The Midland Continental Railroad

[Anonymous]

Any information on the Midland Continental is most welcome.  The railroad deserves a book but it should be written by a local and not an outlander.  Thanks for adding this additional info on these steam locomotives.  Since the MC's Wimbledon depot still stands and serves as a museum for the railroad and singer Peggy Lee, whose father worked as an agent there, it would be fitting to have a historical society created to help save everything that can be found and displayed at the depot.

The fact that the line was envisioned to run from Winnipeg to Galveston makes the MC unique.  There have been countless "paper" railroads created but the MC did get built if only some 70 plus miles.  Classic Trains should update the Trains artical and publish same in an upcoming issue. 

[ACY Tom]

I recently found some info that might be of interest to M.C. fans. The trains Magazine article (June, 1972) has some roster info that can be improved/updated with info that was discovered by members of the Akron Canton & Youngstown RR Hist. Soc. The Trains steam roster says 4-6-0 303 was ex N.P.; and 309's origin was unknown. Both locomotives began life on the N.K.P. (possibly creating the false impression that 303 was N.P.). They were part of an order for 10 locomotives built by Brooks in December, 1905 as N.K.P. class P. They were numbered 43 and 49, and renumbered N.K.P. 303 and 309 in 1910. Five more of this class were built by Brooks in October, 1906. At least 12 of these engines, including 303 and 309, were sold to the Akron Canton & Youngstown: no. 303 on May 9, 1920 and no. 309 in August, 1920. These engines kept their 300 series numbers when in AC&Y service. AC&Y records say no. 303 was modernized by AC&Y, with the work being completed April 30, 1920 (i.e., before the actual purchase date). Improvements included Superheater, Franklin pneumatic Firedoor, Arch tubes, Universal Economy valve chest (poor man's piston valve), O'Connor Firedoor flange, built-up Alligator crossheads, cinder conveyor, steam pipe lagging and jackets, casings, improved tail and classification lamps, cab radiators, combined stop and check valves, driving box shoes and wedges widened, Smith adjustable hub liners, one additional air pump, metal running boards, metal coal gates, and grease cellars No. 309 was also modernized, with the work being done by American Shipbuilding, probably at their Cleveland or Lorain, Ohio plant, completed April 16, 1921. No. 309 received the same improvements, except that 309 did not get the O'Connor Firedoor Flange. However, 309 was given steam heat capability and air signal. AC&Y 309 was the only one of this group to receive these latter two improvements. The AC&Y began to receive new and used 2-8-0's in the twenties as they improved their track, and the 4-6-0's were sold off, beginning in the summer of 1929. Number 309 was sold to the M.C. Nov. 16, 1929, retaining her AC&Y number. Number 303 followed, being sold to the M.C. June 13, 1930. Number 300 was the last of the ex-N.K.P. 4-6-0's to be sold. She went to the Missouri & Arkansas in September, 1936. One of this group of N.K.P./AC&Y 4-6-0's survives. Number 304 was sold to the Dansville & Mount Morris July 6, 1929, retaining her AC&Y number. She is now at Steamtown. Dimensions of the 300 series 4-6-0's: Cylinders 19 x 24"; Steam pressure 180#; T.E. 21,040#; Wt. on drivers 115,000#; Total weight of engine 150,000#. Drivers 63" (believed built with 62" drivers). The AC&Y Historical Society published a pretty thorough coverage of these locomotives in its Fall, 2005 quarterly magazine, A.C.& Y.H.S. News (vol. 12, no. 3), written by Bob Lucas with input from George Berghoff, Ed Kirstatter, Bryan Porter, and Howard Ameling. Unfortunately, this issue is out of print. I know most of your past conversations have been concerned with the M.C. in its diesel days, but thought you guys might like a bit more info on the "prehistoric" days.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Dan

 

I imigine if Morning Sun does any books on Alco diesel power it will be next to impossible to obtain any color shots of the Midland Continental RS1s.  Another Alco that no color photos has shown so far is the lone Alco that the Texas & Pacific rostered.  It was an RS2 and Steve Goen's T&P Color Pictorial has two photos of it.  One in the as delivered black and silver scheme with large red T&P diamond herald under the cab window and the other is the unit in the fancy Swamp Holly Orange scheme.  The unit was sold to Mop subsidiary MP-TP Terminal RR of New Orleans I believe.  Here again, photos may exist but haven't surfaced.  Ditto on the Cotton Belt EMD GP7 in Daylight colors. 

[1oldgoat]

If there's a all color Alco book, chances are Morning Sun might have it.  They've done all color books on FM and Baldwin (3 volumes).

OS

Dan Olah

[Anonymous]

Ed,

You got me here.  I try and keep up with all the new railroad books but don't recall a specific book on Alco in color.  Back in the 70s or 80s a publisher published several books on locomotives including many builders photos but I think most were black and white.  It appears that the Midland Continental RS-1s were not delivered in any fancy color scheme.  They would have looked good in the Soo Line red and white in my opinion but then most Great Northern fans will tar and feather me when they learn that I prefer the Big Sky Blue scheme over the traditional Omaha Orange and Pullman Green scheme. 

