[?]

Steamarama on the Soo Line Part 1

When I first decided to come up here for this weekend, only the Dresser Turn would get me some new mileage. Since I would be coming up here to do that why not do the Glenwood Turn and just take a relaxing steam trip. As Dave Arthur would say, "Been here and done that!" The day came up fast and I was ready for this trip. I packed the night before and got my Northwest Airlines boarding pass.

I worked six periods at McFadden Intermediate and left school at the start of 7th Period. On Interstate 405 I had about three miles of bumper to bumper traffic before it opened up the rest of the way to LAX. I parked at Easy Park behind the Sheraton Hotel. The shuttle to the airport came within five minutes and dropped me off at Terminal 2. Security took less than five minutes and soon I was sitting in the Diner 66 LA Roundhouse for some Buffalo Chicken Wings and a Coca-Cola. I relaxed the entire two hours before my flight boarded. I bought a USA Today, the Friday Edition, which I read most of it before I boarded the plane at 5 PM.

For this flight I had Seat 12A on this A319 Aircraft. We left the Gate at 5:23 PM and took off at 5:31 PM. I did Sudoku Puzzles for most of the trip. The plane touched down at MSP at 10:24 PM CDT.

I made my way to the Alamo Car Rental Counter and five minutes later I was headed towards the Days Inn but not the direct way. Remember the short way is closed by the Interstate 35W Bridge Collapse back in August. I made my way to Minnesota Highway 100 which I took north to I 684. I was delayed by major road construction traffic before I made my way south down I 30 to the Days Inn Roseville. I checked into my room, called home before calling it a night.

9/08/2007 After a quick continental breakfast I drove west to Central Avenue and quickly found Shoreham Yard and my steam train waiting for today's ride. I parked before getting ready to take some pictures.

Since I was parked near the rear of our train I started there.

he Cedar Rapids was at the end of our train.

The Canadian Pacific 4-6-4 2816 on the point of our train for the trip to Glenwood and back today.

Two views of the front of our Excursion Train for the turn to Glenwood. The train consisted of Canadian Pacific 2816, Water car 35508, CP GP-38-2 3094, Tool Car CP 29114, Generator Car CP 96, Sleeper CP 110, HR Bowen PPCX 5534, Baggage NS 9107 {in CP colors}, Coaches Dominion CP 101, Ernest "Smokey" Smith, VC CP 102, St. Paul Pass 800798, Nokomis NS 203 and Kenora NS 202, Baggage NS X 2450, Minnesota River NRHS 31, Wisconsin Valley NRHS 3103 800757, Super Dome 800862 and the Cedar Rapids 800040.

It was now boarding time and I took a seat in my old and dear friend the Nokomis. I went to the concession car to buy the new 2816/261 T-shirt.

The Canadian Pacific 2816 whistled off at 8:30 AM and we headed west to the wye along the BNSF where we turned north leaving Shoreham yard heading to get access to the CP Rail mainline as the train slowly picked up a little speed. We curved to the west and entered the Canadian Pacific mainline at University Ave.

We crossed over the BNSF Northtown Yard on a long bridge.

The Canadian Pacific 2816 crossed the Mississippi River with a great view looking south towards downtown Minneapolis then our train crossed Interstate 94. We headed west through the northwest suburbs to Humboldt Yard.

Our train passed through Humboldt Yard. The Canadian Pacific 2816 crossed a lake that was linked by a bridge. At Crystal we crossed the former Great Northern{BNSF} line that used to go to St Cloud but now goes only to Monticello.

Next we reached the former Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern now operated by the Twin Cities and Western. The Canadian Pacific 2816 rolled through Plymouth and onto Hamel where we crossed over Minnesota Highway 55 that would follow our route into North Dakota. Loram Maintenance of Way, Inc has their large plant west of town. We have now left urban Minneapolis behind and headed out in the lands of farming and forests. The 2816 reached the town of Loreto with a 7,847 foot siding, the first since Humboldt Yard.

Lake Sarah was off to the south of the train while on Highway 55 the pacers were providing plenty of entertainment. The Canadian Pacific 2816 steamed through Rockford and crossed high over the Crow River and that was followed by traveling across the green rolling countryside. We rolled by the 9,200 foot siding at Dickinson.

The Canadian Pacific 2816 steamed through Buffalo with the Soo Line Station still standing. We ran west into Maple Lake. The Canadian Pacific 2816 steamed through Annadale and onto South Haven with its 8,477 foot siding. Our train came to a red signal and soon stopped for a grease stop of the CP 2816. We soon learned that ahead was a broken rail and later learned you could move it with your foot. They gave us an ETA of 1 PM to have the problem fix so there we sat.

The views out the window during our delay.

I look down the train as the train crew worked on the Canadian Pacific 2816. I bought the "Milwaukee Road Hiawatha" book by John Grubber and Brian Solomon and read about half of it during our delay this morning.

The train chasers had to cool their wheels during our delay as well. The Canadian Pacific 2816 left South Haven at 1:18 PM and the engine provided great engine sounds as it took off.

The train crossed high over Willow Creek before we slowed to go across the fixed broken rail.

The CP Rail Track Crew fixed the broken rail.

The Canadian Pacific 2816 put on quite a show as it accelerated out of the slow order before the Canadian Pacific 2816 whistled through the town of Kimball with the Kimball Rail Car Repair facility west of town. Highway 55 crossed over to the south side of the tracks. The Canadian Pacific 2816 steamed through Wakens and later Eden Valley. A beautiful lake was off to the north and many more would be seen along our route today. Remember Minnesota has 10,000 lakes! At Paynesville in the 7,651 foot siding where a CP Rail train was waiting for the Canadian Pacific 2816 to head west. Highway 55 crossed over to the north side and under the bridge is where a former Great Northern line once crossed our route before we proceeded to Regal. The Canadian Pacific 2816 crossed the North Fork of the Crow River. Highway 55 crossed back to the south side of the tracks as the Canadian Pacific 2816 steamed through Belgrade and onto Brooten. The train rolled through Sedan that was named for a city in France where a battle was fought on September 1st, 1870 that led to the establishment of France as a republic. From there the 2816 rolled the remaining miles into Glenwood.

We arrived into Glenwood at 3:04 PM. Here we could detrain but the engine was cut off and headed to the turntable. I visited the station's Coke Machine just before the rains began. I continued reading the book as we waited for our engine to pull our train backwards to Shoreham Yard. An eastbound CP Freight departed Glenwood before the Canadian Pacific 2816 returned to the point of our train.

We departed Glenwood at 5:10 PM. Our train ran to Paynesville where we found that freight with 42 placard tank cars in the consist waiting for a westbound freight.

The view at Paynesville before things started to happen.

The westbound freight CP 9706 W came down the siding before we pulled up.

The eastbound freight then backed into the siding before it cleared the switch at the east end of Paynesville. Once we had cleared the westbound left for Glenwood.

We then passed the CP 8776 East as we headed east. It got dark long before Dickenson Siding where we pulled into the siding to let the westbound CP freight continue onwards. We backed onto mainline and continued east. Later at the west end of Humboldt Yard we waited for another CP freight before we backed out again to continue east. We crossed the Mississippi River and over the BNSF mainline before we arrived back at Shoreham at 10 PM.

One last picture of the Canadian Pacific 2816 tonight before I returned to the Days Inn for the night.