A little while back CPKC actually started running mainline trains out of Humboldt yard, the major one I heard about was CPKC 250 (Saint Paul to superior)although recently they switched it back to starting at riverfront yard rather than Humboldt.
Which ones? The 250/251 ran out of Humboldt for years, but in the last few months, it reverted back to Saint Paul Yard. By Riverfront Yard, do you mean Saint Paul Yard?
When I was a kid growing up in late 60’s Crystal (MN) and started to explore the North Minneapolis Soo Line on my trusty Schwinn Sting Ray, I spent a fair amount of time on the Brooklyn Boulevard bridge over the yard throat at Humboldt Yard, watching real flat-yard switching with real red round-roofed EMD SW’s. It was sort of the tap-root of all the Soo Line branches I discovered, many of which I still visit when I wax nostalgic. The overwhelming feature of the yard is, of course, the great behemoth elevator parked on the yard’s northern flank. In my youth it was still a going business and there were sticks of hoppers being changed out all day. After I found Shoreham, just a few miles away, Humboldt was put in a different light. Besides the switching action though, there were some daily events there that were worth the 5-mile ride from home. Humboldt was one of two places where helpers were tacked onto trains headed up storied Shoreham Hill. In those days a set of four GP9s would do the pushing starting at the east end of Humboldt. From the bridge it looked like an enormous cloud of blue smoke that a destroyer would lay down to cover a retreat in a losing naval battle and it was indicative of lube oil being pushed past worn rings and cylinder linings in the 567 engines. The other event is something that seemingly surprises some railfans and that is the parade of westbounds launched onto the Paynesville sub from Humboldt in the afternoon hours. At the end of the morning switching, the outbound cars headed east were towed to Shoreham while trains headed west were piled up on those three leads that still meet on the bridge over highway 100. On a busy day, four or five trains would head out from Humboldt and then the place to be was at the top of the grade in New Hope where the deafening sound of overloaded SD40s and GP30s caromed off concrete warehouses. Soo Line did not use the 1hp/ton ratio that would buy a higher priority Chicago-bound train 40 or 45 mph. No, on these mostly empty moves a 0.8 ratio, good for 10-30mph over the hill-and-dale Paynesville sub, was the norm. The period at the end of the daily movement list was the MN&S drag to Shoreham at about 5 p.m. M-F. CP did their utmost to erase Soo Line signage on bridges when they asserted their control but they missed one thing at Humboldt. You have to look real hard to see them but there are still faint shadows of the gigantic Soo Line dollar-sign logo on the side of the elevator facing the yard. You will find an excellent photo of the sign on the elevator in the Minnesota Historical Society’s website.
@@douglasskaalrud6865 man didn’t know area around Humboldt was that busy back in the soo line days as a fan of the soo line railroad I didn’t think Humboldt was much of a terminal, especially given its size, but I guess soo line made use what they had.
If I Remember Correctly the TC&W Camden Turns would use the MN&S line from Saint Louis Park to Humboldt They would Split off at Milwaukee Junction and join the Ex-Soo line to MNS Junction.
The 'Monti run' delivers most (if not all) of the cars seen to Rogers where they commonly pick up empties. A new customer on the line in Albertville is a cement making plant. That's the normal extent of activity on that line. Trains into Monticello are a rare occurrence as the Nuclear Power Plant is the only customer and the tracks dead end in the plant.
@ 1:20... is that a *YELLOW* over a *FLASHING RED* ... never seen a signal with that aspect before... what's the indication? also @ 6:15... the buildings in the upper right hand... isn't that where BFI used to be???... i remember seeing a pic of that in a book (soo line/cp rail in the twin cities)... the book said cp removed the switch after BFI stopped paying their railroad tab
I don't recall the technical term, but perhaps its a diverging approach? They were lined into the station over in Mpls, and had to take a switch off the main from there. The industry at 6:15 is Republic Services Minneapolis Recycling Center; I don't know anything about BFI not paying their bill. I DO know that switching that location by rail was NOT a fun or easy task. Thanks for watching!
