The Amtrak Midway depot is located along the Minnesota Commercial, just a few blocks down from the MCCR roundhouse and turntable (which is barely big enough for their biggest Alco/MLW engines) so if you modelled MN Commercial you could also have twice-a-day Amtrak trains running thru. MN Commercial also does the switching for Amtrak at the depot.
Thanks guys. You have been a lot of help. I try to research this stuff but I cant navigate through the web that good and find. stuff. The closest I got was next to Minnesota Commercials yard and saw one of their Alcos about 2 weeks ago. I havent responded to anything because Ive been gone these last to weeks.
I worked for for 3o years in the Twin Cities area for four different railroads including Soo Line, Wisconsin Central, Minnesota Commercial and Progressive Rail. All except PGR interchanged at Northtown yard.
Just north of I 694 and north of Northtown on the west side of the tracks was a cosmectic/beauty products company called Lamour (I believe) which usually had 5 or 6 tank cars on spot for unloading. I also seem to remember a grocery/cold storage warehouse type facility on the east side of the yard and north of the General Mills elevator in the picture. There was also a cardboard box/container company just south of the yard on the west side which took box cars of roll stock kraft paper.
Barry
Thanks, that's the area I was thinking of. The NP and M-St-L had a "joint terminal" agreement so there was a lot of running on each other's tracks and such I guess. Course it's amazing to look at the aerial pics and think how the railroaders could keep track whose track was whose.
Anyway, this area would probably fit the bill of a yard with downtown on the background switching local industries than Northtown would, which was as I noted built "out in the country".
wjstix I believe the one I'm thinking of would be the #30 Soo Line yard and the GN Union Depot. It was near a spot called "Hole in the Wall" but I can't remember if the yard was called that or not.
I believe the one I'm thinking of would be the #30 Soo Line yard and the GN Union Depot. It was near a spot called "Hole in the Wall" but I can't remember if the yard was called that or not.
Oh, that one. In the warehouse district. Yes, that was an area full of yards.
North of the GN Union Depot, along the river, between First Street North and the river, you had "my" yard (a small corner of which is on my layout) - The Omaha Road's West Minneapolis Yard.
Then on the west side of first street north (ie just one row of buildings away from the Omaha yard), a yard belonging to NP, accessible by a hole in the wall, so it is probably the right one.
Then the Milwaukee Road had their passenger depot and yard between the NP yard and 2nd street.
So three yards by first street north - Omaha road towards the river, NP and MILW between first street north and 2nd street.
This picture http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresources/image.cfm?imageid=78811 looks north towards the river. You see a train moving from the Omaha yards (on the left) towards the GN Union Depot (on the right). The track leading towards the NP yard goes under the first street overpass at bottom center.
This one (http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresources/image.cfm?imageid=74550) is looking south across the Omaha Road Yard and the 500-700 block of First Street North. You see the NP yard in the background.
Here is a scan of an old map I found, showing the track to the NP yard curving off to the lower left.
Smile, Stein
I believe the one I'm thinking of would be the #30 Soo Line yard and the GN Union Depot. It was near a spot called "Hole in the Wall" but I can't remember if the yard was called that or not. Keep in mind this is a Soo Line map showing I believe terminals of where other railroads connect to the Soo for interchange, so not all the RR yards are shown.
wjstixJust a follow up, after the second day of the Northern Pacific Ry. Historical Society's convention here in St.Paul. Northtown came up a lot in photos regarding different presentations on Twin City railroading on the NP. I really couldn't see any industries (except the scrap dealer who's still there) that are / were right around Northtown and served by rail. However there is/was Grove yard (I think some of the tracks are still there but I don't think it's a working yard now) that breaks off from the middle of Northtown and heads towards a river crossing to go to downtown Minneapolis. Grove yard apparently did serve some industries on that side of the river, including some breweries and lumber dealers. However there was an NP yard just NW of downtown that might be closer to what you want.
Just a follow up, after the second day of the Northern Pacific Ry. Historical Society's convention here in St.Paul. Northtown came up a lot in photos regarding different presentations on Twin City railroading on the NP. I really couldn't see any industries (except the scrap dealer who's still there) that are / were right around Northtown and served by rail. However there is/was Grove yard (I think some of the tracks are still there but I don't think it's a working yard now) that breaks off from the middle of Northtown and heads towards a river crossing to go to downtown Minneapolis. Grove yard apparently did serve some industries on that side of the river, including some breweries and lumber dealers. However there was an NP yard just NW of downtown that might be closer to what you want.
