Several years ago you folks may remember I headed up to Alaska in February with the goal of catching the Northern Lights. While I did in fact see them, the effect was not quite as brilliant as I’d hoped. Fast forward to this week, when a powerful geomagnetic storm erupted on the sun, sending charged particles toward our atmosphere and lighting up the sky. I happened to be in Minnesota at the time with my husband, and along with our guide, Midwest railfan photographer extraordinaire Nick Benson, we headed over to the Arcola High Bridge to catch the lights.

According to popular lore, the bridge itself is haunted, and locals have been known to see a “mysterious” blue light. The lights that we saw, however, were quite real, and quite amazing. Pillars of greens, yellows, and purples raged behind the old Soo Line historic bridge, which extends over the St. Croix River and connects Stillwater, Minnesota to Somerset, Wisconsin. The bridge is a single track span that is still active, although with very minimal traffic (about a train per day in either direction). Alas nothing crossed it that night, but with the light show, nobody was really complaining.