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I haven't been able to take a big Amtrak trip recently, but yesterday I was able to take a fun little trip for father's day with my parents on our local tourist/historical train. It's not something you would travel across the country to see, but if you're in the Twin Cities area anyway, it is a nice sidetrip and well worth it. It's called the Osceola and St. Croix Valley Railway and is run by the Minnesota Transportation Museum. They have plenty of pictures of the route and also have a full equipment roster with detailed car histories at their website if you want to check it out. http://www.mtmuseum.org/ We were planning on getting something to eat and then heading over to the restored Osceola Wisconsin Soo Line Depot in plenty of time for the 2:30pm trip to Marine on the St. Croix Minnesota and back. Unfortunately, the restaurant we chose had extremely slow service by chance and we pulled up to the depot at about 2:29pm. At least we made it, I would have felt really stupid to miss a tourist train! Hurried up and got tickets and hopped on. The railroad is now a branch line owned by Canadian National Railway. It originally was part of the "Soo Line" to Sault Saint Marie Ontario, and also a main line split off to Duluth. Unfortunately, both those lines are now abandoned and the line ends at the reason for it's continued existence, a major rock quarry in Dresser, Wisconsin. I'm not sure why, but the CN uses the line rarely, and the main user of the line is actually Canadian Pacific Railway via trackage rights. From spring to fall each week they haul many unit trains of crushed "Dresser Trap Rock" to use as railroad ballast. So because of the weight of that stuff, they keep the line in pretty decent shape for a little used branch line and the line is kept up to about 25mph track speeds. So back to our little trip. One highlight of the trip is that the natural scenery is pretty interesting. It's not the mountain west by any means, but it follows the St. Croix River closely. The tracks are lined by limestone cliffs for several miles, which are quite unstable. I don't know the proper name for it, but the railroad has put in a fence which, when a landslide occurs and the fence is broken, it trips the ABS signals so the train crews know when to stop. This apparently occurs several times each year and you can see the remnants of previous rock-slides along the route. There is an old story of a couple of Soo Line employees jumping off their train to save themselves and watching the locomotives head down the cliff after a washout in this location. Now there is permanent slow order through this section of track. As we get closer to the bridge to cross the river we start to see more wildlife, a couple of nesting sandhill cranes and people in canoes, at campsites or fishing boats waving to us. The bridge is called Cedar Bend Swing Bridge. Although it does not swing anymore, since there is no more commercial river traffic north of here. There was an Osprey nest on top of the bridge, and the bird did not move an inch when we went by. After we crossed the bridge we start the climb up the grade into Minnesota. Talking with one of the volunteers he mentions once in a while the "rock trains" break in two struggling up the hill. But of course we don't have any trouble with that. I notice as we head under the state Hwy 95 overpass, there is fresh graffiti tagged on it. Not only is graffiti prevalent in major cities, it is everywhere I think. But anyway we cruise to a stop at Marine on the St. Croix, where our locomotive will uncouple, and run around the siding to bring us back to Osceola. They move about 50 feet from us and stop. Then we wait about 10 minutes. It seems as if the CN dispatcher from Stevens Point had us confused with the "brunch train" they ran a half hour in front of us 5 miles farther down the line and had given them authority to head back to Osceola before us. So after a bit of explaining, the track warrants were cleared up and the locomotive went down the line a bit, switched to the siding and coupled unto the other end of our train to bring us back. The good thing about this was it made for a clear view out the open air door toward the receding track. Even if it's just a branch line tourist train, that's a hard view to beat. So me and my Dad occupied that space and looked out on the track until we got back over the river bridge. I think the average age of the passengers on this trip was about 10 years old as there was a school trip and kids and parents with nametags, saying "school district ###) They had plenty or maybe even all the parents with and were very well behaved. Like all kids when they hear it for the first time, they jumped and covered their ears when the engine blew it's whistle. But pretty soon their curiosity would overcome any fears. And of all the "small world" strange things you have happen, I ran into these folks that I had sat next to at a play in a tiny little theater in Minneapolis two days prior. Probably should have said hello, but didn't. Metro area of 3 million people and small events 1 hour apart in distance and a totally different interest. Weird! I guess all of us cool people congregate together. The play mentioned was a extraordinary well done little gem of a musical called "Little Shop of Horrors" done in the basement of a small venue called the Minnesota Opera building on North first street a couple of blocks out of Downtown Minneapolis. The professional theater company usually performs their plays at prisons, juvenile detention centers and such and then has a few public performances like this one. http://www.tenthousandthings.org/ Anyway, I've heard the movie was terrible, but the script is really, really funny in person when done by talented people. I mean, the villains are a man eating plant and a dentist addicted to sniffing nitrous oxide for himself!! Very fun stuff, done to "doo- wop" style music. Anyway, to wrap up my little adventure and very nice time with my mom and dad, the only negative was they put all the air-conditioned cars on the more expensive brunch train, so we sweltered in the 90 degree weather. But that's the price you pay. Our train for this trip had the Burlington Northern 6234 SD9 diesel locomotive followed by DL&W 2232 coach(I think some sort of cab car), GN 265 streamlined baggage, CRI&P 2604 coach, CRI&P 2608 coach, and NP 1102 heavyweight triple combine mail car. The Father's Day Brunch train was run with the GN A-11 streamlined business car, the GN 1213 "Empire Builder" Coach and the GN 1096(or 97) streamlined coach led by the Soo Line 559 GP7 diesel locomotive. After we got back, we waited the 15 minutes or so for the second train to come back just to watch it come in, and then went on home. Talking to the volunteers, they were trying to recruit myself and my Dad to volunteer, since they said once their volunteers become qualified as engineers they have trouble getting enough conductors, brakeman or attendants or people just to help out. I don't think that's for me or my Dad but maybe somebody else in the Twin Cities area would be interested if they read this. Looking forward to this fall when Canadian Pacific Railway is sending their restored Steam #2816 "Empress" to run an excursion on this same line in conjunction with the Milwaukee Road 261 folks. http://www8.cpr.ca/cms/English/General+Public/Steam+Train/Steam+Excursions.htm
Hopefully I can make a Amtrak trip later this year, but for now I have to be content with taking the Hiawatha line light rail now and then and some more local adventures.
Posts: 38 | Registered: Dec 2006
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quote:Originally posted by musicfan: The tracks are lined by limestone cliffs for several miles, which are quite unstable. I don't know the proper name for it, but the railroad has put in a fence which, when a landslide occurs and the fence is broken, it trips the ABS signals so the train crews know when to stop.
This thing is normally simply called a "slide fence"
Sounds like a great relaxing trip.
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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Sounds like a great trip, Music Fan! I have not heard of that tourist railway (but I bet David "notelvis" has......)
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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Ah the old Soo line brings back memories. Back when I was a kid the city of Superior WI had two depots one for the Soo and I believe the other might have been for the old Great Northern RR. I have taken the train from Superior/Duluth to the Twin Cities a few times before the line stopped.
Posts: 229 | From: Long Beach CA | Registered: Jan 2007
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CP 2816 is making a round trip from Minneapolis (probably Shoreham Yard) to Dresser this September, on a Sunday. On the Saturday they're going west to Glenwood on the Soo.
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