Hi Jerry:
Karl has explained why the Company isn't hot on the Builder going up the
river. We went back to Wisconsin for a funeral Easter weekend, and on the
way back, we had lunch at a place right on highway 35 in North
LaCrosse....talk about riverfront dining :>)
At least some of the Chicago-Twin Cities freight traffic is going through
Stevens Point, via Wisconsin Central & Soo Line (CPR). I discovered this on
the "tie-up" computer, because they have established mileage and pay codes
for Cicero to Point and Northtown to Point. So...if you see any orange
motors going through Waukesha, or Fond Du Lac, or points West, you'll know
why. BTW, for your amusement and edification, the WC was never really
"part" of the Soo. The Soo had a 99 year lease on the property, and
operated it as their Chicago (Schiller Park) connection.
Last week, I caught an "M" train (we'd call 'em locals) that had gotten as
far East as Aberdeen, S.D. and then got doubled back through Billings,
Sheridan and Gillette to go East again through Alliance. We are getting all
kinds of freight trains now, messing with our coal traffic, even the
occasional "Z" train :>) A classmate at BNU in St. Paul asked me one time
how I could run those coal trains, "they never stop" he said, I replied:
"why would you want to run a freight train, they never release" :>)
Besides, freights have a tendency to tie up the railroad reeely bad when
things go wrong.
Freights have air hoses that like to pop apart on rough crossings....and if
you get a drawbar on a freight car, it sometimes drags the whole draft gear
out with it. Then, since the drawbar isn't a type "F" that will stay
coupled to the other car, it falls in the middle of the track (and the car
runs over it) and you have to get the rip track or a local section truck out
there to pick it up (No Karl, I didn't DO it, but I SAW it done, and it fell
right on the crossover at 473.6). At least if you rip up a coal train, you
just pull the pin on the hanging drawbar, roll it off the track, and go set
out the car....it doesn't usually take near as much time.
Later,
Mike Decker, Edgemont, S.D.
----- Original Message -----
From: <BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com>
To: <BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2001 1:41 AM
> From: Geraldspc@a... [mailto:Geraldspc@a...]
> Subject: (no subject)
>
>
> To Whom It May Concern:
>
> why can't the "Empire Builder," be rerouted over it's ORIGINAL ROUTING,
> between Chicago and the Twin Cities?
>
> ANY information would be GREATLY appreciated.
>
> Thank You, Very KINDLY.
>
> Jerry
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