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Hi and welcome to the BNSF Staples Sub stream page. My goal is to share with other railfans who don't live in locations that allow them to monitor the operations of a fairly busy, mostly double track Class One Sub.

This stream monitors 4 frequencies-3 BNSF and 1 CP. The frequencies monitored are:

Most of the traffic you will hear will be BNSF. There are defect detectors on both Main Track One and Main Track Two at MP 151.6 (just west of Staples) and MP 174.1 (between Bluffton and New York Mills). Both of these come in quite clearly. In general eastbound trains will be on Main Track Two and westbound trains on Main Track One. However, trains do run wrong main, especially when on the CTC track between Wadena and Staples. There are crossovers at Staples and at Wadena.

All eastbound trains passing through Wadena will clear their warrants when they leave TWC territory and enter CTC territory at Wadena. With the exception of trains headed for the Brainerd Sub, most of these eastbounds will also pick up a new warrant at this time to continue the journey east. The next boundary between CTC and TWC heading east is at Gregory (Little Falls). In addition you will hear the normal radio chatter associated with operating a high volume mainline railroad.

Traffic is a mix of intermodal, coal, and merchandise trains. The trains you hear on the Brainerd Sub are almost all coal trains from Montana to the MERC facility in Superior, Wisconsin, for loading on lake boats. Seasonally grain traffic will increase as well.

I am located in Wadena, about 1 mile south of the tracks at MP 166. Wadena sees from 30-45 trains per day, including one Amtrak each way in the wee hours of the morning. If you hear a train pass a detector and the axle count is between 44 and 58, chances are good that it is the Empire Builder. The only other regular train that short I see is the Wadena local, and that is a turn from Dilworth to Wadena and never goes as far as the Staples detector.

I spend a fair amount of time trackside when I can and I have posted some of my photos taken in the area at my web site. NOTE: That site is no longer active, I was hacked by someone who had just the ticket to ruin things. My railroad related information is now at http://www.look4trains.com. If you visit please let me know what you think by leaving a comment or sending me an This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

This stream is brought to you by a Radio Shack Pro 2017 scanner connected with 50' of RG58 cable to a Traintenna Vertical model antenna mounted about 16' above the ground. The computer serving the stream is an old Dell PIII 866 with 256 mb Ram. It is pretty much dedicated to this stream although I might use it to check something out on the net when I am in the basement playing with trains.

For more information on railroading in the area covered by this stream you can visit the home page of the Outstate Minnesota Rail Yahoo group. There is good coverage of the action in the area captured and the adjoining areas in Northwest and West Central Minnesota.

If you have any comments I would like to hear them. You can contact me by email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , or access the forum for this stream here. Thanks for your time and I hope you enjoy the stream.

Jim