Here is a link to a map from Soo Line that shows Twin Cities Terminals in 1947:
http://www.skypoint.com/members/hudsonl/railrad/images/soo11947.gif
I am not sure what yard was the NP just NW of downtown (Mpls?).
There is a much more detailed map showing a lot of yards in the Twin Cities (and their capacity in cars) in Don L Hofsommer's book "Minneapolis and the Age of Railways".
FWIW Booth Fisheries did have a plant in Minneapolis, although it handled furs not fish.
When my grandfather first came over from Norway, he was a fur trapper in a tiny remote village called Swift Current, Saskatchewan. When his young wife died, he decided he wanted a new start somewhere else. He chose Minneapolis because he had always sent his furs to Booth there, and they always gave him a fair deal. As it happened, he arrived just as they were starting construction of their new building, and his first job in the U.S. was laying bricks on the new building. Unfortunately the building was finally torn down a few years ago, after many efforts to preserve it.
Anyway, back to the original question...I'd still say there are maybe 5-6 or more yards located near or in downtown Minneapolis that would suit your needs better than trying to re-make Northtown into something it's not. The area between the northern edge of downtown and the Mississippi River are/were a string of yards owned by the Milwaukee, Great Northern, M-St.L/CNW and others...plus GN's depot was there too, with the Milwaukee depot close by too. Right behind the MILW depot (between the depot and the river) was a Milwaukee freight depot, and then a string of large mills served by rail.
BNSF MPLS/ST.PI was just looking around the web and found the MNNR. I think it would be a good idea but I dont know if they go into northtown yard. I looked at their map it showed that they dont run there. Do you anything about this?
I was just looking around the web and found the MNNR. I think it would be a good idea but I dont know if they go into northtown yard. I looked at their map it showed that they dont run there. Do you anything about this?
They don't run to Northtown, as far as I know. What about it?
If you want other industries on your model railroad layout than are at Northtown, you just research some other industries (from the Twin Cities or from somewhere else) and put whatever you want on your layout. Some industries (like e.g. a lumberyard or plastic industry) will look plausible for Minneapolis, some (e.g. a coal mine or a fish processing plant) not plausible for Minneapolis.
If you want only what actually is at Northtown, you model only what is at Northtown.Then grab a camera and get yourself to Northtown, take pictures, make notes, and do some detective work to figure out exactly what is around there.
Either way, your choice. Layout police will not grab you either way :-)
Grin, Stein
There's some info from the Univ. of Minnesota Railroad Club that may be helpful....
Minnesota Railguide
Railfanning the Twin Cities
BNSF MPLS/ST.P I cant really find anywhere on the Web that shows industries so I thought I might ask.
I cant really find anywhere on the Web that shows industries so I thought I might ask.
Well, a cool presentation of a pretty modelgenic Twin Cities shortline railroad with quite a few industries described is this description of the Minnesota Commercial Railroad: http://www.mnnr.org/prototype/tour/
Smile,Stein
I lived along what became Progressive Rail for many years. That line would offer a lot, they had a spot in Bloomington MN where they unloaded plastic pellets, it was a very small operation, just one or two cars. Also an oil dealer with underground tanks, so it is just a small office and pumps for putting the oil in trucks.
But of course it's pretty far from Northtown, the Lakeville industrial park would be maybe 25-30 miles south of Northtown...although, the original owner of the line Progressive uses, the Minneapolis Northfield and Southern, did go all the way up to the Soo's Shoreham Yard where it rented out four stalls in the roundhouse. It also of course interchanged cars with NP at Northtown. So a model RR using Northtown as a starting point, and then have an MNS line going off to serve industries, would be do-able I'd think.
Anyway, PR serves a bunch of industries, including their own transloading facility and you can spot almost any kind of railcar at a transloading terminal.
And there's also modeler's license as has been mentioned - it's your layout, put what you want on it.
If you go to the PR Web site, there's a nice picture of something called Airlake Industrial Park that might help a bit.
Not sure about Malt-One but Malt-O-Meal is a pretty large food company headquartered in Minneapolis. It has several plants throughout the state.
The only industry right near Northtown that I can think of is a scrap dealer on the west side of it. I've taken pics of centerbeam flats in Northtown, but there isn't an industry right near by that would use them AFAIK. I could be wrong but I always assumed the grain elevator with the large SHOREHAM was served by Soo Line via their Shoreham Shops / Yards to the east of Northtown.