Perhaps some other railroad book worn reader can help out here?

Joe Toth

[NP Eddie]

Trinity River:

 

If my memory serves me correctly, didn't someone publish a book of ALCO diesel locomotives some years ago? Wasn't EMD the only road to publish color pictures of their locomotives?

 

Ed Burns

[Anonymous]

My late best friend (RIP) had two black and white 8X10 Alco builders photos of the RS-1s.  They looked like they were solid color units and not any fancy milti-colored paint schemes.  The classy Rock Island red and black with white wings would have really fit the MC's RS-1s! 

All, be sure and visit www.themidlandcontinentaldepot.com.  The Wimbledon, N.D. depot has been  restored as has a caboose that is on display in front of the building as well.  A tribute to singer Peggy Lee, whose father was an agent there, can also been seen.  Ceating a Midland Continental Railroad Historical Society is probably unlikely though if any Northern Pacific Historical Society folks read this they can possibly propose to have the society add a section devoted to the MC to their ever growing collection of NP materal.      

[1oldgoat]

I did a Bing on-line search on the MC.  Under images there is a B&W image of an MC freight train pulled by one of the RS-1s.  It was painted a single color with lettering on the long hood.  Therefore was likely black, dark blue or deep green.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you Dakota Fred!  There must be some color photos of the MC's RS1s.  Indeed, tracking them down is worth every lead we can get. 

[dakotafred]

Boomer, the State Historical Society of N.D. is located in Bismarck. I would recommend contacting an excellent fellow in the society's library there, Jim Davis. He should be able to tell you with just a little digging if they have anything in color on the MC.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Ed.  In 1963 Kalmbach published Richard Steinheimer's epic book "Backwoods Railroads of the West" which contains a couple of photos of the Midland Continental which are also black and white.  "Stein" probably took additional photos and though not selected for the book are most likely in his collection.  If anyone knows where the collection is now that "Stein" has gone to the big roundhouse in the sky, please share the info with us.  

Joe Toth 

[NP Eddie]

Boomer:

My only suggestion is to contact the North Dakota Historical Society at Jamestown for information. The photos in the June 1972 "Trains" are black and white. Jamestown in located in Stutzman County, North Dakota.

 

Ed Burns

763-234-9306

NP-BN-BNSF--Minneapolis

[Anonymous]

Do any color photos exist of the RS-1s?  What color scheme did they wear?  A pity the line didn't get built from Winnipeg to Galveston.  A close second would have been to purchase the Twin Cities-Galveston line from the Rock Island when it shut down and named it Midland Continental.  A jazzy color scheme would have been the Rock's red and black with the fancy white wings that they used on their GP7s with the name spelled out where Rock Island was on the body.

I considered freelancing the MC just this way in S scale recently.  Not much room in an apartment but the dream remains just the same!

Joe Toth

 

[dakotafred]

An aside on the futility of branch lines, again from North Dakota:

In the 1960s, the rising waters of Lake Oahe -- aka the Missouri River, behind a dam now -- threatened the river-hugging eastern portion of the 127-mile "South Branch," Mandan to Mott. So, about 1963 or 1964, the NP incurred the considerable expense of taking off cross-country, building about 35 miles of brand-new railroad to hook up with the still (marginally) viable portion of the line at Flasher.

A short 20 years later -- not very long in railroad time  -- NP successor BN was lifting the track. This one deserved to hurt the career of somebody, if he was still around.

I know it's not that easy to see even a little way into the future. The "North Branch" out of Mandan is humming to this day, only because of power plants and coal mines fortuitously located on that line later on in those same 1960s.

[dakotafred]

All this branch-line skirmishing was a little silly even 50 years ago, not just in light of later developments. Today, where the MC roadbed leaves off, at Edgeley, you can follow the abandoned grade of the MILW -- not the NP -- down to Aberdeen.

When it came to competition over picking up distressed short or branch lines, the losers were the winners.

[wjstix]

Cody Grivno did a trackplan for a Midland Continental model railroad in the Sept. 2007 Model Railroader.

http://mrr.trains.com/how-to/track-plan-database/2007/09/midland-continental-circa-1964

[NP Eddie]

Rob:

Wallace Abbey may have misstated the CNW for the MILW. Having said that, the CNW came north into Oakes, North Dakota which was 69 miles south of Jamestown. Presumable the CNW would have asked the NP for trackage rights into Jamestown to serve the MC. I doubt that the NP would have granted that request.

As information, Oakes was a joint NP-CNW agency. One agent was a CNW man and when that man bid off the job, the agent's job reverted to the NP and the cycle continued. Bob Heyer was an Assistant Agent at Northtown after the merger. He said that the Oakes agency job was a good job.

Ed Burns

763-234-9306

[rcdrye]

In Wallace Abbey's book about the Soo Line he explained the Soo's purchase and partial resale of the MC to the NP, along with its demise.  He maintained it was to block the C&NW.  Not sure whose story is right, beut Abbey was working for the Soo in the main office at the time.  Most of what was left of the MC at the end did end up as part of the NP.

