Earlier in the year when I still thought I was going to be at McFadden Intermediate School, I planned a few trips for the autumn. Since I had non-refundable airline tickets, I had to take the trips. When I met my new principal, I was open and honest with her and she said it would be fine.
The first of these trips was the final run of Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 261 before it was scheduled to go into the shops for its fifteen-year rebuild. Remember that Milwaukee Road 261 had been the only mainline steam engine to operate in each of those fifteen years and had taken me to many new and exciting locations.
I received a First Class ticket for the Circle Trip and was very happy to repeat this excursion as it was going to be run in reverse of its previous route. This time, we would go down to La Crosse, Wisconsin on the former Milwaukee Road track in Minnesota and come back on the former Chicago, Burlington and Quincy tracks in Wisconsin. I planned to chase the Saturday run to La Crescent and ride that final trip on Sunday. The Saturday before the trip, I received an e-mail from Judy Sandberg, informing me I had been upgraded to a dome car. I called her back and learned that the the private car "Caritas" could not make the trip so the group replaced it with Amtrak's Great Dome. I thought this would be really cool since this car once ran over the former Chicago, Burlington and Quincy when it used to shuttle the Empire Builder to Chicago over their tracks for the Great Northern from the Twin Cities.
I could not wait for this trip to start and worked the four days of the week at my new school, Jefferson Elementary, then packed Thursday night for what should undoubtedly be a great trip.
The Journey to Minneapolis 9/12/2008
I was up at 3:30 AM and after preparing myself for the day, I drove to the Santa Ana station and walked around to Track 1 to buy a Metrolink ticket for Train 681 going to LAUPT. It arrived on time and was a quick pre-dawn trip to Los Angeles, where I went to the Flyaway Bus kiosk and bought a round trip ticket to LAX. The bus only took twenty minutes and I went quickly through Security this early Friday morning then walked to Gate 26 to wait for my flight to the Twin Cities. I boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 802, we took off on time and I did Sudoku puzzles most of the way, arriving early and soon I was at Budget Rental Car getting a Toyota to use for the next three days.
I drove Interstate 484 East to US 10/61 which I took east and near Cottage Grove, caught up to my first train of this trip. I was using two cameras, hence the difference in quality.
BNSF 761 East. I continued on US 10 to Point Douglas and took County 21 to Interstate 94, crossed the St. Croix River into Hudson, Wisconsin, where I stayed at the Best Western Hudson House for the night. I had KFC for dinner and started to receive telephone calls from friends about the Metrolink head-on crash in Chatsworth to make sure I was not on board. I watched a few movies as I checked the Internet for more information about this horrible accident then called it a night and had a good sleep.
A Chase of Milwaukee Road 261 9/13/2008I arose and drove down to Prescott, Wisconsin stopping to get some snacks for the morning on a dark rainy morning. My first stop of the day would be in that town.
The St. Croix drawbridge and tower.
The St. Croix drawbridge built in 1984. From here I drove to Hastings, Minnesota.
SOO Line GP38-2 4401, ex. Canadian Pacific 4401, nee SOO Line 791 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1977.
The Milwaukee Road Hastings station built in 1893.
The eastbound Amtrak Empire Builder 8/28 blasted through Hastings with three BNSF business cars on the rear. Something told me to go south to my first planned photo location.
The Hastings drawbridge with a Milwaukee Road emblem on the right bridge tower. I drove south through Red Wing and south of Frontenac, the highway was stopped with one lane of traffic due to road construction. I sat there for fifteen minutes and finally everyone was allowed to continue. I felt sorry for all of the chasers who did not know about this construction. I made my way south of Lake City to my first photo location along the Mississippi River.
My first photo location of the day.
First a northbound Chicago and Eastern Iowa freight passed by.
After a great steam run pass, I drove south and caught up with the pacers, slowly moving until the road expanded to two lanes and I was able to get ahead of the train. I set up next at Homer, crossing over to the northbound shoulder and parked so I could continue to chase.
After another great show by Milwaukee Road 261, I continued south as I knew I had time because the train had a planned passenger stop in Winona. I entered Interstate 90 and knew I needed to be on the other side, so exited at Dresbach and found another good location.
Dresbach petrol station across the road as I waited for the steam train.
Milwaukee Road 261 passing through Dresbach. I knew that I needed petrol and also had something else to do, so I drove across the Mississippi River to La Crosse where I parked across the street from Copeland Park.
Chicago Burlington & Quincy Class 4-6-2 4000 "Aeolus" and Grand Crossing interlocking tower.
The Grand Crossing interlocking tower, jointly used by the Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Paul and Pacific; Chicago, Burlington and Quincy and Chicago and North Western. In 1991, with the support of the Preservation Alliance of La Crosse and The La Crosse County Historical Society, The 4000 Foundation led the "Save the Tower" fundraising campaign to secure and remove the tower to Copeland Park to become part of The La Crosse Short Line display. Protecting the "grand crossing" of four railroads: The Milwaukee, The Burlington, The Green Bay and The North Western, the current tower was built in 1928 to replace the original 1887 structure, which was destroyed in a train wreck.
When closed in January 1991, Grand Crossing tower was the last manually operated "strong arm" interlocking tower in Wisconsin. Replaced by modern centralized traffic control technology, the two-story wooden tower was donated for preservation by the Soo Line Railroad, successor to The Milwaukee Road.
Chicago Burlington & Quincy Class 4-6-2 4000, nee 3002 built by Baldwin in 1930. It was rebuilt at the Burlington's shops in West Burlington, Iowa in April 1937. Shrouded in stainless steel streamlining, it was named Aeolus and served as standby power for the Burlington's new diesel-electric Zephyr trains. Aeolus was the Greek god, Keeper of the Winds, and the choice of name was in keeping with the Burlington's adoption of a Greek mythological theme in choosing Zephyr for their diesel-electric trains, but the steam engine soon earned the nickname "Big Alice the Goon" after a Popeye cartoon character. It was retired in the late 1950's and donated to the City of La Crosse in 1963.
Milwaukee Road wooden caboose 0359 built by the railroad in 1883. It last served as a "drover's caboose" for attendants accompanying livestock shipments. When retired in 1961, 0359 was one of only three wooden cabooses still in service on The Milwaukee Road.
I went to Hardee's for lunch and filled the car before driving back across the Mississippi River to Dakota, Minnesota, finding a railfan platform with a great view.
The Dakota platform with a few new friends waiting for Milwaukee Road 261.
First a westbound Canadian Pacific Railway train came through.
Next was an eastbound Canadian Pacific Railway freight train. A few minutes later, here came the steam train.
After another great runby, I resumed my drive to East Homer and set up there while the train picked up and dropped off passengers in Winona.
Milwaukee Road 261 passing through East Homer before I returned to the other side of the fill where I took my earlier pictures this morning.
The fill south of Lake City was a great spot.
Back in the car, I was in the pack of chasers and managed to get one pacing shot as I drove north. It was slow going through Lake City and at the construction zone, I was able to make eye contact with the flagman and he waited until I had passed before he turned his sign to stop. Milwaukee Road 261 was being serviced in Red Wing while I took Highway 18 and just short of East Blackbird, set up for my final pictures of the day. While it had rained off and on, every time I stopped for photographs, the rain also stopped. At Blackbird, it rained and the wind blew as the train approached.
Even in the rain, Milwaukee Road 261 was a great site to behold. I drove into Hastings then went west on Minnesota 56 to Egan and checked into the Best Western Dakota Ridge and had a nice steak dinner before watching the first half of the University of Southern California/Ohio State football game, then called it a night.
