Any magazine articles on Stillwater Minnesota?

[Boyd]

Does anyone know of any magazine articles detailing railroad history in Stillwater Minnesota? At one time there was 3 railroads serving this little town. Milwaukee Road was one. CNW? Then the line behind my house was BN before it was Minnesota Zephyr. Before BN it was a different name.

[jrbernier]

Boyd,

  The NP was the railroad that built a branch from White Bear Lake to Stillwater.  The Milwaukee Road built a branch up the St Croix River from St Croix Tower to Stillwater.  The 'Omaha' built at least two lines into town.  The first line was built from a junction with the mainline NW of Stillwater, and dropped down a hill and went through or by the old prison south of Stillwater.  At one time they ran commuter trains from St Paul to Stillwater.  The line was removed (due to the grades), and a new line was built from Lakeland Jct(where the Omaha mainline crossed the Milwaukee branch) running along side the Milwaukee branch. This later became the C&NW, and is currently the UP.  As you are aware, all rail service now comes in from the south via Lakeland Jct.  The 'King' powerplant(coal) and Anderson(windows) are the major source of rail business now.

   Go to the MN Historical photo collection web site:

http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresources/search.cfm?bhcp=1

Search on Stillwater or Runk.  You will find 100's of photos of Stillwater.  Mr Runk took many pictures of the Stillwater area.  Also, the NP Railway Historical Association has presented material on Stillwater.  I saw the slide presentation by one of their members at the Napierville RPM last October.  They are on the web, and are located in the Jackson Street Roundhouse in St Paul.  Here is the web link:

http://www.nprha.org/

  Stillwater is one of the best documented towns in Minnesota!

Jim Bernier

[Boyd]

 I printed lots of photos from the Minnesota Historical Society. I wish some of the photos had more info as to whats the nearest road. I mow a big lawn next door. The lady who is in charge of the property has one or two albums full of railroad photos. Her brother in-law lived in a house right next to Duluth Junction. I have an open invitation to look at the albums as long as I give a few days advance notice.

[aricat]

Stillwater Minnesota has never had much allure for me as a railfan. In the Twin Cities metro there were just so many other places to go.The town also had a very hostile NIMBY faction which did not help either the Minnesota Zephyr or the Minnesota Transportation Museum.Some of these people were real jerks! You can photogragh switching at the King plant from public property.I believe that NSP has their own switcher.Turn at the delivery entrance and follow road to the grade crossing which is before the gate to the plant. The NP did have a switcher assigned to Stillwater; I remember seeing it around 1968.The Milwaukee worked at least one train a day from St Croix tower to Stillwater to work Anderson Windows.I saw this train only once in July of 1959 at Lakeland Minnesota. It ran about 9PM and had about seven cars and a caboose.I never did see a CNW train except for the 400 eastbound at Lakeland Junction.

[GN 400]

I didn't know what NIMBY was and looked it up, and I agree, a lot of them are jerks, and so are some industries that use RRs to ship goods like the sand mine at Maiden Rock, Wis.  The last time I was there with my camera I was hassled by them AND the police came and questioned me.  Also, ever since MNDOT redid Hwy 61 south of St. Paul there's no decent places to get pics anymore and the last time I was there trying to get some photos the cops came with their usual questions...augh!!  I used to work for the Soo out of the old Milw Rd facility near Pigs Eye and even they are more hostile to railfans these days.  I built my new house in Hudson, WI on a piece of property where the CNW (now UP) tracks ran along my backyard ON PURPOSE so I guess I'm a YIMBY (yes, in my back yard) and I was happy they were there.

[wjstix]

Ya it is interesting that the Minnesota Transportation Museum operates in Wisconsin rather than Minnesota. It was chased out of Stillwater, now operates the Osceola & St.Croix out of Osceola, WI.

Not sure the post-9/11 crackdown on railfans is really Nimbyism per se, more just a lot of rent-a-cop security guards getting really full of themselves. I've been questioned when on a public street by a guard from the refinery near Hwy 61, told I couldn't take pictures of the plant switcher unless the pictures were taken at an angle where you couldn't see the refinery buildings. Given how many lights the refinery has on at night, I don't think their location between Hwy 61 and the Mississippi river is exactly a secret!