Midweek Photos 4/2/2014

 

 

Driving hundreds of miles in heavy snow actually IS my idea of fun, and that's a good thing considering where I live.  It's still snowing here--supposed to get another half foot tomorrow.  

 

I still haven't had quite enough of the BNSF Appleton Sub, so I headed back up there again.  This time I stayed on the South Dakota stretch, between the SD/MN border and Aberdeen SD.  This is the old MILW Highline, at one time a mainline but now an under used branch line.  I've been finding there's enough traffic on it to keep me interested though.  (Unlike the DME/CP tracks to the south.)  There are some interesting points along the tracks I'll zero in on today.

 

1. The border area around Big Stone City & Millbank SD has several quarries.  Here, they blast out big chunks of Dakota mahogany granite.  Big (and need I say heavy?) blocks are trucked to a siding on the tracks, where they are lifted by Cranky the Crane onto waiting gondolas.

 

2. I chased a w/b grain train (empty) from Milbank, up the five mile long hill, and caught it a few miles west of Summit, SD.  At full resolution you can see the dpu at the end of this train in this shot.  It's over two miles away!  This is one of the few signaled tracks in South Dakota.

 

3. In 1903, a very fancy resort hotel was built in the tiny outpost of Andover, SD.  The idea was rich people from the Twin Cities could jump on the newly built CM&St.P Railroad and ride out to the hotel for a relaxing week or whatever.  The Waldorf was reported to be the most exclusive hotel on the prairies.  All of the barons from Twin Cities and from even further would come to lounge about and watch the deer and the antelope play on the unbroken prairie.  It was a favorite haunt of Teddy Roosevelt.  Here's a photo from a post card mailed from the hotel on Feb. 17, 1920.

 

The same railroad that brought the wealthy tourists also brought hoards of poor farmers.  They broke the sod, shot the critters, a highway (The Yellowstone Trail) was built along the tracks, and the Waldorf slowly lost its appeal.  It closed in 1974 and Andover became another prairie semi-ghost town.  The hotel is still standing, but barely.  The south wall has collapsed and the north wall is buckling under the strain.  Better get the shots while you can.

 

4. The grain train meets an e/b manifest powered by a couple of SD-45 at Andover, SD.  The Bagley elevator dates to WW1 and is now abandoned.  South Dakota Wheat Growers Assn. built a huge new complex a few miles east.  Most of these small elevators are either abandoned or were purchased by a local farmer to store their grain in, if they farm nearby.

 

5.  The grain train continues on past the Waldorf.  The image symbolizes to me the railroad's past mainline glory and its present branchline status.  The Waldorf, CM&St.P, and Andover are all rapidly fading from memory.

 

6. I waited until dark and set up some flash, wanting to get a shot here while I still could.  At 8:30 PM it got dark and the signal indicated a w/b was coming.  I waited until 11:30 PM; still no train!  As I began collecting my stuff, the signal suddenly turned red--an e/b was in the block!  Ain't that the way it goes--wait for hours, see nothing, start to pull out and here one comes!    I set my camera back up, refocused, did a flash check, and waited while the conductor threw a switch.  Train finally came and I took the shot.   Also grabbed the dpu--I call those a "bonus" shot, a twofer.  I might go back up there this weekend and shoot it again.  Should be snow on the ground.  Doubtful the Waldorf will still be standing when the snow begins falling later on this year.  Catch it while you can.  The crew told the dispatcher the signal light seemed to be defective as it didn't turn off when they went through.  So, I had waited three hours thinking a train was coming at any time, when really it was going to be a three hour wait.  I didn't get home until 3:15 AM.  Railfanning in the dark is much the same as railfanning in the daytime.  

 

 

Kent in SD

It's been a while since wife and I have had time to rail fan. So today, we let projects

go and took a trip up to Sand Patch. Just west of the summit, there is a road bridge

across the CSX row which makes it easy to make photos.

The fun began as soon as we arrived, and stayed busy for the hour and a half we

were there.

 

Great photos, Ed and Kent. I hope to get some fresh material tomorrow to post on Wednesday. Talk with you then.