The trains I spotted in Albert Lea actually started in the small town of
Alden (population: 656) which is thirteen miles west of Albert Lea. As we drove
over the Broadway Avenue grade crossing, my wife exclaimed "I see a headlight
down the tracks!" Parking the car I looked down the tracks and saw nothing.
Perhaps she saw the sunlight reflecting off of something was what caught her eye
but now there was nothing. Driving east on I-90, we headed over an overpass that
spanned those tracks and what did I see but a CP unit heading back to Albert
Lea. Omigosh, my wife did see that diesel's headlight! As CP 4450 slowed down
going through town, I was able to get ahead of it for a photo of it passing by
the ex-Milwaukee depot in town. Due to this being the July 4th holiday, there
wasn't much activity taking place in UP's small yard in town. GMTX 2694 (GP38-2;
ex-DRGW 3088) sat idle the whole time we were in town. I will say that the
leased GMTX and HLCX units I saw here, in Blue Earth and New Prague were very
clean.