Keep in mind Northtown runs north-south so in like a shelf layout, you wouldn't really be able to see downtown that well. Northtown was built a ways out in the country, across the Mississippi from downtown Minneapolis and several miles north of downtown. It's really more of a marhalling or interchange (with MNS for example) yard, than a yard serving nearby industries.
One of the RR Historical Societies - I think the CNW one - published a cover story on Minneapolis/St.Paul a while back that showed a number of aerial pics of the cities made in the late fifties IIRC. You might a yard closer to downtown might be better suited to your needs.
Wow, thanks for all the help. Sorry about the copyright issue. Ill do it right next time. Im assuming that there is a couple different elevators called Malt-One because Ive seen a different elevator called the same thing?
BNSF MPLS/ST.P Does anybody know what elevator that is?
Does anybody know what elevator that is?
Mmm - you linked your image directly from a railroad pictures site (please don't do that, btw - post a link to the search result instead, so the owner of the picture gets his or her well deserved acknowledgement when someone looks up the picture).
Going back to www.railpictures.net and looking up northtown as a keyword, I see that your picture was taken by Lester Zmudzinski, who can be contacted from the railpictures.net website.
As for identifying industries on BNSF. A google search for
"Northtown yard" elevator
netted the comment that it was a Malt One elevator.
Looking up elevators on BNSF's markets web site
Elevators: http://www.bnsf.com/markets/agricultural/elevator/
Clicking on Minnesota, and scrolling down to Minneapolis, this might be elevator 0393, which has a street address of 2901 5th St. N.E, Minneapolis, MN55418
Looking up that address on e.g www.bing.com/maps puts us right back on the east edge of Northtown Yard - so we have the right elevator.
The BNSF markets website identifies the owner, the capacity etc: http://www.bnsf.com/markets/agricultural/elevator/bin3/ele0393.html
You can do similar things to find industries that unload lumber and plastics - google, combine with railpictures and similar sites, combine with BNSF shipping directories etc.
There is a lot of information on the Internet, if you are willing to spend some time digging and collecting and comparing information.
Good luck!
Thanks a lot but I dont know of any "layout police". I just want it to be as close to the prototype as possible. Is there any industries that you know of in ALL of Minneapolis that I can use that uses centerbeams or tankers? Do you know of any plastic industries that use pellets? I thought there was but I might be wrong. I cant really find anywhere on the Web that shows industries so I thought I might ask.
BNSF MPLS/ST.P Im building a shelf switching layout based on Northtown Yard in Minneapolis, MN. My point of view is as you are standing in the yard looking toward the city in the background, kind of like an industrial district. I need help finding more industries. I already have a poured concrete warehouse and the big grain elevator. Is there anything that would service tank cars or like a centerbeam car for wood? Also, is there any little scenes I can put on my layout like a shipping container "farm"? Any help would be appreciated.
Im building a shelf switching layout based on Northtown Yard in Minneapolis, MN. My point of view is as you are standing in the yard looking toward the city in the background, kind of like an industrial district. I need help finding more industries. I already have a poured concrete warehouse and the big grain elevator. Is there anything that would service tank cars or like a centerbeam car for wood? Also, is there any little scenes I can put on my layout like a shipping container "farm"? Any help would be appreciated.
If you are wondering what tracks and industries actually are near BNSF's northtown yard these days, use http://www.bing.com/maps, look up e.g Roman Road, Minneapolis, MN and zoom in, then switch to the bird's eye view to look at industries and tracks.
I don't at a quick glance see any industrial tracks along the west edge of Northtown yard that has centerbeam cars, and the only tank car I spotted in a quick scroll-past was a single tank car spotted at an industry - no obvious big lumberyards or tank farms.
A quick search on www.google.com for BNSF intermodal Twin Cities (a "shipping container farm" is in railroad-speak known as an intermodal facility - where a container can change mode of transportation - ship-to-train, train-to-barge, train-to-truck etc) shows that BNSF has their intermodal facility for the twin cities not at Northtown, but in the Midway area.
Twin Cities railfan guide: http://www.n0kfb.org/homepage/tc_rails/tc_rail1.htm
If you don't live in the cities, and need info on the current railroad scene in the twin cities, use google to locate more information.
If what you actually are wondering about is what you can put on your layout, the answer is "anything you like - it is your layout".
If you want your layout to have an industry that unloads centerbeam cars, then put in an industry that unloads centerbeam cars. You will not have your door kicked in at 3 am by the layout police, coming to arrest you for having some element on your model railroad that is not there on the full size prototype you are modelling :-)
It is a fairly safe bet that you won't have enough space to faithfully model northtown (or any other modern somewhat larger yard) anyways.