St Paul / Minneapolis Depots

[wjstix]

I do recall seeing a Minneapolis, Anoka, and Cuyuna Range boxcab sitting in the wye area east of SPUD. I think it was blue and white.

That engine - well, maybe the whole MA&CR?? - ended up being owned by Great Northern. I can't remember which video/DVD it's on but I know there's one I have taken in the sixties that shows the engine sitting on GN track in St.Paul. I think it was film taken from a moving train, either NP or GN.

Great to go by SPUD every day on my way home from work in St.Paul. There's a lot of work being done on it, new stairways down from the south end of the building to track level where Amtrak trains will be stopping again someday. The light rail tracks on the north side of the building are already in place and signs are going up at the stops, although service won't start until 2014 I believe.

[Desertdweller]

That does my heart good to read that! It has been many years since I last saw SPUD. I remember when the William Crooks was displayed in the station headhouse (now it is in the railroad museum in Dututh).

Denver Union Station is undergoing a similar transformation. It's interior had been restored some years ago. Only three station tracks, plus a light rail track remained.
Now all the station tracks have been taken out, and AMTRAK stops short of the big terminal.

The entire track and platform area between the station and the main lines along the South Platte River have been torn up. They are now in the process of being rebuilt.
AMTRAK will be using the station again, as will heavy commuter rail. Of course, I would like to see the Texas Zephyr restored, linking Denver with Dallas.

Les

[mtuandrew]

wjstix and Desertdweller, see the Metro Transit commuter rail thread in the General Passenger forum for more news about SPUD. Also, by the time the GN purchased the MA&CR (then property of FMC), there really wasn't much left - a mile and a half plus sidings, if that. I think the Soo Line connection had been severed by 1965, but I'd have to check Electric Railways of Minnesota to corroborate that.

[wjstix]

Also, Como Shops (now Bandanna Square?) is in NE, not NW, St. Paul.

Les

Actually, northwest would be more correct, just to nitpick a little. It's west-northwest of downtown St.Paul. It's in the "Midway" area, about halfway between downtown Minneapolis and downtown St.Paul, which are about 10 miles apart. It was built on the parallel GN-NP mainlines between the two downtowns.