Attended the 2011 Milwaukee Road historical Association Convention in Austin, Minnesota a couple of weeks ago. Had a great time. The convention was well populated - some 215 people attended. Being in Austin the home of Hormel, we ate Spam. It was good since the company has reduced the salt volume in the meat. In its hayday, the Milwaukee Road moved an average of forty cars of finished meat products out of the Hormel plant every day. Had two days of bus tours around southern Minnesota and northern Iowa and saw lots of Milwaukee track and facilities. Much of the track is still in use. It was easy to see why these railroads went bust; as many as four railroads served towns with populations of 4,000 people or less. Two really interesting stops on the tours were in Fairmont, Minnesota where we toured the famous Fairmont speeder plant (now being moved to South Carolina) and in St. Charles, Iowa where man buys and restores old Milwaukee Road passenger cars. Some cars were pretty beat up and some were nice; we toured them all. he rebuilds and sells the cars. Also met a man who worked on the Loweth (Montana) track rebuild in the 1950s. Showed him photos of the still standing substation and he was very pleased. He is writing a history of his experience; he had great stories tell about working on the Milwaukee. The banquet speaker started his railroad career as a track rehab laborer at Well, Minnesota on the Milwaukee when he was seventeen years old. Today he is a VP of BNSF and is in charge of the BNSF's car fleets. The convention in 2012 will be at Moscow, Idaho (last week in June). Moscow has a hotel large enough to hold the convention and is close to Avery and St. Maries. Sounds like a fun weekend. See ya there. Be happy to answer any questions about the convention anyone has.
By any chance did you catch a few pictures? How many still surviving depots and other structures did you happen to notice in the vicinity? Boxcab E50
We saw six depots, three of which have been redone. The depot at Wells, Minnesota was really well done in terms of its redo. Saw about a dozen other buildings in various states of repair. The Milwaukee depot in Austin is a "modern" depot with the words "The Milwaukee Road" still perched on top of the building in large metal letters; now used as a storage building for an office supply store. Sadly, I did not have a camera along. Hopefully others who were there will post photos. Thanks.
