South Dakota

[Deggesty]

BaltACD

Why is there North and South Dakota - Not just Dakota?

 

Politics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota_Territory

See especially "Dakota Territory and Statehood."

[Murphy Siding]

BaltACD

Why is there North and South Dakota - Not just Dakota?

 

A couple years back some folks in North Dakota wanted to change the name. They said the name was too long and didn't do well enough to put the state in a good light. They thought the name should be shortened to 'Dakota'. Folks south of the border suggested they should just shorten the name to 'North'.

[Overmod]

Take a leaf from SF author John Barnes as expressed in ‘Mother of Storms’ and just call them something like Endee and Essdee.  (Adjust the phonemic representational spelling to reflect actual local pronunciation of the initialisms...)

[Murphy Siding]

Overmod

Take a leaf from SF author John Barnes as expressed in ‘Mother of Storms’ and just call them something like Endee and Essdee.  (Adjust the phonemic representational spelling to reflect actual local pronunciation of the initialisms...)

 

Funny you should mention pronunciation. In my area the two are pronounced something like:

Sow-duh co-duh (In one rapid mumble)

Nort! uh-co-duh (With emphasis on nort!)

Cornfield (That state south of us).

[Overmod]

Reminds me of my incendiary youth, when the real-estate pirates in Manhattan started working the so-veddy-British “SoHo” to refer to the ex-tenement and sweatshop ridden area ‘south’ of ‘Houston‘ Street.

Now it does not take long to recognize that outside North Carolina few people pronounce the word ‘south’ as ‘soth’ with a long O.  Manhattanites also know that Sam Houston was one of them long before he went to the other place, and more particularly we remember and respect the way he pronounced his own name: ‘how-ston’.

I merely pointed out that for truth in advertising we should call it ‘Sow-How’ (with sow of course as in female pig).  Still think so, now that I think about it.

[Overmod]

tree68

... a whirlwind trip to dissemble radars at (why not) Minot AFB and Grand Forks AFB... t

Must have been boring.  Did you stand on the prairie pretending to be radar, or just acting shy so that satellites would not notice?

[ChuckCobleigh]

Overmod

..stand on the prairie pretending to be radar...

Cpl. (later Sgt.) Walter O'Reilly of Ottumwa, Iowa?

[ChuckCobleigh]

Murphy Siding

Sow-duh co-duh (In one rapid mumble) Nort! uh-co-duh (With emphasis on nort!)

Or Upper Freezistan and Lower Freezistan?

[tree68]

Overmod

Must have been boring.  Did you stand on the prairie pretending to be radar, or just acting shy so that satellites would not notice?

It actually took less than a day to tear each one down and pile it up so the local weather detachment folks could dispose of it through the proper procedures.  

The radar was the AN/TPQ-11 ceiling measuring radar.  It was a small shelter (5'x10'?) with two dish antennae on top, pointing straight up.  I believe they are all long gone by now.

[Overmod]

ChuckCobleigh

 

Overmod

..stand on the prairie pretending to be radar... 

Cpl. (later Sgt.) Walter O'Reilly of Ottumwa, Iowa?

No, I didn’t capitalize it.  I was amused by ‘dissembling’.

[tree68]

Overmod

‘dissembling’.

Yeah - I just hate the word "disassembling."  Although none of us really wanted to be on the trip...

[Deggesty]

 

Overmod

‘dissembling’.

 

 

Yeah - I just hate the word "disassembling."  Although none of us really wanted to be on the trip...

tree68

Would you rather dissemble? 

[Overmod]

Actually, even if ‘dissemble’ hadn’t come to mean wildly different in English, you’d still need ‘disassemble’ as the proper opposite of ‘assemble’.  In large part because you presume there was assembly completed to get the thing completed wherever it is, and that assembly is in fact what you’re ‘undoing’ when you take it down, not ‘making it (or its parts) disappear’ ... in other words, you don’t have just two contrasting prefixes on a root -semble.

Don’t you love grammar and semantics on a railroad forum?

 

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Back in the 1970's/ early 1980's there was a "BN Annual" railfan publication.  One of the issues featured this line.  I remember a photo of an SW-something with some street running stopped at a parking meter in front of a grocery store.  I'll have to look to see if I still have that issue.

- PDN.  

[Mookie]

Paul_D_North_Jr

I remember a photo of an SW-something with some street running stopped at a parking meter in front of a grocery store. 

I love a sense of humor - especially a subtle one.  I hope you find the picture.

[Norm48327]

Paul_D_North_Jr

Back in the 1970's/ early 1980's there was a "BN Annual" railfan publication.  One of the issues featured this line.  I remember a photo of an SW-something with some street running stopped at a parking meter in front of a grocery store.  I'll have to look to see if I still have that issue.

