Day 10, Tuesday, June 7, 2016
St. Paul–Milwaukee

Photos by Dave Ingles

Officially the Front-Range Explorers was over, and about half the record 52 revenue passengers were flying home from the Twin Cities, but close to half of us, I believe, stayed with the cars for one reason or another, as they were coupled to the back end of Amtrak #8, the Empire Builder, to go to Chicago. Most if not all the crew stayed on board, several being from the Chicago area, as well as some passengers -- brothers Phil and Rick Moser, for instance, would get off at Glenview, Ill., to be met by Phil's girlfriend Betty, who'd relay Rick to wife Jane at a Tollway Oasis (plaza) en route to Phil's home in Elgin. For me and Otto Dobnick, to get off at Milwaukee was a natural. Tom and Sharon Sharratt had left their car at Sturtevant (cheap, secure municipal parking at the depot) and would take the next "Hiawatha" down from Milwaukee. We also disembarked passengers at Columbus, Wis. The "Builder's" route, of course, is now Canadian Pacific, earlier the CMStP&P, honored by the main page photo of the Friends of the 261 group's (MILW 4-8-4) baggage car parked at Midway. The entire string of 5 cars — baggage car 2450, PV "Lambert's Point," lounge "Minnesota Valley," Super Dome 53, and Skytop Observation Parlor "Cedar Rapids" — was to go to Chicago on the back of #8 the next day.

The eastbound "Builder' has been running close to on-time most of the last couple of months, reflecting less BNSF congestion with fewer oil and coal trains, plus its lengthening sidings to increase track capacity, so wouldn't you know that on this day, it was running over an hour late, and arrived at Midway at 7:55. Minnesota Commercial does the switching for Amtrak at Midway, always has, so at 8:01 (1 minute after #8 was due out of St. Paul), MNNR GE Dash-7 No. 68 pulled us back to attach our 7 cars to the back of the rear Superliner on the outer depot track (away from the platforms). Steve Glischinski was on hand and sent me the photo of No. 48 pulling us back into the yard before shoving us forward onto #8.

Coupled on at 8:08, we nevertheless "played train" with the "FRED" etc. and didn't pull away to say good-bye to Midway until 8:48. I was on Caritas' rear platform as we left, and as we crossed University Ave., I shot each direction to show the new light-rail line from downtown Minneapolis to St. Paul (in front of Union Depot), but no trains were visible. This is the westerly looking view.

As we passed MNNR's "museum display" (owner John Gohman "collects old diesels," to use), I made a few digital photos. The fencing is new, but alas, probably needed. Most of the units you see are GEs, but you can see the rear end of Alco RS27 318, ex-GB&W/C&NW IIRC, and two to its right (east) is No. 35, an ex-CN (I assume MLW Alco-design M420).

We left MNNR for CP's ex-MILW line at Merriam Park, MP 416 from Chicago, at 8:55. I've always wanted to take pictures hereabouts from #8, but am usually not up yet.

Down into St. Paul along the riverfront, we passed Chestnut St. interlocking, where UP's former Omaha Road heads west for its Mississippi River bridge. Visible in the distance is the rear "FRED" end of a presumed westbound UP freight. Immediately ahead was Robert St. interlocking (also the overhead street bridge), where UP's former Chicago Great Western -- now the State St. Industrial Lead -- crosses the Mississippi on its own Robert St. bridge and where we entered the St. Paul Union Depot outer platform track.

Steve Glischinki was up ON the Robert St. bridge and sent me these two views of our passage, which was at 9:08. An anecdotal sad fact of railroad life today was that the opening of "SPUD" as Amtrak's Twin Cities stop was delayed for some time after the refurbishment of the depot was done because the negotiations and construction and control points of the two lone depot platform tracks involved Amtrak, BNSF, CP, and UP — yes, every railroad within sight! In the first view from the train, that's the ex-CGW track from the bridge with the two diamonds, while the outer end of the SPUD concourse itself is visible above the rear Superliners.

The Amtrak facility is in reality an "add-on" to the outer end of the old SPUD, so given that the light-rail is 100 feet or more in front of the head building, and that one has to walk a city block or so it seems out to the end of the SPUD concourse, and then get down to the one platform and sometimes walk an entire train length to board the "Builder," this is a big contrast to the convenience of the ground-level, mid-train set-up at Midway station that has been abandoned. I'm not sure the ambience of a restored old Union Depot is worth all that for the typical train traveler, but one cannot fault the SPUD renaissance itself. The last of the 4 photos below gives you a good look at the distances involved. We sat at the platform from 9:09 to 9:44, and at 9:35, a westbound CP freight with GE 8559 and SD40-2 6064 went by. As we departed Explorer passenger Richard Maund, of Great Britain, bade us farewell, having ridden over from Midway as his flight out of MSP wasn't until later in the day.

Looking back at the Division St. interlocking, at 9:48, straight ahead in what is now a grassy/weedy plot used to stand the SPUD roundhouse, where GN Es and Fs laying over were prominent in  the scene. NP's commissary was at right. On the left is CP's ex-Milwaukee Road double-track main coming out of St. Paul Yard (aka "Pig's Eye, in MILW days, for an old lake).

