The Midland Continental Railroad

[MICO1964]

All: I have a limited supply, 25 sets, of HO scale Midland Continental PS-2CD covered hopper decals from Rail Graphics that I had made up as a special order. My situation has changed and I would like to let them go. $10.00 for a set with $1.00 for postage, etc. Multiple sets will lower postage of course. Contact me at [e-mail]

[NPin53]

Pullman green was the defacto standard for passenger cars until the late 40's.  It was used because it showed dirt and grime less than other colors.  That is also why UPS trucks are painted the same color.  If and when I model my RS-1 and combine, they will be weathered Pullman Green.

Thanks for the relply.

[MICO1964]

From what I remember from my source; the combine was , here we go again, Brunswick Green. I say that because how many shades of B-G do we know about? LOL. Anyway dark B-G was the color (I still am leaning towards Pullman Green here and am investigating), still looking for the lettering but either yellow or white would seem correct. BUT remember the yellow bleaches/fades out to white!

[dakotafred]

I love this thread -- three pages on a railroad that was, in miles, only a little bit longer!

(I enjoy following the roadbed occasionally on U.S. 281 on my visits to Iowa.)

[NPin53]

Would the combine, that was used as a caboose, have been a similar green?

[MICO1964]

Update to the paint on the RS-1s. I made an error here, the color is olive drab like the Army but a bit lighter. The lettering was the same, yellow. The caboose was pullman green. 

[MICO1964]

If you are interested go to Yahoo! Groups and look for Mindland Continental Railroad. I have more but start there.

[Anonymous]

I'm sure I am not alone with the desire to increase my knowledge of the MICO!  We need to form a MICO Historical Society which will also be in a position to release a book in the future as well.  I don't mean one such as the Images of America series but a comprehensive volume published by a university press.  MICO1964:  I believe I can speak for all parties with an interest in MICO that we appreciate any additional information you can provide.  Thank you!

[MICO1964]

Midland Continental RS-1s were painted a Pullman Green with yellow lettering. These were two of the colors that ALCO painted their products for 'free" from the plant. I say a Pulllman Green as it was just a bit lighter than the darker version. However with the harsh conditions of the dakota prarie, the green may have lightened up and the lettering for sure went to a faded out "white". The caboose, #701, was in pullman Green as well. I do have more information on the MICO if anyone is interested.  

 

 

[1oldgoat]

There has been  lot of discussion about the MC's Alco RS-1s. Paging through the Second Diesel Spotter's Guide, I ran across a mention of the MC having a centercab diesel constructed by Westinghouse in the 1934. (pg. MISC-413). There is photo of an engine identical the the MC unit. MC fans probably know about this, but I've learned not to assume that folks know something (or not).

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the tip npsixtynine.  I'll follow up on it.  A pity the MC didn't get built from Winnipeg to Galveston.  The Rock came close, but no cigar, with it's Twin Cities-Houston route, but the MC would have been a great railroad to move all that Canadian and American grain to export markets over one line indeed!

[npsixtynine]

There is a color photo or Midland Continental #237 in the February, 1994 Railmodel Journal. It was a PS 4427 low side 3 bay.

I don't recall offhand what color I used for my model but it was kind of between BN green & Northern Pacific dark green. Neat billboard type road name.

[Anonymous]

100,000 apologies.  I got derailed off the CT blogs due to an health issue at home.  Nothing life threatening but my wife took a bad fall a while back and I was playing RN.  All I needed to play the part professionally would have been a Northern Pacific "Sue" uniform to wear....NO, I am NOT a Cross Dresser!

I did play around on the Trains blogs, mostly Fred Frailey. but too many know-it-all dudes make it frustrating to the point I have lost interest.  You CT Guys are Great!  Any Gals here?  Most welcome I'm sure!

Any place where color pix of the MICO green PS covered hoppers can be found?  Item: If I were into model railroading and was going to model the MC it would be "protolanced" 1:64 S scale with BN Cascade Green painted diesel power.  Though I started to miss the rainbow of pre-merger colors on the motive power at the time, early BN was dramatic in it's own way, for a modern post-1970s merged railroad.  Young and dynamic if you will.

Feel free to Tar & Feather me if you must but please don't make me eat crow!

[npsixtynine]

I just ran across this thread while looking for Midland Continental info.

