Boylston Trip

On Saturday, October 9th, 2010, Joe Lewis and I took a train ride from Minneapolis to Boylston (near Superior) and back.  We rode in the 261 group's Great Dome car--our favorite.  The trip was advertised as a fund-raiser for overhauling their steam engine #261.

We will be pulled by an Amtrak diesel.  Note the 'Hiawatha' decal that has been applied for this trip.  Hiawatha was the name given to the fast Milwaukee Road passenger trains.

As we walked to our rail car, we were invited to tour the engine house where 261 was being overhauled.

Looking at the backhead in the cab of this iron horse:





And into the firebox:

And into the smokebox at the front of the engine:

On the lower level we can look at the running gear and underneath the beast:

Here is the car we're riding in--the dome car, taken by a railfan.  We had full access to the observation car Cedar Rapids but we can see better from the Dome car.

Looking backwards in the dome.  An attendant told me he thought they had about 350 people on this train and the Sunday train from Minneapolis to LaCrescent would have roughly 450 people.

                           
We pass through Northtown Yard.  The track we are on right now is used by the new Northstar commuter line from Minneapolis to Big Lake.


At Coon Creek we will split off onto the Hinckley sub.  This track was used by Amtrak back in the 1980s for passenger service but the service was dropped because of lack of ridership.  So, this is 'rare' trackage for riding although the 261 did run here last year also.  But last year the temperature was 29 degrees compared to today's 80 degrees and sunshine!!!!

The railroad gave us priority and made the freight trains take a siding and wait for us.

At Hinckley, a side track goes to Pine City, Rush City, and North Branch.  This was the old 'Skally Line' and is now used by the St. Croix Valley Railroad.  I was fortunate to be able to run my speeder on this line twice in past years.

At this point the blog is not allowing me to enter pictures correctly.  The following pix are described below.

 

There weren't many people watching our train in the Cities, but up the line, especially past Cambridge, there were lots of people watching this unusual passenger car run.  It must have been written up in some newspapers so people were aware of it:

This is what the bridge looks like:



The manager of the Premium Class cars was old friend John Strand of Chippewa Falls.  John used to belong to our Barron County Model Railroad Club and enjoys volunteering with the 261 group.



It is lunch time and Yours Truly and Joe Lewis are about to indulge:



Near Boylston we cross the Nemadji River:







Here is what the Nemadji Bridge looks like:



Our train turns on a 'wye' at Boylston, a little south of Superior.  There is no good place to turn a train in Superior or Duluth and it would take too much time to complete that trip in daylight--but it sure would have been fun!!  We are on the west leg of the wye.  We will back up on the track to the left, and then head back south on the track at the top of the picture:



Crossing the Nemadji River again:





We stopped at Askov.  A coach car had been dedicated to residents of this community and we stopped and picked them up on the way north and now let them off.  The 3 coaches in this picture were used last week in filming a new movie "Abduction."



Here we cross the Kettle River again:



Just north of the Twin Cities we pass the Bethel Independent Locomotive Services which overhauls and leases diesels:



We come back through the Northtown Yard with the Twin Cities in the distance:



Another GREAT Trip in a Dome Car.  Great weather, Great friends, Great memories . . .

Thanks for riding along!!

Amery Bike Trail

There is a new bicycle trail just 30 miles from Barron called the Harvey Stower Trail.  It just opened in August of this year.  It has a crushed limestone surface and runs 14 miles from Amery to Dresser.  There was quite a controversy over whether this trail should be a biking/hiking trail or an ATV All-Purpose Trail and there were several heated meetings over this.

http://www.co.polk.wi.us/parks/StowerSevenLakesTrail.asp
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With temperatures forecast for the 70s, bright sunshine, and NO WIND, it was the perfect day to ride this trail.  This trail is on abandoned Soo Line trackage that was the mainline from the Twin Cities to Sault St. Marie, Michigan and ran through Barron also.  The Soo Line began in Barron County and this was part of its original trackage.  I have ridden the train from Almena to Barron to Ladysmith to Prentice and also from the Twin Cities (Shoreham) to Dresser.  With today's bike ride I would only need to do the Almena to Amery part to say I have experienced the line from the Twin Cities to Prentice.  The Almena to Amery part is an ATV Trail so now I need to find a 4-wheeler and ride that part.

The trail starts in Amery:

It was 10 AM with temperature about 50 degrees but it quickly warmed up and I shed my jacket.  Like most trails, the vegetation has really encroached on the paths, creating a tunnel effect.

There aren't any towns between Amery and Dresser but there are 3 little 'settlements.'  First is Deronda:
 

Here is Wanderoos.

