhile
By the way the caboose can be rented for a party. endmrw0122191107
Thanks Mr. Schauer I knew of this move but wasn’t aware of these details, or the finished pellet move to AK.