- PDN. 

Paul,

That would be a great photo if it included the engineer feeding the parking meter. 

[SFbrkmn]

Aside from reduction of the older workforce, which is happening nationwide, the reason there is young numbers at lonely locations like ND or WY is no one really wants to be there. The BN side does not have the five yr recall SF does. This creates vast scatters of trainmenat some norhern locations who elect to go elsewhere. There are condrs w/ 10,000#s holding quite well at places like Edgemont. 

[lidgerwoodplow]

SFbrkmn

There are condrs w/ 10,000#s holding quite well at places like Edgemont.

  10,000# conductors?  Shouldn't they have their own special car, like a...well, like a caboose?

[SFbrkmn]

I should have been more clear on referring to 10,000. Conductors currently marked on the Edgemont west pool are on NH99 roster which began 1/4/99. This roster systemwide is up around 10,000 condrs ( number of condrs BNSF has hired since 1999). The number of 10,000 is toward the bottom of the list. Hence, the low seniority is takes currently to hold at that location

[RiponEG]

SFbrkmn

Last wk the Mrs & I took a vac to western SD and visited Rushmore, Crazy Horse and Bear City. My intent was to keep this totally rr free but did not turn that way--for a day anyway. 

Found an abandoned CB&Q branch that ran Edgemont-Deadwood. It now is a walking trail. Don't think I would want to walk too far--might meet up w/ a bear out doing the same. Does anyone have any history of this line? How did CBQ/BN operate it? When did the trains stop running and when was it officially abandoned? 

Took a side trip south to Edgemont. Pop 900. Likely the most lonely isolated crew base on BNSF. Wife had family there from 1800's into 1920's. Great and great great parents lived there. Great great grandfather lost an arm in a link & pin switching accident. Local history museum has a rr display. She also found more history of the family. Found the graves at cemetery. We want to return someday and put flowers. 

BNSF had 77 engines stored parked. These were in 8800 & 8900 series. This is the afht for Alline crews and a Oak Tree Inn is active for that purpose. Lots of young seniority there. I can see why. 

 

I visited the Black Hills and rode the Black Hills Central, a tourist line remnant of one branch of the Burlington line in question. You can find a bit of history (but not details on decline and abandonment) here:

https://www.1880train.com/history.html

If you're back that way, I recommend the South Dakota State Railroad Museum, adjacent to the Hill City depot of the Black Hills Central. There's a lot of history there, surprisingly well developed and maintained exhibits, and some really knowledgable people. In fact I did chat with the director about the history of the line in question, but I don't remember the dates of abandonment; I vaguely recall a major flood with considerable damage to the roadbed sped the abandonment.

 

Other SD rail note: along State Highway 44 between Rapid City and Interior (parallel to I-90 but south of the Badlands, so really deserted) you can see the a long abandoned roadbed of a mystery east-west railroad. The information desk person at Badlands NP told me it was the original route of the same railroad that still serves Rapid City from a more northerly alignment, but didn't know any more. Anyone have info on that?

[MidlandMike]

RiponEG

...

 

Other SD rail note: along State Highway 44 between Rapid City and Interior (parallel to I-90 but south of the Badlands, so really deserted) you can see the a long abandoned roadbed of a mystery east-west railroad. The information desk person at Badlands NP told me it was the original route of the same railroad that still serves Rapid City from a more northerly alignment, but didn't know any more. Anyone have info on that?

 

That abandoned line was the Milwaukee Road's route to Rapid City.  The rail line that is still there north of I-90 is ex-C&NW.

[Murphy Siding]

RiponEG

 

Other SD rail note: along State Highway 44 between Rapid City and Interior (parallel to I-90 but south of the Badlands, so really deserted) you can see the a long abandoned roadbed of a mystery east-west railroad. The information desk person at Badlands NP told me it was the original route of the same railroad that still serves Rapid City from a more northerly alignment, but didn't know any more. Anyone have info on that?

 

That's the Milwaukee Road!  If you go about 5 miles east of Rapid City, there was a siding that held maybe 4-6 cars. When I was a kid there was a sign there that said 'Murphy Siding'. 

[scouttrain]

For those interested in anything related to SD railroads I strongly suggest the book “Railroading in the Land of Infinite Variety.”   The title comes from the old state nickname.  Published in 1990 it’s author is Rick W. Mills, now the Director of the SD Railroad Museum in Hill City in the heart of the Black Hills.  The museum is the old train depot and is located with the Black Hills Central Railroad   Rick also has a book “125 Years of Black Hills Railroading” that has a lot on the old High Line from Edgemont to Deadwood.