St. Croix Valley March 2018

I was invited by the St. Croix Valley Railroad of Rush City, Minnesota to take a ride with them on their railroad on March 20, 2018.  It was a very overcast day with slight snow so the following pictures have been greatly lightened with PhotoShop.

The St. Croix Valley operates on 36 miles of track between Hinckley and North Branch with their office and shop in Rush City.  Today two crew members will take a train north from Rush City to Hinckley while I will ride a train to Harris and back.

The railroad's biggest power are their two SD40M-2s.  These were built as SD45s but have been modified, or rebuilt, as SD40-2s.  Numbered 1325 and 1326, we will take the 1325.  It was built in 1967 and rebuilt in 1978.  Originally with 20 cylinders it packed 3600 HP while now it has 16 cylinders producing 3000 HP.  It was built as Denver & Rio Grand (DRGW) 5335.  The 1326 was built as Southern Pacific (SP) 8840.

As we head south, the 1325 switches the mill (more about it later) before taking 13 cars to Hinckley to be picked up later by the BNSF.  The crew will cab back to Rush City.

We head out, crossing two city streets.

The signal maintainer is out working on the signals.

Just south of Rush city is a siding for the Interstate Energy Partners propane facility.

Along the right-of-way are lots of empty battery boxes and signal bases from Northern Pacific Railroad days.

Entering Harris.

Milepost 44 means this location is 44 miles from St. Paul.

Just south of Harris are two adjacent industries.  The first one is Tiller Corporation Industrial Sand Company.  Frac sand from Grantsburg, WI is loaded into rail cars here.  This is a small company and with only a trackmobile for moving cars, it takes one hour to load each car.  And they load unit trains without enough siding to hold an entire train so loading takes days.

Just south of the sand loading we find the 2 St. Croix Valley GEEPS awaiting work on another day.

The other industry served here is ZINPRO Corporation which makes animal food additives.  Today we will be dropping two tank cars of hydrochloric acid here.

We leave the GEEPS on the main where they will be plugged in to keep them from freezing in cold weather.

We pull into the sand plant where the trackmobile can grab the two empty sand cars off our north end so we can go back to Rush City.

Now this is the way to throw a derail, with a switchstand!

GEEPS are GP or General Purpose diesels which can be used for road service or switcher service.  The St. Croix Valley has two, a GP9 and a GP8.

Heading back north to Rush City, entering Harris.

We are traveling on the famed Skally Line.  This line was built as Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad in 1877.  It was bought by the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1900.  It operated from St. Paul to Duluth with branches to Minneapolis, Taylors Falls, Kettle River, Cloquet, Grantsburg, and Superior.

These hopper cars are used as buffer cars when transporting tank cars.

Bridges are always fun to cross.

And we are back in Rush City.  The depot is not the original depot but certainly fits the Northern Pacific Railroad decor.

In Rush City is the large Ardent Mills Flour Mill.  It specializes in Durum and Semolina pasta flours.  Wheat is brought in and ground into flour.  Loads in and loads out.

The railroad has built a large engine house for working on the locomotives and keeping them warm in the winter.  We will leave our engine inside.

The engine inside is undergoing usage testing by the St. Croix Valley for Independent Locomotive Services.

To wrap up this Blog, here is a picture from inside the office of Rush City in the early days.  You can just feel the history when you ride this neat railroad!

Thanks to the St. Croix Valley crew for a great day of railroading!