Grand Forks, North Dakota: A Great Railfan Getaway

When you live in Winnipeg, in the centre of Canada, there's not many places to go for a weekend away. Two favorite places for Manitobans for many decades are Grand Forks and Fargo, North Dakota.

For shoppers, there are bargains galore--aided, these days, by the fact that the Canadian dollar is once again worth more than the U.S. greenback. (The last time was the 1970s.)

For railfans, there are lots of trains. Both Grand Forks and Fargo sit astride busy east-west BNSF main lines. As a bonus, both communities provide easy and public access to yard and engine facilities--and the local BNSF employees are usually OK with Canadian railfans on the property proper, provided we don't go too close to the tracks.

(East Grand Forks, MN is also home to the Northern Lights Model Railroad Club; click here to see photos of their layout.)

The first railroad to reach Grand Forks was the Great Northern, in 1880. In 1887, the Northern Pacific extended a line from Fargo to Grand Forks.

Below find a few photos from a recent visit to Grand Forks.

2573 works the west end of the yard.

The yard schematic.

Line up at the "roundhouse." It was late in the evening,
and the sun was in the wrong place . . . .

Getting ready to leave the yard.