After another short night of sleep, I was up early for breakfast before checking out of the Best Western. Bob Riskie and I waited in front and just as we stepped outside, Dennis Larsen arrived to pick us up and we drove over to St. Paul and parked in a covered parking lot next to St. Paul Union Depot then walked up a ramp to find a long line to board our steam train this morning. At 8:00 AM, Milwaukee Road 261 reversed the train to the loading location and the only car added to our consist was "Caritas" between "J. Pinckney Henderson" and "Montana". Boarding soon occurred, but with only three vestibules open, it was a mad rush and the three of us ended up in the coach "Arizona" in single seats and I chose one next to Don Jackson from nearby Cottage Grove. The passengers included a group from Lake City, Minnesota who were all wearing tie-dyed T-shirts and celebrating a 50th wedding anniversary.
At 8:34 AM, we departed, proceeding on the former Chicago, Burlington and Quincy tracks bound for La Crosse, Wisconsin, before stopping a few moments for a rail-grinding train to pass. We paced an eastbound coal train for a short distance before stopping again, then once on the move, we passed underneath the Dayton Bluffs before travelling through Canadian Pacific's Pig Eye Yard and slowly made our way through the construction zone of Interstate 694 then ran through Newport and the large 3M plant was passed where Don used to work.
We continued on a ledge above the former Milwaukee Road tracks then passed Lock and Dam 2 on the Mississippi River before going through St. Croix and underneath Highway 61, past King Cove Marina then slowed for the crossing of the St. Croix River, entering Wisconsin at Prescott. I learned what a wing dam was and to never pass a boat over one as we paralleled the river. Wing dams are piles of stone and brush in the river which lurk beneath the water near propeller depth. Thousands of these jetties are located along the mainstem of the river and they focus the flow of the water to develop a deeper, narrower main channel to aid commercial navigation. The wing dams comprised the first large scale efforts to improve navigation on the Upper Mississippi River as early as the 1860's, along with dredging and removal of boulders and snags. Low flows in late summer, shallow areas and rapids in the river provided obstacles to commercial navigation on the Upper Mississippi. Wing dams are long narrow berms of alternate layers of rock and brush extending radially into the river from each bank. The brush, usually willow, was tied in bundles and then fastened into mats.
Our excursion train slowed through Diamond Bluff with Wisconsin Highway 35 running along our route then we crossed under the highway, crossing the river to Red Wing as we then crossed the farmlands and forest. Milwaukee Road 261 steamed through Bay City at a rapid pace then cruised along Lake Pepin and sailed through Maiden Rock. We stopped at Pepin to grease 261's rods and there was plenty of haze in the air from all the humidity.
Our departure occurred at 10:50 AM to continue the journey south to La Crosse, crossing Chippewa River before we neared the south end of Lake Pepin and reached Trevino then rolled through Alma, Cochrane and Fountain City with a United States Corps of Engineers station. The channel of the Mississippi River curved all over the valley in this area as we continued south to Lock and Dam 5. There was a stop at Winona Junction to receive new track warrants since we had left CTC territory then we continued through East Winona and entered the swampy country along the east side of the river, passing Lock and Dam 6 and later Tempealeau. We went under Interstate 90 before reaching North La Crosse.
The steam engine slowly walked around the connecting track (new mileage) at Grand Crossing and into Canadian Pacific's yard, where we stopped to water and grease the steam engine.
At 1:25 PM, 261 whistled off and we met Amtrak 8, the eastbound Empire Builder and I spotted Dan Chazin in one of the coach vestibules. We then steamed by the La Crosse Amtrak station before crossing the Black River on the newly- rebuilt bridge, followed by crossing the Mississippi River to return to Minnesota.
We made the turn to run along the west side of the Mississippi River on the Empire Builder route, steaming through Dakota and north on to Winona, with Sugarloaf Mountain off to the west on the bluffs. We stopped in Winona to a non-extant crowd and there was only half a dozen people to greet us. The Amtrak crew changed here before we were off and running north, crossing the former Chicago and North Western, now Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern, line then sped through Whitman siding and minutes later, ran by Bass Camp Resort then Lock and Dam 5. After going through town and the siding of Weaver, with Canadian Pacific 9612 West in their siding waiting for us, we went by Weaver Bottoms off to the right and then steamed across the Whitewater River.
Traffic was heavy on Minnesota Highway 61 and I learned the Weaver Bottoms are too thin to walk on and too thick to paddle through. They ended just before Kellogg and we returned to the farmlands as we steamed through Midland and onto Wabash, where a two-unit SOO Line freight was in a siding and another with two Canadian Pacific Railway locomotives were waiting for our train. We returned to the river running at Reeds Landing before reaching Lake Pepin and ran to Lake City at track speed. I was then invited into the tool car for a visit.
The servicing crew prepared to go into action when we reached Red Wing, our next servicing stop.
Canadian Pacific Empress 4-6-4 2816 had run down to Red Wing pulled by a diesel on the rear end as part of an employee appreciation excursion and we passed it as we departed. Our train then steamed by Treasure Island Casino, Prairie Island Nuclear Power Plant and more wetlands then at East Hastings, Iowa, Chicago and Eastern 6447 was waiting, along with another eastbound Canadian Pacific freight before we curved in Hastings. We crossed the Mississippi River and ran back through St. Croix then retraced our route this morning and our conductor came into our car to tell us. He said, "There are a few unhappy passengers aboard our train." Don then said ,"HA over H always is greater than one!" HA means horse's ass and H is horse.
We ran though Cottage Grove at a much-reduced speed due to tie replacement then at Newport, switched back over to the former Chicago, Burlington and Quincy trackage with our speed increasing and paced BNSF 6919 beneath Dayton Bluff before arriving at the loading area at St. Paul at 5:15 PM.
On the way to the gate after detraining, I saw Frank Sandberg who gave me some information about tomorrow then told of the planned side-by-side running of Milwaukee Road 261 and Canadian Pacific Empress 2816 up Westminster Hill. Dennis took Bob and I over to St. Paul Union Station and give us a brief tour of this beautiful building.
Now to find a location to photograph the two steam engines and we found a bridge on Lafayette Road that was on Westminster Hill at East 7th street on the BNSF. What we discovered is that this was a prime railfan location in the Twin Cities. The BNSF, Union Pacific and Canadian Pacific Railway all use this short but steep grade. Here we joined about thirty railfans waiting for the big event. Each of the two outside tracks go through a tunnel to proceed north, while the two middle tracks climb the short but steep hill over the other two tracks as they go west.
First a BNSF freight climbed Westminster Hill, following by a descending Union Pacific train.
A eastbound BNSF was next.
An eastbound Canadian Pacific Railway freight, after which we all saw smoke!
Canadian Pacific Railway Empress 2816 climbed Westminster Hill on the outside track and about fifteen minutes later, we some more smoke off in the distance.
Milwaukee Road 261 then took its turn climbing the hill. What a show of smoke and sound Milwaukee Road 261 provided! After saying goodbye to all my friends on the bridge, Dennis drove Bob and I to the Days Inn Midway where we checked in and found our room then I went to Arby's for dinner and returned to the room and watched a little television before calling it a night.
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