TCW St Paul turn westbound in the Lake St "depression" (Ex Milwaukee Road trackage

Name	Type	Comments	Date

Douglas Hildebrandt	General	Looks pretty rough. Why did they abandon this trackage? Wouldn't it be shorter to take this route rather then use the BNSF? Cool picture.	4/30/2007 2:36:28 AM

Matt Petersen	General	I remember this section of track very well. The construction of the LRT for the most part did away with this line.	4/30/2007 10:43:10 PM

Tim Huemmer	General	That's some cool looking trackage	4/30/2007 10:55:30 PM

Andy Shireman	General	Wow. Neat picture. I wish that the TCWR still ran through there. Wish it wasn't a bike trail now.	11/1/2007 11:39:14 AM

Andy Shireman	General	They sometimes called this Trash Alley. Now it is the Midtown Greenway Bike Trail, connecting the Kenilworth Trail and the SWLRT trail to Hopkins.	11/1/2007 11:46:23 AM

Andy Shireman	General	TCWR stopped running on this in 1998. It was constructed around 1910 and the earth was hauled west to fill in for the Bass Lake Yard. Besides the TCWR running through here from their base in Hopkins to St. Paul Yard, the CP High Line Job also came through here. That CP local originated at Southtown Yard along Hiawatha Ave. and went out to Skunk Hallow in St. Louis Park to go south on the MN&S to Auto Club Jct. (Bloomington) and up the old High Line to Richfield and South Minneapolis. I would speculate that a Humboldt job did the switching tasks north of Skunk Hallow on the MN&S mainline towards Crystal...otherwise this Southtown crew would never make it home after a day's worth of work. The Southtown job at this date cerved CEPRO (don't know what it stands for, but had something to do with inbound plastic pellets for injection molding) until 1998 when this line was severed and the Humboldt Job had to come out from Skunk Hallow swichback. The MN&S Hi Line was sold to Progressive Rail n	11/1/2007 12:01:00 PM

Andy Shireman	General	...The MN&S Hi Line was sold to Progressive Rail around this time between Auto Club Jct. and South Minneapolis/Nicollet Ave. And the Humboldt Job (MN&S Job 630) picked up the task of switching the Bass Lake Spur (east to CEPRO in South Minneapolis and west to Engineered Building Components in Hopkins in addition to their Crystal-Bloomington line. There was also a Minnesota Recycling near the Creek in St. Louis Park but that stopped around 2000 or 2001. CEPRO shipped its last cars on June 14, 2001 before closing its doors. The tracks between CEPRO and Bass Lake were ripped up in the summer of 2002.	11/1/2007 12:06:17 PM

Andy Shireman	General	...And Engineered Buiding Components became the last online business on the Bass Lake Spur until Royal Foods in Hopkins rebuilt their spur in the summer of 2007. I'm not sure if the Royal Foods spur is the same spur that Minnesota Recycling was served by because there are three adjacent spurs that split off in this same general location by Minnehaha Creek. The TCWR was diverted to the old M&St.L mainline through the Kenwood and Cedar Lake Yards on the "Kennilworth Corridor" There was a heated debate among neighborhoods wether TCWR should go up the MN&S to the BNSF or on the M&St.L to the BNSF.	11/1/2007 12:12:03 PM

Andy Shireman	General	...M&ST.L route became the winner for TCWR and have operated on that since September 1998. It is owned by Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority and the tracks are maintained by the TCWR under a lease-agreement. At Cedar Lake Jct., TCWR uses trackage rights on the BNSF Wayzata Sub to Harrison Street before entering the BNSF Midway Subdivision.	11/1/2007 12:14:05 PM

Andy Shireman	General	...sometimes TCWR goes on the BNSF Midway Sub to St. Paul Yard or it will enter the Minnesota Commercial at St. Anthony before going down Short Line Hill on CP's Merriam Park Sub (just like in the days of running across Hiawatha and through the Lake Street Grade Depression). Business picked up on the TCWR in the spring and summer of 2007. BNSF and UP engines have been entering HCRRA trackage at Cedar Lake Jct. for the trip into Hopkins to interchange with the TCWR or the MPL East End Job.	11/1/2007 12:17:45 PM

