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A Weekend of St. Paul Railroading |
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PHOTO |
NOTES |
| After spending Saturday morning shopping with my girlfriend, the second half of the day would be spent with me showing her around the area. With the area's railroads surrounding the downtown area, it was a good opportunity to sightsee, as well as look at trains! Our tour of the area would start at South St. Paul where I will report to work. There, idled this interesting LLPX lease engine. | |
| Jenn and I worked our way up to Robert St., where this manifest was crossing over just short of Plato Blvd. This engine had a really odd strobe light on the top of it. | |
| At Hoffman, the DRGW patch engine had just departed before we got there, and we caught the tail end of the train when we arrived. I decided to chase it downtown, and we caught it here where the Sheperd St. detour ends. | |
| We lost the UP main on this day, and got to the far western part of St. Paul where we would run into an auto train heading eastbound on the old Milwaukee main. We blindly went down side streets until we got ahead of it. Here, the lead engine, SOO 4444, leads the auto train over a city street. | |
| The adventure began as we decided to give chase to SOO 4444 down slick, unplowed side streets. Luckily, we got up on the bluff on a street that overlooks the CP main. Note in the background where the UP line disappears under Sheperd St. Here, the auto train approaches, and the train moved so slow that we got in a second close up. Finally, here's a shot of the St. Paul skyline as we decided to end the chase. | |
| REALLY! | Jenn and I went across the Mississippi River to try and find the third UP yard along the old Omaha main. (Valley Park??) It was getting dark, so we didn't succeed, but we did find this "really" funny sign, that the D.O.T. "really" put up on this street. |
| SUNDAY | |
| CNW 6858 | After Jennifer left Sunday afternoon, I figured this would be my last free day for awhile, so I went back out the same way I did Saturday with a stop at South St. Paul. There, CNW 6858, a quarter of the entire CNW SD40-2 fleet, idled at the sand tower. |
| South St. Paul meet | Further down Concord, a "northbound" freight idled while an approaching coal train appeared on the same track. This shot was taken from the shoulder of Concord. |
| SP 352 | The coal train was led by SP 352, which pulled ahead only to clear Plato Blvd, and then tied up. |
| CP 4513 | After the coal train tied up, I headed to East Hoffman to check out "Pig's Eye Lake Blvd." which appeared to split down the CP and UP yards. There, I found these two freshly painted CP engines just off the road; No trespassing required! |
| SOO 4416 | Just beyond the building, but still on the street, was this impressive lashup including an old-scheme SOO engine and an engine still in Milwaukee Road paint. |
| Milwaukee Patch | You can still see the Milwaukee number on the dynamic brake pad, and unlike many bandits, this one does not have the huge black patch on the side. Definitely not a bad catch. |
| BNSF 6844 | At the bluff, a BNSF stacker came in with the signature pair of SD40-2s. I'd like to see ol' UP try something like that! |
| BNSF roadrailer meets CP train | A BNSF train led by this warbonnet would later meet a westbound CP train at East Hoffman. There was much more traffic, but my space is running out. If you want to see CP wide cabs or a BNSF GP60M in Heritage 2, email me and I'll send you a pic. |
| DRGW patch | Wouldn't you know, the transfer job on the UP was AGAIN led by the Rio Grande patch. I decided to chase this downtown again now that I figured out where the UP tracks go. Here it is on the edge of the heart of downtown St. Paul. For pics of the unit at Hoffman and lined up with two UP trains in Pig's Eye Yard, throw me an email. |
| RG patch at a familiar spot | I followed the patch this time to an old familiar spot published in "Run of the GE's" There is a photo where a pair of SD18s are rounding a corner, while a pair of switchers go by in the background on the old Milwaukee line. (for reference see "Run of the GE's) Look at the same place today: Shepard Street has been built over the old CNW curve, putting an eyesore in the scene. The Rio Grande patch emerges from the newly built bridge/tunnel. Note the CP trestle in the background. |
| LAST UPDATE | First trip around the St. Paul area. |