Its not viable with the tonnage, and method in which they would have to access it. Even with the new connection in Saint Louis Park, the track on the MN&S is restricted to 10mph. They would have to pull south onto the former MN&S, then reverse directions to head to Humboldt. Long story short, too many additional switch moves, and time needed, to make it work. Thanks for watching!
Sorta; there was a 30 min wait between the two; they could have routed some trains past me in that time frame if they really wanted to move them. Thank you for the comment, and watching!
Glad you enjoyed the video! Even when the TC&W was running to Saint Paul Yard, they rarely used Shortline Hill unless they delivered to the Minnesota Commercial. It'll be used from time to time still by the TCWR. CPKC and Amtrak still use that route daily as well.
ahh yes maroon and gold just makes me miss the wc even more haha
Facts there, and how the TCWR uses geeps for everything. Its a nice break from all of the modern power running around out there.
That zoom-out shot with the Harrison St sign is absolutely fantastic. Great vid.
I enjoyed making that shot happen; It works so well for that location. Thanks for watching!
Great production
Thank you for the kind words!
Impressive video! I enjoy that video! 🔥❤️👍
Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for the nice comment!
Great video Douglas! I really like the drone shots, you can see so much more than on ground shots.
Glad you enjoyed it, and the drone adds in so MUCH. Thanks for watching!
I’m not sure where you get all your info but you are nailing it 😀
Its all about who you know! :p Thanks for the comment, and watching.
I enjoy seeing your videos, they are so well done and informative. Thanks for sharing them.
Glad you enjoy watching them! I appreciate the kind words.
Very nice job great video lots of detail. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for watching, and glad you liked all of the information in it!
Nice video Douglas!
Glad you enjoyed it, and thank you!
I saw the 4 warbonnets in your video mr Douglas
We've gotten a lot more Warbonnets in the area in the last year. Where are they in this video though?
Another cool video and we enjoyed watching once again. Have a wonderful rest of your day. Steve
Glad you enjoyed the video, and thanks for the kind comment!
@@SD457500 you're very welcome.
Cool.
Thanks for watching!
A little while back CPKC actually started running mainline trains out of Humboldt yard, the major one I heard about was CPKC 250 (Saint Paul to superior)although recently they switched it back to starting at riverfront yard rather than Humboldt.
Which ones? The 250/251 ran out of Humboldt for years, but in the last few months, it reverted back to Saint Paul Yard. By Riverfront Yard, do you mean Saint Paul Yard?
Yeah, Saint Paul yard somebody gave me misinformation and told me that it was called riverfront yard
When I was a kid growing up in late 60’s Crystal (MN) and started to explore the North Minneapolis Soo Line on my trusty Schwinn Sting Ray, I spent a fair amount of time on the Brooklyn Boulevard bridge over the yard throat at Humboldt Yard, watching real flat-yard switching with real red round-roofed EMD SW’s. It was sort of the tap-root of all the Soo Line branches I discovered, many of which I still visit when I wax nostalgic. The overwhelming feature of the yard is, of course, the great behemoth elevator parked on the yard’s northern flank. In my youth it was still a going business and there were sticks of hoppers being changed out all day. After I found Shoreham, just a few miles away, Humboldt was put in a different light. Besides the switching action though, there were some daily events there that were worth the 5-mile ride from home. Humboldt was one of two places where helpers were tacked onto trains headed up storied Shoreham Hill. In those days a set of four GP9s would do the pushing starting at the east end of Humboldt. From the bridge it looked like an enormous cloud of blue smoke that a destroyer would lay down to cover a retreat in a losing naval battle and it was indicative of lube oil being pushed past worn rings and cylinder linings in the 567 engines. The other event is something that seemingly surprises some railfans and that is the parade of westbounds launched onto the Paynesville sub from Humboldt in the afternoon hours. At the end of the morning switching, the outbound cars headed east were towed to Shoreham while trains headed west were piled up on those three leads that still meet on the bridge over highway 100. On a busy day, four or five trains would head out from Humboldt and then the place to be was at the top of the grade in New Hope where the deafening sound of overloaded SD40s and GP30s caromed off concrete warehouses. Soo Line did not use the 1hp/ton ratio that would buy a higher priority Chicago-bound train 40 or 45 mph. No, on these mostly empty moves a 0.8 ratio, good for 10-30mph over the hill-and-dale Paynesville sub, was the norm. The period at the end of the daily movement list was the MN&S drag to Shoreham at about 5 p.m. M-F. CP did their utmost to erase Soo Line signage on bridges when they asserted their control but they missed one thing at Humboldt. You have to look real hard to see them but there are still faint shadows of the gigantic Soo Line dollar-sign logo on the side of the elevator facing the yard. You will find an excellent photo of the sign on the elevator in the Minnesota Historical Society’s website.