Andy Shireman	General	...Union Pacific engines return from Hopkins with loaded DDG trains from Winthrop that are usually bound for Bliss, Idaho. BNSF power runs west to Reubel, MN (near Renville) to deliver coal from Spring Creek Mine. Sometimes older BN power runs through on these trains...some of which ran through Hopkins and the Lake Street Grade deprssion for a number of years on COLX coal trains bound for the Columbia III power plant near Portage, WI.	11/1/2007 12:20:37 PM

Andy Shireman	General	...the BNSF engines return to Cedar Lake Jct. as light power after dropping off coal trains at Ruebel. BNSF engines sometimes run as light power between Cedar Lake Jct. and Hopkins to pick up loaded ethanol trains from Winthrop, MN. DPU's have been used on several trains as of 11/1/2007. I have seen a couple. Sometimes the Renville coal trains run in DPU mode as well. BNSF has delivered empty ethanol trains to the TCWR.	11/1/2007 12:25:17 PM

Andy Shireman	General	...One such train ran to Cologne siding to interchange with MPL in 10/2007. Union Pacific engines have delivered empty DDG trains. But regardless of whether its UP or BNSF power being used, it has always been TCWR crews at the helm. The BNSF power comes from Northtown and the UP power from East Minneapolis. Empty Renville coal trains are picked up by BNSF at Appleton, MN while loaded Watson, CA-bound ethanol trains head east for Cedar Lake Jct. and ultimately Northtown Yard. AGAIN, TOO BAD THAT THE TCWR LINE THROUGH LAKE STREET GRADE DEPRESION IS GONE...WOULD'VE BEEN COOL TO SEE BNSF AND UP POWER THROUGH THERE. OH, WELL...	11/1/2007 12:30:06 PM

Andy Shireman	General	Oh, and TCWR runs intermodal trains between Shoreham Yard and Montevideo, MN now. Eastbounds are loaded and westbounds are empty. Future trains should be railrunner trains.	11/1/2007 12:31:47 PM

Andy Shireman	General	Minnesota Valley (MNVA), based out of Morton, MN on what is now the MPL, had trackage rights on the Soo Line Ortonville Sub (later the TCWR mainline) from the junction at Norwood to the Minnesota Commercial Yard in the Midway area. By the early 1990's, they had stopped excercising the rights east of Bass Lake and began interchanging with the CNW local out of East Minneapolis.	11/1/2007 11:11:52 PM

Andy Shireman	General	This CNW local was the same train that operated the remenant of the old M&St.L mainline into Hopkins until 1995 when that track was ripped up between Bass Lake and Hopkins. Common power on that train was SD18's.	11/1/2007 11:13:03 PM

Andy Shireman	General	MNVA, formed in 1984, and under a couple of ownership hands in its 10-year existence...had trackage rights on the Soo Line Ortonville Sub (later the TCWR) between the junction at Norwood and the Minnesota Commercial's yard in St. Paul. By 1992, the MNVA had stopped excercising the rights east of Bass Lake in the Lake Street Grade Depression and began interchanging with the above-mentioned CNW Hopkins local at Elevator Yard/Bass Lake Yard.	11/1/2007 11:16:54 PM

Andy Shireman	General	...And by 1994, had stopped running east of Cologne siding into the Cities altogether and was soon sold to Pioneer Rail Corp and operated as the Minnesota Central Railroad (MCTA) until August 1999.	11/1/2007 11:18:26 PM

Andy Shireman	General	...and then that was sold to Cascade Inc. and operated as the Minnesota Central Divison of the Nobles Rock Railroad with leased ISLX engines. Both the Pioneer MCTA and the Cascade MCTA did all of their interchange business at Cologne siding. They never ran into the Cities. In August 2000, Cascade called it quits and then of course, in 2002, the line was reactivated as the Minnesota Prairie line and operated with GP10's in the MPL scheme (2003-2005) before the CAT fleet took over on the line.	11/1/2007 11:21:34 PM