I, too, grew up next to the MC tracks on 10th. Ave., only during the 50s & 60s.

I've modeled one of the RS1s and one of their short lived green three bay PS covered hoppers they leased for a short time. Neat car with big "Midland Continental" lettering across the sides. Had to piece some alphabet decals to get that to work.

Remember climbing on an NP Alco S-2 sitting by the MC roundhouse in the late 60s to get some overheaed shots for modeling. IF only I would have shot photos of the MC house, yard, equipment, etc., etc.

Larry B

[MCFan]

dakotafred

MCFan: You lived "across 3rd street" -- where? Jamestown?

 

I grew up in Jamestown directly across the street from that big elevator on 3rd Street Southeast which was east of the MC engine house.  I have lots of memories about the railroad.  The engine house was demolished after the fire but the sandpile that they used to fill the engine sandboxes remained.  We played on that sandpile for hours at a time.  The railroad was a good neighbor, usually they were out on a run and things were quiet.  Even when the engines returned, they would slow down once they were inside the city limits and since they were diesel electrics you wouldn't even notice them.

[dakotafred]

MCFan: You lived "across 3rd street" -- where? Jamestown?

[MCFan]

I'm glad that I ran across this web site.  I grew up with the MC tracks running alongside my yard.  I lived across 3rd street from the old red brick engine house which caught fire in the early 70's and was later demolished.  I thought of the MC as "My Railroad" while growing up.  The two locomotives that they had when NP purchased them were plain dark gray.  I think they got washed when it rained and that was it.  One of them had a cracked gearbox that was made of cast iron and in those days could not be welded so it was seldom used, but when it was used they took along a few gallons of 80 - 90 gear lube so they could keep it topped off.  One subscriber spoke of the where the tracks ran south of Jamestown.  After the tracks left Jamestown they crossed the James river on a timber bridge near the ND State Hospital.  The tracks and bridge still exist.  The MC delivered coal to the hospital for its steam heating, it also delivered coal to the old Otterttail power station to create steam for its steam turbine generating unit.  Ottertail demolished the generating unit years ago.  They had a beautiful depot in Jamestown just below the NP depot which was located on top of the underpass where 4th Avenue currently runs under the tracks.  The wye that is mentioned southeast of town connected to the NP tracks where they would exchange cars.  25 years ago ago I ran across a thesis that a UND student wrote for his Masters Degree.  It included photos of the railroad that brought back lots of memories.  Unfortuately I have never been able to find it again.  Thanks for sharing your memories.  My Godfather was a trackman for The MC until about 1967.  If you have questions let me know, I might just have an answer.

[ACY Tom]

Very interesting that Midland Continental was owned by Seiberling.  I never knew that.  Seiberling was also a very important figure on the Akron Canton &Youngstown in Ohio.  Some time ago I mentioned that M.C. bought some secondhand 4-6-0's from the AC&Y.  So maybe we now have an idea how that transaction came about.

Tom

[JazzHarmonicat]

Well, I may have been at least partly wrong on tracing that track south from Jamestown, ND, but I just heard back from my friend, Elmer Fredien, who grew up in Jamestown (and built the 16 ft N scale BN model based on Jamestown, complete with roundhouse, that I bought from him).  I asked him if he remembered Mid Cont running through Jamestown. He said: 

Yes, I saw the Midland RR....I also modeled the line...my brother-in-law was the general foreman...it ran from Wimbelton ND south thru Jms to the State hospital (coal), to Klose ND, Nortonville ND, then Edgeley ND....orig was to run from Canada to Mexico, but run out of money...Sieberling tire Co owned it....The orig office (station) and freight house are still standing in Jms...also the orig depot & caboose in Wimbelton (singer Peggy Lee lived in the depot) has been restored...the round house and tracks are all gone.

[JazzHarmonicat]

Continuing tracing old Midland Continental Track bed...

There is an old Wye of active track just north of Edgeley, ND where a line from the east joins to a line from the south.  The NW point of the Wye actually seems to be connect to to the barely visible, old trackbed to Jamestown and to Frazier, ND.  I expect there is a now-invisible trackbed from there north to the line that paralleled 81st St, but there is a very visible old trackbed that runs from that Wye exactly NW for a long way.  It runs past Jud, ND, the street layout in Jud parelling that track.  It also runs past Alfred, ND.  This NW path appeared to lead almost straight to Frazier, but at Alfred it seems to turn due west, toward Bismark, ND.

