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YSP-H Coal to WC at New Brighton (CBTWS)
Waiting for the pushers to tie on with 2 additional cars.
Chris Bell, 8 years on UP. Drove truck for 20 years, then worked in pet food distribution warehouses prior to becoming a UP employee. This is NOT the same Chris that I worked on YSP29 with.
Our train at Plato Blvd., waiting for clearance to cross the CP at Robert St.
Still waiting.......Called at 12:01, finally moved at 15:10..
Rolling across Robert St. lift bridge into SPUD territory. View from south end of bridge.
North end of the bridge.
Looking eastward towards Division St. and Hoffman Av. Interlocking. We are turning north to head west on the BNSF Midway Sub.
Entering BNSF Track 2 and CTC territory at the absolute signal at East 7th St. The track to the far left is a BNSF lead to serve the Gillette plant just east of downtown St. Paul. All movements are now per signal indication until we get past Park Jct. on the MNNR.
Entering the Midway Sub. at West 7th St., our train curves to the west, rear end just clear of the bridge.
BNSF eastbound manifest pops out of the track 1 tunnel under Westminster. Track 2 is also in a tunnel over to our left.
Approaching Westminster. The eastward diverging track is the old Omaha to East St. Paul, Altoona, Adams, Butler and Proviso in that order.
West Westminster, looking east at the Omaha line towards East St. Paul.
BNSF track crews burning the rope at Dale St.
We get an Approach Restricting (yellow over lunar) at GN Jct., which is the west end of a connection between the St. Paul and Midway Subs. The BNSF Midway Intermodal Hub is to the left, and to its left is the Minnesota Commercial yard. Sometimes our trains get routed up the St. Paul Sub. and cross over to the Midway Sub. at this point. There are 3 signal blocks in the next 1/2 mile.
The choke point at St. Anthony, BNSF milepost 7. The straight track is the BNSF Midway Sub. mainline to Minneapolis Jct. and Northtown via Van Buren St., or out to Willmar via Harrison St. We are going to the far right, up the MNNR, which also can be used to access the new way into East Minneapolis. The track farthest to the left is the MNNR lead to Southeast Minneapolis, which is former CGW trackage. It is also known as the "hole" track. St. Anthony Tower used to sit where the silver signal boxes are now. We cross under 2 bridges here, the first being the U of M's dedicated busway, built about where an NP freight bypass used to be. The second bridge in the next photo is Minnesota 280
On the MNNR heading towards Park Jct. The track second from the left is the old way into East Minneapolis, which is the route most commonly used as opposed to the new way. The 3rd track from the right is the lead into the east end of BNSF's Union Yard, and the 4th over is the mainline (Midway Sub) which bypasses the yard completely until Minneapolis Jct., where it joins the west yard lead and the CNW from the west end of East Minneapolis. Way to the left you can see grain hoppers in the old CGW Southeast Minneapolis yard, all MNNR now. I did not get a photo at Park Jct. as I was busy on the radio contacting 3 MNNR crews working in the vicinity.
Milepost 1 on the MNNR; lots of steel business, the leftward diverging track is the Hennepin Industrial Lead.
We are stopped 8 car lengths short of Broadway Av. in northeast Minneapolis, and our pushers are clear of Doswell St. just north of Park Jct. We waited here for 2 hours until the WC/CN crew came on duty at New Brighton; this is the only spot on the MNNR we can fit without blocking any crossings. MNNR Job 88 is working just the other side of Broadway, while Job 83 is now working behind us. We have 117 cars, 3 lead units and 2 pushers. The pushers become the head end on WC, and the lead units (us) run light back to S. St. Paul. Darkness fell as we sat here, so no more photos were taken today. Our 44 mile round trip took 10.5 hours, par for the course.
