My day started early me and I uploaded some of the recent stories to my website. I checked out of the Days Inn and filled the car with petrol then went to McDonald's for breakfast and met someone going to the convention train and gave him a ride to the Amtrak station. I returned the rental car keys to Hertz then waited for the line to form to to pick up the National Railway Historical Society covention ticket package which was a new practice for the group and worked well. It was announced that all luggage (except for electronic devices) would have to be trucked to Duluth but in the Convention booklet, it had stated that only Holiday Inn and Radisson guests would have their luggage trucked. I could not do that because of my laptop computer but as I was with Joe Harper and Richard at the time, Richard offered to take my luggage to Duluth in his truck and deliver it later that afternoon, which relieved me greatly.
Passengers waiting to board.
The Amtrak crew then put the engine on the point of our train.
The train pulled forward to pass a switch.
The Lake Superior Limited reversed into the station and consisted of Amtrak P42DC 166, "Mount Vernon" 800708, "Kitchi Gammi Club" VRIC7 800705, Southern Pacific coach "Golden Sands" 800748, Southern Pacific coach "Golden State" 800881, Santa Fe lounge "Mojave", parlour car "Braddock Inn" 800854, New York Central parlour car 38 800655, Super Dome 800862 and "Cedar Rapids" 800040. Coach passengers such as myself had to board only the "Mojave", "Braddock Inn" or New York Central 38 as the Southern Pacific coaches were not being used on the journey to Duluth. I chose a lounge car seat in "Mojave" and settled in for my trip.
It was announced that due to BNSF track work, we would be going east from of the station and taking the former Northern Pacific freight route to reach the regular route to Duluth; a piece of very rare passenger mileage.
As we reversed out of the station, we passed the private cars that reside in the Twin Cities.
Our train passing Amtrak's Midway station, which opened on March 1, 1978 to replace the much larger Great Northern station in Minneapolis.
The former Artrain observation car 105, ex. Kansas City Southern 43, exx. Kansas City Southern 44 1960, nee New York Central 48 built by Budd Company in 1948.
Interior of Mid-America Railcar coach "Mojave", nee Santa Fe 2826, built by Budd in 1953.
Our train would be turned at the wye at the Minnesota Commercial Railway shops.
Taking the southwest leg of the wye.
This is the track down which we would travel once our entire train cleared the switch.
The train pulled forward crossing Transfer Street passing the Minnesota Commercial Railway roundhouse.
Minnesota Commercial C424 63, ex. Genessee and Wyoming 63, exx. Delaware and Hudson 463, exxx. Conrail 2482, nee Erie-Lackawanna 2408 built by American Locomotive Company in 1963.
Our train now pulled forward onto the normal Amtrak route to St. Paul.
Dropping down Short Line Hill.
Fordson Junction.
Passing a Twin Cities and Western train as we finished descending Short Line Hill.
We had reached the bottom of Short Line Hill.
Passing downtown St. Paul.
The Mississippi River.
Robert Street.
St. Paul Union Depot, whose construction was started in 1917 but was not completed until 1923 because World War I caused construction to halt for several years. During its heyday, the depot hosted the passenger trains of nine railroads and more than 20 million pieces of mail passed through the station to the neighboring St. Paul Central Downtown Post Office annually. At its peak in the 1920's, there were 282 train movements daily. The waiting room stood atop nine platforms serving 18 tracks; the eight northern ones closest to the headhouse were stub-end tracks, while the other ten ran through. However, track ownership and trackage rights west of the station meant that most trains operated as though the station was a stub terminal.
It was announced that when Amtrak formally took over most passenger service on May 1, 1971, it would consolidate its Twin Cities service in Minneapolis at the Minneapolis Great Northern Depot. Accordingly, the Burlington (later Burlington Northern) Zephyrs ended service on April 30, 1971, the same day the depot closed. The Afternoon Zephyr was the last train to serve the depot when it departed that evening bound for Minneapolis. At this time, this train was normally combined with the Empire Builder and North Coast Limited from Chicago to St. Paul, except on Fridays when it ran as a separate train. Since April 30 was a Friday, the Zephyr had the "honor" of being the last train to depart the station.
Area boosters had long hoped that trains would return to the Union Depot, and plans gathered steam as the Blue Line light rail project in Minneapolis drew toward completion. Planners envisioned the depot being used for a restored Amtrak service along with Metro and Jefferson Lines buses. A few businesses had occupied the headhouse since the halt of train service in 1971, while the United States Postal Service took over the rear of the building. The concourse and waiting room were used for some postal service activities and storage. After lying dormant for several years in the 1970's, the train tracks were removed from the train deck and it was paved with a flat surface. It began to be used for staging semi-trailer trucks carrying mail to and from the neighboring Downtown St. Paul Central Post Office as well as USPS employee parking. A driveway ramp was sliced into the train deck at the intersection of Kellogg Boulevard and Broadway Street for USPS vehicles. In the early 2000's, the upper levels of the headhouse were converted into two-storey loft condominiums.
Turning to the north at West Division Street.
At Seventh Street, I entered my second stretch of new mileage of the day, the first being that wye we turned on after leaving the Midway station.
Milwaukee Road 261 steam trips have used the tracks on the right to climb Westminster Hill.
Our routing tooks us through the tunnel underneath the BNSF mainline to reach Minneapolis Jct and a highway.
The other track joined our route as we continued north and west.
Milepost 1.
At East Mississippi, we took the diverging route.
Our train continued to climb and turn.
At Soo Line Junction, we crossed under the former Soo Line.
We continued west down the former Northern Pacific freight route.
Our train met a BNSF freight with an former Santa Fe Warbonnet locomotive on the point.
We continued west down this double-tracked route.
The former Northern Pacific Como Shops, now Bandana Square.
Midway Stadium is home to the St. Paul Saints Minor League Baseball team.
Union Junction.
The downtown Minneapolis skyline could be seen at this point.
Park Junction.
We ended our rare mileage portion when we returned to the normal routing to Duluth. Now I could sit back and enjoy the rest of this excursion.