  I have not tried finding old line traces from Jamestown to Frazier, but that route seems to lead through Minot, which, as we know, was a "major" east-west point on the BN line from Fargo following the more northerly BN route.  Some of you may be able to pinpoint who else owned that and the other lines running through Minot.  (NP?)

There is an active line running from Jamestown NW toward Carrington, ND where it turns westward but connects to another line running from SW (Valley something) NW toward Minot.  I imagine BN also owned that in the 70s, but not sure who owned that before BN.  I suspect this was part of the original Midland Continental track, but not sure.

 

[JazzHarmonicat]

GeoffS

The Midland Continental ran from Frazier through Jamestown to Edgeley N.D., 72 plus miles.

... Geoff S.

 

I am pretty sure I found the old tracks running south out of Jamestown.  This section seems to start in Jamestown as a workable line (google sat views show some cars and an engine on sidings, and connections to what seem to be an active n-s line just a block east) and run roughly due south as unused track, runs close to 85th St SE, til it peters out at a farm (which may be one place it washed out) just west of 85th St SE, and then picks back up again just south of the farm as old derelict track, follows 85th St SE south to a point where one can see the impression of the track bed (no track) join in a Wye (Y) to another track heading east (What line was that I wonder?) 

(Look up 3798 85th Ave SE, Jamestown, ND on google maps sat view.)

  From there the impression of the old track bed continues south paralleling 85th St SE until it crosses 39th St SE, where it bends in a south-westerly direction.  That old track bed is very easy to follow on satellite view for a good while but becomes fainter and fainter, but you can still see it running a straight SW course. That faint trace passes intersection of 42nd St SE and 82nd St SE, Jamestown, ND 58401 and parallels 82nd St SE (on west side) SW til it fades out in some plowed fields and a pond.  But you can pick it up again, quite clearly, about this location:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/4385+81st+Ave+SE,+Jamestown,+ND+58401/@46.7825269,-98.7618795,343m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m20!1m17!4m16!1m6!1m2!1s0x52d016a5146b7b57:0x60838f80d22cc87!2s3721+85th+Ave+SE,+Jamestown,+ND+58401!2m2!1d-98.6706384!2d46.8740129!1m3!2m2!1d-98.6712267!2d46.8645404!1m3!2m2!1d-98.7618875!2d46.7826463!3e0!3m1!1s0x52d0400ca6d5c5ff:0xe2a8e8ff4b8352e1

 -- Look up 4387-4399 81st Ave SE 

Jamestown, ND 58401.

 

It then heads due south, to the west of 81st St SE -- still Jamestown on google maps.

 

It becomes pretty hard to follow but is heading toward the Wye north of Edgeley, ND

 

 

[1oldgoat]

I was given some info on the MCRR recently and sent it off to Ms. Peterson at the Wimbeldon Depot Museum, and made and extra copy. I'll send it to any MCRR enthusiast who lives in ND, or closest to ND.

[Anonymous]

Thanks 1OldGoat.  Indeed, Carol is interested in obtaining anything she can get on the MC.  Though the net is a great place to research just about everything, I'm surprised there hasn't been a book written as of now.  I stumbled onto two websites on the Maryland & Pennsylvania (Ma & Pa) over the weekend and find that there is a new big book on this famous shortline. 

Though I was a qualified engine foreman/conductor on ATSF in Dallas, I waved my rights and the whopping $2 extra a day and always bid on a job with the late Vallie Williams.  He met his wife in TX during WWII and returned to Baltimore (he called it Baldimer) where he hailed from and went back to work on the Ma & Pa as a conductor.  His father was an engineer on the line he told me....or was it a Texas Tall Tail?  Whatever, when the Ma & Pa abandoned most of the line in the 50s he got cut off and returned to TX and hired on with John Santa Fe in '57.

He and car knocker Jack Coker and myself had a great time working together.  When we'd find a defective freight car we'd BO the car and give the info to Jack to keep him from having to walk the entire length of E. Dallas Yard to card the car himself.  After beans, around 9PM we'd switch out the car and shove and spot the RIP track.  It kept our job working and the men on the RIP employed too!

