Today's photo of the day - Stone Arch Bridge

[jmlowman]

It really caught my eye.  This is a photo of a GN passenger train crossing the Stone Arch Bridge into Minneapolis.

There is a beautiful oil paining like this in the lounge of the Marriott Renaissance Hotel in downtown Minneapolis.  The hotel is adjacent to, and connects with, the former Milwaukee Road Station, which has a lot of MILW memorabilia within.  The trainshed has been enclosed and serves as a banquet room in the summer and a skating rink in the winter.

While trains no longer use the Stone Arch Bridge, it serves the community as a pedestrian and bicycle patch across the Mississippi.

 

 

[selector]

Did you forget to paste in the link?  Note that you must link to photos elsewhere, or you may post them if they are attributable as your own or to another person who has copyrighted them and given his/her consent for their use by you and for this purpose.

Crandell

[jmlowman]

I was referring to the photo of the day, as it came to me in e-mail from Classic Trains.

I have photos of the bridge that I took when we were in Minneapolis last summer, but I can't see a way to attach or upload them to here.

 

[MJChittick]

Here's the link to the subject photo:

http://ctr.trains.com/Online%20Extras/Photo%20of%20the%20Day/2010/12/Empire%20Builder%20on%20the%20Stone%20Arch%20Bridge.aspx?page=0&type=&keywords=

 

[wjstix]

Technically both ends of the bridge are in Minneapolis.  It's true downtown Minneapolis is on the west bank of the Mississippi, and downtown St.Paul is on the east bank, but both cities actually have land on both sides of the river. It's maybe more accurate to think of St.Paul as being about 10 miles downstream of Minneapolis, rather than being 'across the river' as is commonly believed....

p.s. It's a shame a section of the bridge was removed in the 1960's to allow for a set of river locks that rarely gets used.

[selector]

jmlowman

I was referring to the photo of the day, as it came to me in e-mail from Classic Trains.

Oops, I see what you mean...sorry, maybe not enough sleep...or coffee.

The bridge is spectacular, but I am interested that they chose a Mountain class of engine.  Or, I can't seem to detect a second tailing axle.  I don't know if that was standard for the GN or if it was a fill-in that day.  No flying pumps?

Crandell

[wanswheel]

http://muse.museum.montana.edu/rvndb/rvnjpeg_img_rec.php?objno=RVN03337

http://digitum.washingtonhistory.org/u?/curtis,196

http://www.jordanart.com/memoriesofminneapolispopup.html

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth28632/m1/1/high_res/

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth28631/m1/1/high_res/

[wjstix]

selector

jmlowman:

I was referring to the photo of the day, as it came to me in e-mail from Classic Trains.

 

Oops, I see what you mean...sorry, maybe not enough sleep...or coffee.

The bridge is spectacular, but I am interested that they chose a Mountain class of engine.  Or, I can't seem to detect a second tailing axle.  I don't know if that was standard for the GN or if it was a fill-in that day.  No flying pumps?

Crandell

Assuming it was a posed picture, I don't see any problems with the engine. It appears to be 2517, a P-2 Mountain that was the normal power on the Builder c.1929. Besides 2517 was a famous engine, it bore the name "MARATHON" on it's tender, for it's well-publicized cross-country silk train run of a few years earlier. (It might be 2517 hauled the first Empire Builder when it was introduced in 1929, and in fact this could be a publicity picture from that first day??)

IIRC the Northerns you're thinking of came along in the early thirties, but I think Mountains worked the EB at least on occassion until after WW2. Remember on the eastern part of the railroad was fairly flat...l suspect the Northerns may have first been used on the western half of the GN to handle the mountain grades of Montana and Washington state.