In Wanderoos there is an abandoned building which looks like it might have been a lumber yard and served by the railroad:

Enjoy some scenery trackside:

Maybe I should have gone fishing on such a nice day--Nah--this is fun and one more thing checked off the 'bucket list.'

This is 'Nye' where there was a siding (I think) and there are some buildings behind the trees:

The roadbed now is probably better than when the tracks were pulled out.

For now, the trail ends about 1 mile east of Dresser.  There are active tracks extending west of Dresser.  I'm sure the plan is somehow to connect this trail with the Gandy Dancer Trail which runs from St. Croix Falls to Danbury but the tracks are in from Dresser to St. Croix Falls as it serves the Dresser Trap Rock facility.

Amery is known as the 'City Of Lakes' and as I pedal back into Amery, the roadbed passes between North Twin and South Twin Lakes.

I only met 2 pairs of other bike riders but that's probably expected late in the year on a week day.  I'm sure it will get a lot more use in the summer.

A Great Day--A Great Ride--Too Bad Cold Temps and Winter Are Around The Corner!!!

Mondovi Line

On Wednesday, September 23, three friends and I rode ATVs on "The Mondovi Line."  This is an all-terrain trail on a railroad grade and on a sand base.  Some of it has crushed limestone on it and could be ridden with a bicycle but most of it is only suitable for ATV and horseback riding.

This is the line I wrote a book about in 2008 called "The Mondovi Line."  I tried to ride my bicycle on it but it was too sandy.  This would be the first time I would see many parts of the line.

Left to right are friends Dan Morris, Terry Kirkman, and Jim Malecki:

The foundation for the Eleva depot can still be found in the grass along the trail:

We set on at Eleva and headed east to Fairchild.  The plan was to go to Fairchild and back and then to Mondovi and back.  First thing we cross the Buffalo (or Beef) River at the edge of Eleva.

Much of the trail is now overgrown with foliage, creating a neat canopy:

We quickly enter farming area:

Terry was the "engineer" on this train and he saw the most wildlife--a couple of pheasants and about a dozen wild turkeys.  Yours truly, being the caboose, only saw this ringneck as he didn't want to get out of the way and kept running down the "track."

Here we enter Strum.  The stockyard, pickle salting station, and lumber yard were on the right hand side:

The Strum depot was located in the treeline on the left of the trail:

Between Strum and Osseo is essentially a sand prairie, best suited for growing sandburs and pine trees:

We cross Tracy Valley Road.  The train crossed on a trestle here that only had 7' 9" clearance.  The trail has been drastically lowered:

We again cross the Buffalo (Beef) River on a trestle as we come to Osseo.

We enter Osseo.  The lumber yard, elevators, and depot were located on the right.  The smokestack is from the condensary.

The condensary building still stands.

Between Osseo and Fairchild we parallel US Highway 10.

Terry spotted this neat concrete sign.  It looks like it would be a railroad whistle post but it is parallel to the track.  Any ideas??

The village of Price is hardly recognizable any more.  If you have the book, compare this to the photo from the 1910s.  The pickle salting station was on the left, the train station between the track and highway (Old Highway 10) and the village buildings where the house is.  Only the Church remains (hidden by trees).

We found an Amish man picking his apples with a mobile ladder:

This is the dreaded "Price Cut."  It doesn't seem very deep but before there were trees, this cut would fill with drifted snow.  In 1917, three steam engines were caught in this cut and had to be shoveled out by hand--by people who walked from Mondovi so they could get the trains moving and their goods in.

The colors hadn't started changing much but this is one day the four of us all could "get off from work" on the same day.  It was overcast in the morning but it had rained the day before and with the heavy humidity and fog cover, there was no dust until late afternoon. 

We enter Fairchild.  The mainline was Omaha, then Chicago Northwestern, and now Union Pacific trackage.  The 2 depots sat on both sides of the mainline.

N.C. Foster built the Mondovi Line as one of 3 separate spurs radiating from Fairchild.  Another one went to Greenwood, shown in the center of the picture.   It looks like this is also an ATV Trail--which none of us knew about.  Looks like another ATV ride some day . . .

We went back to Eleva and then headed to Mondovi.  Here is where all the industries and depot were located in Mondovi.

I attended Eleva-Strum Central High School which is just across the river from the railroad.  I remember occasionally seeing the train during noon hour or football practice.  I always had thought how fun it would be to ride that train and see exactly where it went.  Now, 47 years later, I got the chance to do that.  Although it wasn't steel wheels on steel rail, rubber tires on a trail was a great way to see it.  Thanks MUCH to Dan, Terry, and Jim for a great day.  Another check-off on the "bucket list."

The End!