Today Amy and I were driving to Byerlys to get ice cream cones, and I spotted a Progressive Rail SW1500 dead on the tracks just outside of the Caterpillar dealer here in Bloomington, MN. It was being serviced by a locomotive service company based out of southern Minnesota. The three mechanics were a bit cranky and when I asked permission to take pictures, they said fine, but NO PICTURES OF OUR TRUCK. I said OK, but just out of curiosity, why? He said "DON'T ASK!" They must have been the mafia or something. So here's a bunch of pictures of the Progressive Rail system in Bloomington, and I'm starting off with photos of the SW1500 being fixed. I asked the mechanics what was wrong with the engine and they said bearings went out.
The Caterpillar dealership. That old caboose was repainted and looks beautiful. I believe it is used for tours during the summer. Here's what I find odd about this rail system, it goes right down the middle of Bloomington which has mostly a residential and commercial type properties. In the following picture, you see rails going between a set of business buildings like it's a back alley way.
I talked to a local business worker about these centerflow hoppers - he says they have been sitting there in the same spot for several months. That's got to be costing someone a bunch of money. Possible reason why this one has been sitting there for so long: look at the damage to it on the right side. Possibly a fatal injury? This guy has been sitting here for quite a while. Look at his rusty wheels The next couple of photos are pictures of the grain elevator type thing that sits right in the middle of town. It's actually sitting right behind a strip mall which contains a Blockbuster Video store. The following picture is the business sign for the elevator
The "grain elevator" A Soo Line hopper servicing the elevator You can see several more Soo hoppers in the background, in staging. 2 service tracks used by the elevator, with train stopping devices bolted to the rails. Blockbuster Video in the background. Another shot of the Soo Line hopper servicing the elevator A close-up shot of the hopper - it's actually DUMPING something into the ground, or it's getting sucked in by the attached device. When I was taking these pictures, it was noisy - like a giant vacuum cleaner. More hoppers in staging
Next stop, Home Depot siding And the new Sams Club which just opened about a month ago. This centerflow hopper has been sitting on this siding for a few months now (I frequent Home Deopt semi-regularly so I see it often) Notice the damage to this car. It collided with something And it lost. See those trees to the left? That's where my 2" 4x8 pink foam blew up into last Thanksgiving and it stuck up in the top of the trees
I hope you enjoyed this brief tour of Progressive Rail in scenic Bloomington, MN, home of the Mall of America.
A fascinating set of pictures! Thanks for posting. I wish more industries in the UK were rail served The photo with the incredibly uneven track - is it actually used? Although I expect a telephoto lens accentuates the distortions.
Interesting. All kinds of stories pictured! I wonder why they'd not want the truck pictured??? That seems very odd. Those rails are certainly distorted. By their appearance, the corrosion appears to indicate they don't see much use. If any? I can't imagine those hoppers would be left so long as to accrue huge demurrage charges. Perhaps they are being stored. Or something is being stored in them, so they might be leased. It appears there are some questions that would be fun to know what the answers might be! Boxcab E50
I believe the author of that quote is Jack Handy who did a series of "Deep Thoughts" on Saturday Night Live. I have a collection of Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy on my web page: http://www.boche.net/deep.htm
I believe that rail is used from time to time. And yes, I believe the crooked track was accentuated by zooming in which is what I did in that picture. To the naked eye, that track looks pretty straight, but when you zoom in with the lense, it looks very crooked.
Yes a Telephoto lens does distort uneven rails some, but can you see now why real railroad trucks are "sprung"? At the slow speeds required during "in-town" switching, small engines can negotiate that rough track. That is also why I try to mount sprung or at least "equalized" trucks on my HO equipment, because my track is not always as flat as a mirror. I do not have problems with derailments either, unless I forget and hit a stretch too fast. Besides, part of the fun to me is to watch the wheels work up and down as the car or engine passes, looks just like the real thing! Those cars may be empty, stored awaiting repairs from a wreck. Sometimes damage wont pass inspection for road service, but is not noticeable from the outside. The orange colored device on the "Dumping" Hopper, is an electric vibrator. These are used to shake dry materials so they will fall into the below ground chamber where an augur carries the material away for storage inside the building. [ 04. May 2003, 01:57: Message edited by: watash ]
Some of the things that I said and the words that I chose to describe the operations of Progressive Rail may not have been the best words to use. They didn't fairly represent Progressive Rail, rather, they validated just how new I am to railroading, and just how much I really don't know about railroading and railroad operations. For example, in one picture I described what looked to me like a fatal injury. I was speaking in the context of the rail car having an injury, not an accident where a human being was injured. In another photo, I more or less commented that trains that sit around for extended periods of time are not being made useful - I was corrected on this statement by more than one person; I hadn't thought of using rail cars as storage. Just in case there was any question in your mind at all, I'm a really big fan of railroading, which includes my local neighborhood railroad, Progressive Rail - I just don't know a lot about it yet. There is a lot more going on with this railroad than what I documented in pictures. The reason I didn't get more pictures is that I didn't travel to all of the locations where Progressive Rail operates. I only took photos in selected Bloomington areas that I knew of which were publically accessible to me. Now for something really cool: I received a phone call this afternoon from a person who reads these forums. I'll call this person "X". Coincidentaly, X is also an employee of Progressive Rail. It was my absolute pleasure to listen on the phone as X explained much of Progressive Rail's operations around the Bloomington and Lakeville areas. X talked about parts of the railroad I haven't seen which are in geographic locations that I have not been to. If that weren't enough, X provided me with a name and phone number that I can call to get prototype information for Progressive Rail. I believe I was also extended an offer to "come out and take a look" at their facilities and what they've got going on around the area. X, I'm sure you're reading this so let me once again say "Thanks" to you and Progressive Rail. Class act all the way! Jas
Isn't it wonderful when something like that happens I would love to hear (and see) more of Progressive Rail, both operations and area covered. Small railroads can be so interesting, which is one reason I have changed my model railroad to a short line type of operation. Any chance of a track plan? 'X' could be a good source of information, I am sure
Model Railroader featured Progressive Rail in its "Railroad you can model" series recently. I can't remember the specific issue, but it also showed two possible trackplans (one HO, one N) for a layout based on Progressive Rail.
For those that were interested in learning more about Progressive Rail, here are a few Progressive Rail and related links I've found over the past few weeks. One of them includes not-to-scale system maps. http://www.geocities.com/danpatchline/ http://sand.rr.home.attbi.com/Railroad/prototype/mns_high_line.htm http://www.prairie-works.com/perspective2.html
I knew that by the MR article Progressive had an industrial switching area, but I didn't know they also picked up the so-called Dan Patch line. And, IIRC, Model Railroad PLanning did an article on the High Line, with possible layout plans in N and HO scale. You've done quite a bit of homework on this line- I'm impressed! You can remove that "novice" label anytime now Does Progressive use any other motive power besides those two SW1500s?
Great shots, Jason. Reminds me of the batch I took heading west along the TC&W a couple of years back in mind of doing a selectively compressed layout, generic enough to run TC&W, Soo, and BN (at different times, of course! ). That's the old MN&S line. Merged into Soo, then CP Rail then sold off to Progressive. There was a lot of traffic on this on the MNRail list some time back prior to start-up. People were quite keen to see the line maintain rail service to industry and it does make for an interesting layout possibility. Looks like the ex-MN&S SW's have come back home, even as far as a replica paint job! Pity the SD39-2's won't be back... Bob, they use SW1500's only as far I as can ascertain from afar.