Andy Shireman	General	After the Farmington-Cologne branch of the Milwaukee Road was abandoned through Shakopee and Chaska, the Milwaukee Road-Soo Shakopee Job also operated through the Lake Street Grade Depression from Southtown Yard to Hopkins and crossed over the M&St.L for the descent into the Minnesota River Valley. The crossover track was located in front of the present-day Depot Coffee House (the old M&St.L depot). At Merriam Jct., the Shakopee	11/1/2007 11:25:35 PM

Andy Shireman	General	...the Shakopee turned east on the Omaha Road for the quick trip into Shakopee to switch the large elevators on the west end of town. Today the Soo Shakopee originates at St. Paul Yard since Southtown Yard along Hiawatha is ripped up as is the M&St.L line from Bass Lake to Chaska. The train runs from St. Paul to Shakopee on the Union Pacific's ex-Omaha Road mainline to Sioux City, IA.	11/1/2007 11:27:44 PM

Andy Shireman	General	The C&NW while they still owned the Norwood, MN to Madison, MN branch of the old M&St.L (the Morton and Watertown Subdivisions) had operated a local from Cedar Lake Yard to Bass Lake to cross over onto the Milwaukee Road mainline for the journey west to the junction at Norwood. The crossover at Bass Lake was installed after the CNW abandoned their branchline between Hopkins and Norwood in June of 1980.	11/1/2007 11:31:32 PM

Andy Shireman	General	...the CNW ran its trains over the Milwaukee Road to access their own line at Norwood to head west for Winthrop, Morton, Hanley Falls, and the western terminus at Madison, MN. This happened from 1980 until 1983 when the line between Hanley Falls and Madison was sold to BN and the line between Norwood and Hanley Falls to the Minnesota Valley.	11/10/2007 9:01:36 PM

Andy Shireman	General	...BN coal trains stopped running through here in Oct. 1991 before being rerouted to the CP Paynesville Sub to the north. CTC signals were dismantled a short time later and the line became track-warrant control.	11/10/2007 9:03:21 PM

Andy Shireman	General	This is one of my all-time favorite shots of the depression. Crime was so bad in these parts that the crews were told to uncouple from the train and take off in the engines if they ever had a derailment. It wasn't safe to be down there without police escort.	1/18/2008 7:57:59 PM

Andy Shireman	General	The last train ran through here in early September 1998.	1/18/2008 7:58:20 PM

Andy Shireman	General	This is part of the Benton Cutoff. The Benton Cutoff consists of the right-of-way from Southtown Yard along Hiawatha Ave. through the Lake Street Grade Depression out to Cologne, MN by way of St. Louis Park and Hopkins. It cutoff mileage from the Minneapolis-Mendota-Farmington-Shakopee-Chaska-Cologne route.	2/21/2008 9:21:33 PM

Andy Shireman	General	The Short Line was the mainline built from St. Paul to Minneapolis that saved mileage from following the Hastings & Dakota Line from Hastings to Mendota and up the Mendota Line to Southtown Yard. The Hastings & Dakota mainline bypassed the Twin Cities altogether and was the original line heading towards the Pacific Northwest. The H&D went from Hastings out to Watson in western MN.	2/21/2008 9:24:23 PM

Andy Shireman	General	The Benton Cutoff and the Short Line became the preferred route of the Milwaukee Road from Hastings to Cologne and the H&D between these two points was downgraded eventually to branchline status and most of it has been abandoned.	2/21/2008 9:25:32 PM

TCW St Paul turn westbound in the Lake St "depression" (Ex Milwaukee Road trackage
One day we hit a baricade of bikes, shopping carts, and mattresses. Someone even trid to steal our fred one night.
Date: 5/15/1995	Location: Minneapolis, MN Map	Views: 3567	Collection Of: Greg Smith
			Author: Greg Smith

Picture Categories:		This picture is part of album: 1995 Minnesota photographs

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