After dark Vallie would hide in a boxcar and when Jack walked an inbound train and passed the open door Vallie would let out a war hoop and scare the compound crap out of Jack.  Jack would pull out his pocket knife and yell, "I'll cut ya!"  Great times and great memories.  I don't think railroading today is anything like it was in the 70s.  I really missed riding the car roofs passing hand signals and setting the tall hand brakes on boxcars.  I'm thankful I got to railroad "the old way" before walkie talkies and now the way belly-pack locomotive controls and walk-over switch levers have replaced the good old days.

 

 

 

[1oldgoat]

Poking around the net, I found a few possible sources of info on the MCRR. Their Museum may be aware and followed the leads already, but just in case... Moody's Finacial Services put out an annual report. I forgot of they have volumes that strictly deal with railroads or just include them. University libraries may have them. There are "Annual Reports of the Board of Railroad Commisioners of North Dakota. Finally, North Dakota's Public Service Commision be also be a source. I will contact Carol with this info.. OS "1oldgoat"

[Anonymous]

The Official Guide of the Railways at one time had a list of all railroads that had operated, merged, or were abandoned, in the rear of the book.  The Rand McNally Railroad Atlas was another good source.  Indeed, the Internet has opened the world to a wealth of information dreamed about not that long ago.

Anyone who has any information, photos, stories, etc. are urged to please contact Carol Peterson at www.themidlandcontinentaldepot.com so she can continue to add as much material as possible to the museum collection.  The interest in the Midland Continental appears to be larger than most expected it to be.  It might well lead the way for formation of an online historical society forum set up like the AC&Y has done.  Carol appreciates anything you have to aid her in the expansion of the museum to insure that the Midland Continental be not forgotten.

Just bring up the Contact Us page and introduce yourself.  She will be more than happy to hear from all Midland fans and hopefully some of you can contribute something to help the collection of material she has grow.

[1oldgoat]

I'm a big fan of abandonedrails.com. It's one of several helpful tools for a couch railfan/historian. Others are Google maps, and SPV Railroad Atlases. I just used all 3 to check out where the MC went. It's hard to trace south of Sidney, but the area around Jamestown and Wimbelton are easy. Using the street view I was able to locate and "look at" the yellow MC depot in Wimbelton (with the caboose and flatcar in front)*. Were those the original colors of the depot and caboose? BTW, another great tool are old USGS topo maps. There's a site: http://historical.mytopo.com/ that has old topos on line for the NE US (Maine-Ohio-Virginia and all states in between). Using these 4 tools, I can spend hours on these long, cold, rainy days and nights (Nov-June) in Western Washington looking at what is and was. Sites of long demolished roundhouses are usually easy to spot using the topos and google maps. The SPV Atlases are great for learning the heritage of different rail lines, and a way to discover shortlines or branch lines you never knew existed. I'll pull up the topos, google maps and abandoned rails up. and with the atlases, get a good dose of railfanning X RR history. And, you can roam the continent (or the world with just google maps)! * The Google maps "streetview" is also a great way to see what a artifacts and equipment a railroad museum has on display. Happy hunting!! What did we ever do before the internet??

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much!  I Googled too but didn't come up with this info.  I have considered purchasing the Soo Line in Color.  Now I just gotta get a copy!  My interest is the Soo's Montana operations and the two "Dolly Sisters", the Alco RS27s.  I found some EOT pix on Flickr of the line in Montana.  Indeed, it is fun to explore EOTs. 

There was once a rock quarry several miles from where I live.  It had a couple of small diesel industrial locomotives.  Though long gone I found some sections of track still in place in the weeds ten years ago.  The line went through a "tunnel" under a country road no less!

A visit to www.abandonedrails.com is well worth it and is always looking for additional material to post.   

[1oldgoat]

Pennsy's "Brunswick Green" looked almost black as well. So if any modelers want to paint their Atlas RS-1, there's something to go with.

[dakotafred]

Re. the color question on the MC RS-1s:

I googled 'Midland Continental RS-1' and found this 4 or 5 sites down, under the title 'SooLineHistory:Message: Midland Continental?':

"The MC's paint scheme for its RS-1s (was) a very dark green (almost black). Its lettering was a serif-type in a gold color ... The book SOO LINE IN COLOR has a color shot ..."

The poster was Lew Ableidinger of Kensal, N.D.