Drilling empty container well cars at Dayton's Bluff, the former CB&Q yard site, was a pair of GPs, one in Cascade green.

CP Milepost 409C and the eastward home signals mark the Hoffman Ave. interlocking as we look back at the downtown St. Paul skyline, with the Mississippi River on the left.

It's wearing a BNSF circle-cross emblem, but I bet this Trackmobile-type critter at the Dayton's Bluff facility is NOT on BNSF's motive-power roster!

There wasn't a whole lot of power outside CP's St. Paul Yard diesel shop, and the hump pusher units wound up buried behind a couple of cuts of cars, but we snapped a few shots anyway.

Toward the end of CP's St. Paul Yard, just beyond East Oakland control point, we passed a three-unit TC&W freight — first two units 2301 and 2011 — probably ready to back into the yard.

We took the BNSF, westerly of the separated two-track main from Newport to St. Croix tower. It's 1.1 mile longer than CP's easterly track, and hugs the Mississippi riverbank. Steve Glischinski was trackside at St. Paul Park to get coming-and-going farewell shots of our train, which he sent to me to include. Our two P42 units, 57 and 172, were ahead of siblings 121 and 46 on #8, which had a baggage car and 10 Superliners ahead of our 7 PVs. The BNSF track still had searchlight signals, tho not for much longer — it's a passenger route, so PTC is coming!

We skimmed along the river, then CP's track joined us to go thru St. Croix Tower interlocking, where the railroads essentially cross, CP going across the river into Hastings to follow the Minnesota side to La Crosse, Wis., with BNSF swinging east to cross the state-line St. Croix River at Prescott and hug the WIsconsin riverbank to La Crosse and beyond. Despite the "tower name," the tower is long gone, though the key signal bungalow is kept high above floodwater level.

This is the Mississippi River moveable bridge at Hastings, Minn. Note the control tower at right. What this from-the-train view cannot show are the large Milwaukee Road canted-rectangle emblems still on the elevator housings, most visible from the highway bridge just to the west (left of the photo).

Just beyond the Hastings depot (see "Depot Album" file) is the local switcher, which among other things covers a short industrial spur west from town. This day it's GP38-2 3800 painted for CP subsidiary Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern, the majority of whose South Dakota line, from Tracy, Minn., west thru Rapid City and on to Colony, just inside Wyoming, was sold to Genesee & Wyoming a year or two ago, which runs it as the Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern.

On this beautiful Tuesday morning, i enjoyed the Caritas' rear platform for a ways down the west bank of the Mississippi. This is the east switch of Duke siding; we passed the west switch at 10:27 a.m…. surely "a sign."

Along Lake Pepin, which is a wide spot in the Mississippi stretching from Lake City to Wabasha, it was possible to get the entire long Builder visible on a curve, but I wasn't successful. Phil Kondziela, a passenger from Stamford, Conn., was, and kindly sent me this photo to include.Along Lake Pepin, which is a wide spot in the Mississippi stretching from Lake City to Wabasha, it was possible to get the entire long Builder visible on a curve, but I wasn't successful. Phil Kondziela, a passenger from Stamford, Conn., was, and kindly sent me this photo to include.

First stop out of the Cities is Red Wing, where we called at its picturesque depot (see "Depot Album"), which also has, or had, a gift shop in it, 10:32-10:35, meaning 1:41 late, which held up more or less the same all the way to Milwaukee. There are two riverfront facilities here, and I made some shots as we passed them, including two switchers. The riverfront elevators/transloader photo was made as we crossed the street right by the depot. Red Wing is a great town, though you can get compass-disoriented easily, even with the sun out, as the depot actually faces almost due north. The ex-CGW depot in town has been a Hardee's and a coffee shop. There's an old historic (and expensive) hotel, with a modern wing, just a half block uphill behind the depot. I spent a delightful few hours here on the 2004 "Grand Excursion" day with both CP 4-6-4 2816 and MILW 4-8-4 261 paused here with their excursion trains (during the NRHS convention in the Twin Cities). In the highway-bridge photo, the land visible across the water is an island, in Minnesota, as I recall.

"Tower CK," a junction on the west end of Winona, was the site of the last staffed non-river-bridge interlocking tower in Minnesota, and the junction still includes "Tower" in the name, as in many places. It's where C&NW's line to South Dakota crossed the MILW main line. The diamonds are gone, and it's switches as both lines now are in the CP family. We passed here at 11:32, and paused at the depot, which included a smoke stop and crew change, 11:36--11:43, shaving to only 1:32 late on departure. In the photo, upon departure, of Soo caboose 30, the Winona depot, which is set back from the main line (see "Depot Album") is behind the trees at the left; its roof is visible in the third photo over the covered hoppers. The campus of Winona State University, which Steve Glischinski's son Andy attends, is a few blocks back, west of the depot.

