Seems like that pedestrian bridge over the yard has been there forever! It's been in a lot of pics over the years.
It seems like it's been there forever, because it basically has. The earliest photo evidence I have seen of the bridge is this 1934 view from Ron Nixon: http://www.morphotoarchive.org/rvndb/rvnjpeg_img_rec.php?objno=RVN03482 It probably was erected when the roundhouse was, decades before. I'd have to dig to find out what info. It is a public footbridge, but is closed for repair and for the flood wall project in Minot. Once that's done in several years, it should reopen.
The pedestrian bridge over the Milwaukee Road yard, here in Austin, MN was there for 100 years. It was built in 1895 and they dismantled it in 1995. Here is a picture of the old Depot/Hotel here before they built the new brick depot in the 1940's A bit of the bridge can be seen on the left. There is a much better picture of it out there on the web but I am not allowed to save it: Also, here is a photo of "Taopi Tower" I wrote about earlier, taken sometime in the 1930's. Harold Tolstead, depot agent and good friends of my grandparents, is the man in light clothing on the right. Some of us thought the other man might be my grandfather but he was heavier set than that. In the background is the grain elevator my dad and friends used to play in and the foundation of which is still there. The Milwaukee Road crossed in front of the two men in the photo, east/west, and the CGW crossed north/south: Doug
Those white, red, and black Soo Line locomotives sure were striking when you spotted them. I saw them several times in the Twin Cities. Doug
Since we're on a Soo kick, here's 6026 in 2016 in Minot, waiting for lights at Soo Tower: And making a transfer:
Sick image, Hardcoaler! Just sick! That 1976 is so clean, grandma could eat off it. Even the plow is still shiny. Did it small like wet paint still?
"In Memoriam" Caution tape on the front steps tells the story... CP 8556 was leading CP train 199 on the Portal Sub between Foxholm and Carpio, ND on 22 Sep 20, when it struck a tractor at a crossing while the man was mowing ditches along parallel US Highway 52. The driver of the tractor did not survive the encounter, while the mangled handrails and plow & broken ditch lights seem to be the only physical damage the unit sustained. This unit was later set out at the next available siding, Baden, and parked idling in the house track. I found the parked unit after sunset, with the deepening twilight appropriate for the portrait. Prayers and thoughts go out not only to the family of the man, but also to the train crew. They also suffer the mental anguish of witnessing and the helplessness to prevent the accident. Railroaders frequently deal with grade crossing accidents and silently suffer in many of the same ways a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, such as that the military and first responders suffer. Railroading isn't always the glorious 'Casey Jones' persona; it is frequently a dangerous, tragic occupation. For more details, the local news posted this story. The man's name was not released. https://www.kxnet.com/news/local-news/kenmare-man-dead-after-train-tractor-collision-in-ward-county/
So much sadder than the idiots who try to beat a train across a crossing getting killed. Poor guy just doing his job and a moments's inattention. Doug