@@douglasskaalrud6865 man didn’t know area around Humboldt was that busy back in the soo line days as a fan of the soo line railroad I didn’t think Humboldt was much of a terminal, especially given its size, but I guess soo line made use what they had.
Yes, don't want the old Milw line thru St Paul to go dormant, even if Amtrak still runs on it.
In addition to Amtrak using it, CPKC still uses it daily for J15. It will be around for a long while yet!
very nice
Glad you enjoyed it; thanks for watching!
@@SD457500 no problem!
i dont care for the E bell on those eco units
You and me both, but I get how its easier work with from a maintenance perspective. Thanks for watching!
You always have the best views and shots, thanks! What are the chances of getting captions? I usually can't hear the narration.
Thank you so very much for the kind words! I am working to try and get closed captions to work on the videos. Hopefully soon!
If I Remember Correctly the TC&W Camden Turns would use the MN&S line from Saint Louis Park to Humboldt They would Split off at Milwaukee Junction and join the Ex-Soo line to MNS Junction.
The 'Monti run' delivers most (if not all) of the cars seen to Rogers where they commonly pick up empties. A new customer on the line in Albertville is a cement making plant. That's the normal extent of activity on that line. Trains into Monticello are a rare occurrence as the Nuclear Power Plant is the only customer and the tracks dead end in the plant.
The new customer in Albertville brings A LOT of traffic in for that line. I haven't seen any moves to the nuke plant since 2012. Thanks for watching!
and the train drivers are been watched by a camera inside the engine
Yes, some locomotives have inward facing cameras. Not all of them have that though. Thanks for watching!
@ 1:20... is that a *YELLOW* over a *FLASHING RED* ... never seen a signal with that aspect before... what's the indication?
also @ 6:15... the buildings in the upper right hand... isn't that where BFI used to be???... i remember seeing a pic of that in a book (soo line/cp rail in the twin cities)... the book said cp removed the switch after BFI stopped paying their railroad tab
I don't recall the technical term, but perhaps its a diverging approach? They were lined into the station over in Mpls, and had to take a switch off the main from there. The industry at 6:15 is Republic Services Minneapolis Recycling Center; I don't know anything about BFI not paying their bill. I DO know that switching that location by rail was NOT a fun or easy task. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for another great video, just wondering why there not just going up the old MN&S to MN&S juct. and Humboldt yard . Just seams more direct ??
Its not viable with the tonnage, and method in which they would have to access it. Even with the new connection in Saint Louis Park, the track on the MN&S is restricted to 10mph. They would have to pull south onto the former MN&S, then reverse directions to head to Humboldt. Long story short, too many additional switch moves, and time needed, to make it work. Thanks for watching!
"Burned by NorthStar?" Passenger trains are supposed to get priority, eh? They should, anyway.
Sorta; there was a 30 min wait between the two; they could have routed some trains past me in that time frame if they really wanted to move them. Thank you for the comment, and watching!
Another Great video. Just wonder if TCW skip st paul yard,what will be left using the old Milwaukee line on the hill out of st paul to MC midway yard?
Short Line?
@@1208bug yes I believe so
Amtrak, Minnesota Commercial transfers. They could do detour trains, but bridge clearances are an issue.I can't think of anything else offhand.
Glad you enjoyed the video! Even when the TC&W was running to Saint Paul Yard, they rarely used Shortline Hill unless they delivered to the Minnesota Commercial. It'll be used from time to time still by the TCWR. CPKC and Amtrak still use that route daily as well.
@@SD457500 thank you