PHOTOS: First Northstar Trains Carry Passengers across Fridley Derail Site

Northstar Commuter Rail resumed normal weekday service Tuesday afternoon, and the first passenger trains crossed the site of without a bump.

The first northbound Northstar train out of downtown Minneapolis had a solid sprinkling of riders who seemed relatively nonplussed about the trip, at least until they approached the derailment site. One group expressed surprise that they were the first passengers to come that way since Saturday.

But they recognized where they were by the remnants of crushed freight cars from the derailment remained at the side of the tracks.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) over Monday night.

Delays and No Twins Service Tuesday
There was no Northstar train service to the Minnesota Twins game Tuesday.

One fan, Brian Hanson, had hoped to catch Tuesday's lone southbound train to Target Field but he gave up when freight-train congestion caused Northstar delays of an hour or more.

He had arranged a ride home from the stadium with friends and ended up getting a lift to the game from his wife. 

'Some Giant'
Disembarking at the first stop past Fridley was Cory Simpson and her children Mercy, 8, and John, 4. It was the kids' first train ride; they'd been driven to downtown Minneapolis for the sole purpose of riding the Northstar train back—which was by no means a sure thing. Metro Transit was hedging its bets on whether it would have to carry Northstar passengers on buses, as was the case Tuesday morning.

Simpson said she had no qualms about taking the first Northstar trip over the derailment site—she figured it had been fixed or they wouldn't run the train.

Mercy had noticed the remains of Saturday's incident out the Northstar windows: it looked like "some giant just smashed and crunched" the train cars, she said.