[NP Eddie]

ALL:

I don't think any of the equipment listed above was from the MC.

I did locate my "Trains" CD and have read the Midland Continental article twice. That article did state that the NP purchased the MC in 1969 so that the MILW could not gain access to the James River valley. My whole railroad career was at Northtown (Minneapolis) and I did not hear any information about the NP purchase because that was on the Fargo Division and we were the St. Paul Division. Also, I was calling crews so my attention was to TYE people.

Ed Burns

763-234-9306

[1oldgoat]

Continuing down the blind alley, Re: the trains in Akron...

The 0-6-0 and some passenger cars (ex-Pennsy, I think) were part of a display at "Railways of America", a huge O scale layout built and owned by Mack Lowry. It was billed as the larghest train layout in the world.

 I think the equipment was brought to the site on a recently constructed mile-plus spur off the PRR Akron Secondary to Allside Aluminum on Ohio Route 8. *(Across the highway from  R of A). The equipment was later moved to the former REA spur on Mill St. in Akron (adjacent to Quaker Oats).  The equipment (including the O scale trains) seemed to fade away after several years.

Sorry I don't have any info on the MC. Seems to be one of those rarely documented shortlines that never received the attention it deserved.  However, I had a book of short stories by Garrison Keilor that talked about the mythical North Dakota State Railroad which was tagged the "Andy Yes Sir".  I've always wondered if thye Mid-Continental was the inspiration for that story

[ACY Tom]

ED ---

I hope I'm not taking this discussion down a blind alley, so please correct/disregard if I am.  Back in the early 1960's, a railroad-themed display was established north of Akron, Ohio.  The artifacts were later moved to downtown Akron, where they remain today (or what's left of them).  Included in the equipment is/was an ex CB&Q 0-6-0 no. 1548 and an ex- Monon bay window caboose.  As I recall, these were both supposedly from the Midland Continental.  As far as I can tell, this doesn't square with the info presented above, so I wonder whether this was the same operation, or another operation with a similar name, or misidentified equipment.  Maybe some entirely different explanation.  I also vaguely recall that there was a similarly named very short switching railroad described in Railfan & Railroad several years ago.  Maybe I'm way off base here.

Tom   

[NP Eddie]

Jeff:

I did locate my "Trains" CD and have reloaded onto this computer (our other computer died).

The Midland Continental article shed new light on this small railroad.

Ed Burns

763-234-9306

[NP Eddie]

Jeff:

Thanks for the information. As soon as I locate my "Trains" CD's I will read that article.

 

Ed Burns

Happily retired NP-BN-BNSF and ATCS host in Anoka, MN

763-234-9306

[jeffhergert]

dakotafred

This is a quiz?

The MC was surely the most inconsequential pike ever to harbor transcon (albeit N-S)  ambitions. It doesn't even rate a place in Kalmbach's Historical Guide. People can Google it for themselves, but I can attest you can still follow the old grade in places it hasn't been plowed under yet.

But it did rate an article in the June 1972 Trains Magazine.  That article had the reason the NP was interested in buying it's part has being, aside from the originating traffic, to thwart any ideas the MILW may have had about expansion in that area.

Jeff 

[rcdrye]

Comes from working out of my head instead of checking the books...  My mental map of the C&NW had more than a bit of fuzz on it.

The C&NW "threat" that was probably more imagined than real would have been a connection from the ex-M&St.L line to Aberdeen, presumably via the NP branch to Edgeley, the southern end of the MC.  Trackage rights over the NP branch to Edgeley would have done the trick.

[NP Eddie]

Rob:

I have one question and a comment. A map in the 1948 OG does not show the MSTL going near Jamestown.

After the 1970 merger, I met Don Kammer, who was in BN Marketing. He was the MC rep in Minneapolis. He was surprised that I knew of the MC.

Ed Burns

763-234-9306

[rcdrye]

The Midland Continental's end is a sad song itself.  In 1966 the Soo Line bought the line from the family that owned it, promptly selling a half interest in it to the Northern Pacific, mainly to keep the C&NW from getting it (connecting via its ex-M&St.L line into Jamestown ND).  In 1969 most of the main line washed out, and Soo and NP took over operations on the few remaining miles.  The MC's two RS1s, neither one of which was usable, were shoved into NP's roundhouse in Jamestown ND, from which BN scrapped them a couple of years later.

[GeoffS]

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

It's main claim to fame now seems to be that the wonderful songbird of the 1940s, 50s & 60s

Peggy Lee lived in the Wimbeldon station where her dad was a station agent.

Also love in some old Official Guides where it says "Passenger Service Irregular"!!

Geoff S.

[NP Eddie]

WOW!!!  You are good.

"The FBI" was the title of the show.

Ed Burns

Happily retired NP-BN-BNSF

763-234-9306

[1019x]

I am not sure about the specifc name but FBI was part of it.