Headlights pierce through on-going bouts of frozen precipitation as Canadian National's L53981 21 local trades the dense populous of their origin point at Ispheming for the remote wilderness of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, pattering through a reverse S-curve just outside the hamlet of Diorite during a heavy winter solstice snow squall. Polishing off the freshly dusted jointed rail of former DSS&A trackage, the pair of six-axle EMDs and their measly 10-car consist have only just begun the long and slow 10 mph, 50 mile westward crawl across the Marquette Range Sub toward the train's terminus at L' Anse, MI. A brief couple minutes would soon tick away before the train would slowly pass on and out of sight, allowing these woods to once again to return to their cold, tranquil state.
