Out of Minneapolis, the Milwaukee Road line to the West went through towns, such as Glencoe which is south of Hutchinson a few miles. Roughly, the Milwaukee paralleled what today is Highway #212. The GN had two--three if you count the branch to Hutchinson--lines out of Minneapolis. Yes, Bob, you are correct about Highway #12 paralleling the GN line to Wilmar, passing through Wayzata, Cokato, Litchfield, on its way to Wilmar. A second GN line went out of Minneapolis through Robinsdale and Osseo, towns north of Wayzata, on its way to Alexandria, and Morehead in Minnesota and on to North Dakota. I am not sure about that line through Robinsdale and Osseo today. Last time I was in the area, that track seemed awfully weed-infested and not maintained to a high standard as it was when the "Fast Mail" and the "Red River" burnished its rails west.
Tom ________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] on behalf of Bob Werre [[email protected]] Sent: Friday, February 10, 2012 10:48 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: {S-Scale List} Real Trains and such I'm not going to disagree with Tom but hopefully add to this discussion. The Milwaukee's mainline parallel's hwy 12 when it entered into South Dakota. In Minnesota it ran somewhat South of #12, but pretty much a straight shot to the Missouri River in the middle of South Dakota. Both the NP and GN mains ran in a roughly 45 degree angle toward North Dakota and it's major city Fargo (a great movie BTW). The GN also had a line that split off and went Southwest to Sioux City, Iowa that I assume is still functioning. Whatever line Jim saw was probably BNSF, as they took over the MILW on that mainline plus the original BN merger partners. The only competitor in the area is now the CP with it's takeover of the SOO line and the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern (ex CNW) that ran from Minnesota to the Black Hills in South Dakota. The CP, of course, runs from Ken Zieska'a backyard to the Canadian border with North Dakota. When the MILW went belly-up and embargoed everything from the Minnesota/South Dakota border, the State of South Dakota instituted an addition 1% sales tax to purchase the state's major routes. Regardless of your political leanings regarding getting government involved in private business, it seemed to work out for most everyone concerned as the line is now profitable with unit grain and coal trains. Of course, our S scale friend Mr. Dick Huff and his former Dakota Southern ran much of the State's secondary mainline that once ran into the Black Hills also. When I lived in Minneapolis, my better half and I, took a weekend trip back home and we drove #12--at the time it was the slowest route you could imagine. Little towns were established along the rail line for each water stop. The road was still two lane and each town had a stop light or two as you went right through each 'downtown'. We only took that route once. I would assume things have gotten better. In high school, our band instructor drove to Aberdeen, S. Dak to take the last passenger train in the state to Minneapolis. It was a left over part of the Olympian Hiawatha that left about mid-night. Since the train wasn't too important except for the mail contract, it was terminated someplace in route because of snow drifts. The conductor promptly obtain the services of a local school bus to shuffle the small bunch of passengers into Minneapolis. The prairies of that area can be unforgiving during the long winter, but I sort of miss them! Bob Werre Jim, The line paralleling US #12 was once the GN line. At one time Trains 27 and 28, The Fast Mail, operated over this line as did the Red River. The NP line paralleled US #10 and ran through towns like Anoka, Elk River, Little Falls, St. Cloud, Staples, and so on. Interesting, to be sure, as to what has happened in the last 30 years. Tom ________________________________________ From: [email protected]<mailto:S-Scale%40yahoogroups.com> [[email protected]<mailto:S-Scale%40yahoogroups.com>] on behalf of raisinone [[email protected]<mailto:raisinone%40wi.rr.com>] Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2012 10:00 PM To: [email protected]<mailto:S-Scale%40yahoogroups.com> Subject: {S-Scale List} Real Trains and such Ken: The railline west from the Twin Cities through Delano and Litchfield, MN; the one that parallels Hwy 12, was that originally GN or NP?? I drove out there there today and saw a dozen trains. Lead units were CSX, NS, CN and BNSF; so the second question is who operates the line today? I would have thought it was a BNSF property, but I saw more CSX units than anything else on all those trains. Jim Kindraka --- In [email protected]<mailto:S-Scale%40yahoogroups.com>, "mhrywest" <mhry19@...><mailto:mhry19@...> wrote: > ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links
