Railfanning All Around The Twin Cities Part 1 September 2026

In Mid September 2026, I took a return trip to the twin cities which is Minneapolis and St Paul. This is railfan mecca as BNSF, Union Pacific, CPKC, CN, two shortlines and Amtrak all go through here. BNSF is by far the busiest with their Northtown Yard taking the show as its one of BNSF's largest yards, CPKC also is decently busy as well, UP isn't too busy but has surprises, and CN has a local job that shows up from Wisconsin. I went out there to visit a friend of mine who I have not seen in six years since I went to Minnesota in the summer of 2020. We railfanned at spots like University JCT near Northtown Yard, Daytons Bluff, Newport and more. My only gripe is that I wish the weather was better. It had rained alot when I was out there but the trains still ran and some good ones in fact. In Part 1 we will go to Fridley MN then University JCT finally work our way to Daytons Bluff near St Paul. Location Fridley MN Train 1: Westbound BNSF mixed freight train with a solo SD70ACE leading heading for the Staples Sub Location University JCT Minneapolis MN Train 2: A BNSF Yard job with a repainted H3 dash 9 is seen backing up Train 3: A BNSF yard job with ATSF Dash 9 is seen pulling a yard job as some of Montana Rail Link units are seen watching on. This is a first of me seeing some MRL units Train 4: A eastbound BNSF mixed freight train departs the yard Train 5: A eastbound BNSF Grain train with a BNSF SD70ACE leading is next to depart the yard. It had a CSX Unit trailing and Union Pacific DPU which is very neat Train 6: Eastbound BNSF Stack/Auto Rack V-TACHC heads for Chicago IL Train 7: Westbound BNSF mixed freight train with yet another SD70ACE Leading is seen entering the yard Train 8: Eastbound Canadian National road local train L506 heads for Wisconsin with their cut from Northtown Location St Paul MN Train 9: Eastbound BNSF mixed freight train is seen slowly through the city Train 10: Eastbound BNSF Auto Rack train is seen next on the Midway sub Location Dayton's Bluff St Paul MN Train 11: Eastbound BNSF mixed frieght train enters the yard to work it Train 12 Eastbound BNSF Intermodal train Z-SSECHC heads for Chicago IL Train 13: A Union Pacific transfer job heads for the CPKC as a GE is LHF Train 14: Another Union Pacific transfer from South St Paul is seen with an amazing lashup Train 15: Amtrak Empire Builder 8 is seen running a little bit behind schedule