They operate as demand dictates at the AGP soybean plant in Mason City. The usual plan of action is for the two man crew to drive the truck to the AGP plant around 8-9 am on weekdays. They will pull the cars out of the plant first and take them over to the ICE interchange just a couple of blocks to the northeast of the AGP facility. They usually won't pull more than 3 loads at a time, so if they have more than that they will make multiple trips.
After shoving those cars on one track, they will pull the empties from the ICE interchange and spot them in the AGP plant. On most days, this will be the only work they will do and be done by 10-11 am. Don't go chasing an ICE eastbound out of Mason City at 7:30 am, come back to town and find that all the locos and cars have moved and they're done for the day.
The only other traffic is the scrap gondolas from the Behr Recycling yard locate just north of their shops at Emery. They will move scrap loads out of there and usually take them to the UP interchange in Mason City. They will sometimes do that in the afternoon, but they only do that a few times a week.
Find the recent issue of Trains magazine for the excellent article by Joel Jensen--covering the Iowa Traction running in the winter. It will answer the basic question; yes, they do operate in the winter.
Lance
