STEAM TO DIESEL IN MINNEAPOLIS./ST. PAUL, MN

[NP Eddie]

ALL:

I THOUGHT I SHOULD RATTLE THE COBWEBS FROM MY FELLOW RAILAN/HISTORIANS.

WHICH RAILROAD(S)  FULLY DIESELIZED IN THE TWIN CITIES AREA?

I AM LOOKING FOR THOSE NAMES AND APPROXIMATE DATES.

HAVE FUN!!!

ED BURNS

HAPPILY RETIRED NP-BN-BNSF.  i GOT PAID TO WATCH TRAINS!

[rcdrye]

The only one I really have clear idea about is the Soo, which had its last regular steam runs in 1954/55, but ran a couple of excursions until 1959.  The WC lines in Wisconsin and Minnesota were the first to have steam servicing facilities shut down, not long after the arrival of the GP9s.

[aricat]

The last two roads to use steam power  in the Twin Cities were the NP and GN. I fairly certain that the GN  was the last to use steam road power. I did see steam working the Willmar and St Cloud lines in 1956. The GN had stored steam locomotives in Minneapolis as late as July of 1961. I had not seen any steam working through freights on the NP since 1952. Steam was still working local jobs in the mid 1950's around the Twin Cities doing switching and transfer cuts. The NP did use steam in local work on the mainline between Staples and Dilworth in the summer of 1956. I did see a NP steam powered road freight in Fargo that summer; that seemed a very rare occurance. Milwaukee Road used steam power on road freights in 1954 west of Minneapolis; by 1955 it was only diesels. By that time all other roads in the Twin Cities were diesel. There was also a steam switcher that worked around Lexington Avenue in St Paul along the GN passenger main between the two cities. I saw that working in the fall of 1961. Who owned and operated it I don't know.

[NP Eddie]

ALL:

 

I believe that the MN&S, Minnesota Transfer, CGW, MSTL, CNW, and RI dieselized quickly, with the MN&S and MTFR being the first.

By the time I was chasing trains, all roads in the TC area were dieselized.

Ed Burns

Happily Retired--I got paid to watch trains!

[wjstix]

MN&S was all diesel by April 1951, maybe by end of 1950. NP's last steam engine worked in Duluth into January 1958. I believe the last NP steam engine to work in the Twin Cities had been a year or two before that.

I guess a correct answer will depend on whether you're asking when did each railroad that served the Twin Cities go completely diesel, or if your asking when did each railroad fully dieselize their Twin City operations?? The Burlington was still using steam on some lines in Colorado in 1960-61, but I don't think had any Twin Cities steam in operation after 1958 or 1959 (maybe even earlier).

Koppers Coke Co. in the "Midway" area used steam switchers until 1964.

[jrbernier]

  IIRC, CGW was dieselized by 1950....

Jim