At either Homer or Donehower siding (I lack notes) we passed a westbound empty tank-car train. The next view, at Dakota, looks ahead -- south, at the Minnesota bluff, right about noon. There's a great nature-vieweing platform in the village right above the track that makes a great photo vantage point; our engines are about at that spot in the second photo. The "mini-tow," going downstream toward the Lock and Dam at La Crosse, seems to be the barge folks' version of a local freight?

If your driving to the  La Crosse area this summer, beware of the total rebuild -- needed -- of the I-94 / US 61 interchange just west of the Mississippi River, and the I-94 bridge itself!

We began our crossing of the four rail bridges into La Crosse, Wis., at 12:10, the first view looking back at the east point of the La Crescent, Minn., wye. Following are a view upriver of a local tourist boat, looking toward the Minnesota riverbank to the north; two views of the moveable bridge over the Mississippi's boat channel; the first non-moveable bridge, at MP 283 (from Chicago), over a backwater; and the second non-moveable bridge, over another backwater.

As we crossed the south end of French Island, part o fLa Crosse (whose airport is at the north end of the island), I spotted a Trackmobile at a rail-serv ed island industry. Then followed the fourth and final bridge, the moveable-span structure across the Black River, flowing into the Mississippi from the north.

Around the curve we go into the La Crosse depot, passing the local freights' power, in their usual parking spot across the tracks from where the MILW roundhouse was. All four units are recent CP "ECO" Geep rebuilds. In the early 1970s, locals out of here had Alco RSC and RSD road-switchers to the east (and down a branch from Sparta to Viroqua), and SW1s in multiple ("pups") on the branch west to Austin, Minn. Both branches are long gone, as is the Milwaukee Road, of course. The bluff visible above the last Superliner may be Granddad Bluff, which has a park with a good overlook of the city and valley, and the BNSF main right below, tho trees are encroaching on the latter. If that isn't Granddad, the next bluff south (out of the photo) is.

Our pause at the depot, 12:25-12:28, nets us back to down 1:41 upon departure. The former baggage room at the depot's east end used to have a good BBQ joint in it, not sure what if anything is in those quarters now. At 12:33 we are across Grand Crossing (CP 3001 to the BNSF), my first sighting of BNSF's recently completed 2nd main track thru La Crosse. We first look north toward BNSF's yard (and crew-change point), then back west on CP. Grand Crossing Tower, when retired, was moved to Copeland Park near the riverfront north of downtown, in company of a CB&Q steam locomotive and MILW caboose. C&NW's city branch used to go thru the interlocking here, too.

Despite the nice day, it was time to relax, so I pretty much quit photography until we got closer to Milwaukee; it was time for lunch, anyway. Up in the dome, I spotted a nice portrait of Tom Sharratt and his wife Sharon, who years ago worked on the dining-car staff on High Iron Travel trips. He's an iowa Pacific investor, but they are retired at their country home in southwestern Wisconsin. They would disembark with Otto and me at Milwaukee to catch the next "Hiawaths" south to Sturtevand, Wis., where they'd left their car to Amtrak to Chicago to begin our odyssey. Behind them are

My next photo was at Nashotah, Wis., at 3:11 pm, curving toward the Vettleson Road grade crossing, a favorite local photo spot. We'd been the same amount of late, more or less — 1:40 to 1:43 at Tomah, Wis. Dells, Portage, and Columbus — and on-time at Pewaukee and Duplainville is about 1:35 to 1:40, and the arrival time at Milwaukee has some schedule padding. Somehwere mid-state the sunny sky had given way to what Carol reported at home, overcast. I glimpsed Andy Mueller at the Pewaukee lakefront crossing, with its faux depot beach house, but I was surprised to see no one was at Duplainville on Marjean Lane parallel to the tracks just west of the CN diamond, which we passed at 3:21, probably due to the cloudy weather. Those of you who review my "Local Action" photo files on Mike Condren's website have seen zillions of photos at both places. I was looking for Brian Schmidt of TRAINS at Brookfield, but turns out he was on the north side of the tracks since the clouds allowed "wrong side" photos.

We pulled into Milwaukee's Amtrak depot at 3:43, on Track 3 since the westbound "Builder," on-time, was on Track 1, preferred for all trains. IPH had asked for a cart for me, and I was joined by two women from the Superliner portion for a nice ride along the platform to a grade crossing at the east end, allowing me to take pictures as #8 left and to see all the new platform work done under the new trainshed. That's Nona Hill and Jim Fetchero waving from the Great Dome's Dutch door, and Rick Moser and Steve Cordwell from the next vestibules.

Allegedly the overhead bridge and its escalators and elevators will be in service before the end of June, during the last week of which is to be a dog-and-pony-show dedication event of all the refurbishing. Carol was waiting for Otto and me out front (I had called), so this batch of photos concludes a memorable 10-day odyssey. This final photo looks west from the Track 1 platform as we rode toward entering the depot.

This page was designed and is maintained by Mike Condren. If you have materials
that you would like to contribute, contact me at mcondren@cbu.edu