The CP Rail branch line near my home may be closing in the future . Annouced today, the Highland Ford Plant in Saint Paul, MN is scheduled for closure in 2009. This is the sole remaining customer of this branch line that I know of. I can see trains (all locals from Hoffmann yard in St. Paul) from my house. Sadly I have not taken any pictures yet as you never know when they are rolling through. There are about 7 to 12+ trains on this line a day. The power is a pair of gp40's one in CP Rail and one in the ole Soo Line white & Black. Once I saw a pair of AC4400 locos. This branch line fascinates me as most of the grade crossings are protected with nothing more than again crossbucks. And the trains look HUGE next the houses as it rolls right through residential. Pretty cool stuff. There used to be an oil/fuel terminal service by the branch line....that has been gone at least ten years. And a large Schmidt's Brewery used to be serviced by the same branch line. If the Ford plant closes.....I think that will be the final blow.
Matt: Your mission, should you choose to accept it--document daily operations of aforementioned branch line; photographing cars, locomotives and structures. You are our railrfan reporter, don't let us down!
I believe before CP, before Soo, it was Milwaukee Road. They had dedicated trains handling traffic for that plant. I believe one was called the "Ford Fast." Or something similar. Boxcab E50
Any chance of it becoming Light rail if it closes down? We got a Light rail craze here in the Denver Metro area going on and converting abadoned tracks to light rail.
Never thought of that.....I suppose that is possible. We also have light rail in the area. Right now it only runs from Downtown Minneapolis to the Mall of America along HWY 55.....Hiawatha line. Almost the same route as the Milwaukee Road way back in the day. I have no idea if the branch line used to be Milwaukee Road or not. I will have to dig into this. I know the Ford Plant was built in 1925 so it has been here awhile
If the city leadership has any bright bulbs in staff, one would hope they'd look at future possibilities for this track. It's uncountable millions of dollars less to grab now. Versus all the costly legal hassles of starting from scratch years down the road. mg: Mike- Any further on the past ownership of that track? :teeth: Boxcab E50
Sorry all, I have been pretty busy lately and all that is railroading has been slow . I will have to investigate to see if this is former Milwaukee Road or not. The trains have slowed on this line. I have no clue to their schedule so it does make it tough to try and capture a photo of the trains. I have only seen the large GE's on the line once, and of course I did not have the camera with (DOH!). This branch line comes off the CP (SOO) single track main just west of downtown Saint Paul. It continues past the old Schmidt brewery, past my house, and onto the Ford Plant. Most of the online industries are gone (all) exept Ford. If the line does close, it would make sense for the City / State to purchase the line from CP. The ford plant is just across the river from Fort Snelling where the light rail to the Minneapolis / Saint Paul Intl Airport and Mall of America runs. All the Metro Transit Authority would have to do is build a bridge across the river and they could link up downtown Saint Paul to the airport via Light Rail. Of course they would have to build some new trackage into Downtown Saint Paul itself.
Boxcab, First of all I dont know of any type of goverment that has any bright bulbs in them. Here in Seattle, King County wants to buy the old NP line that runs from Renton up to Snohomish jct. and turn it into a rail-to-trails. I am completely opposed to this and have written letters to the King Co. counsel about keeping it to turn into a light rail which they have just started to build finally after years of political B.S. I got a response back from King Co. stating that the ONLY option they were looking at was a rails-to-trails. I expressed concern to them that as a taxpayer it would surely be in OUR best interest to keep the rails in place for future light rail use other than ripping them out and then spending millions more of our heart earned $$$$ to buy ROW for light rail in the near future.:angry:
Ford FAST was a Rio Grande train...:thumbs_up: Ran from Kansas City-Milpitas, CA over Tennessee Pass. Crew change in Pueblo was as rapid as possible. Crews stood by on adjacent tracks for crew changes, mostly without stopping... Hotter than the RGZ, Railblazer, or anything else on the Grande.
The president of the local American Legion (who meet at my Armory) was wearing a Union Pacific shirt. So I asked him if he used to work for the UP? It turns out he retired from the UP. He started working for Chicago Great Western, then CNW, then finally UP. So of course we started talking railroads and I asked him if the SOO Line in and around Saint Paul used to be Milwaukee Road and yes it was. Hoffman yard in Saint Paul used to be Milwaukee Road as was the branch line that runs by my house. So the history of this line started as Milwaukee Road (I think they are the original), then Soo Line, and now Canadian Pacific.
Better late than never.... Here are some photos of one of locals from the Ford Plan on it's way to Hoffman Yard. I see & hear the trains from my home often.....but I have no clue as to their schedule and they are becoming less frequent as the plant winds down. I was in the basement working on the Canton Division last week and I heard that sweet deep bass ruble I grabed my camera and ran outside to the car.....I had to chase it down but I have a few photos
Nice pic's!:teeth: Save those for the future generations that are wondering what that asphalt trail used to be when riding there bikes over it.
