Anyone know the history of what was shipped into and out of Stillwater, Minnesota? I know at one time there were 3 RR lines going into town. Now its only the Zephyr which is isolated. When were various lines torn up. Anyone have pictures of the line that zig-zagged into town from the south?
The Northern Pacific line into Stillwater is now the Zepyhr’s route. It came off the Skally on the north side of White Bear Lake, and south of Bald Eagle Crossing (Soo Line). The Milwaukee was the other line that came all the way into Stillwater, it wound its way from a joint point between St. Croix Tower and the bridge at Hastings. it follow the Q towards Prescott then turned north along the river bluffs on the Minnesota side. You can still see bits of the ROW if you take the old highway south of I-94. Of course the Old MILW ROW is the remaining ROW from near Lakeland Jct. on the UP (ex-C&NW, nee CMO). Due to Trackage Rights negotiated at the time the various bits were abandoned BNSF, CP, and UP all have access to the remaining stub of trackage into the Bayport/Stillwater area from the south. The access is via the UP line to Lakeland Jct. then north. MNNR (Minnesota Commercial) performs the switching for all three carriers noth of Lakeland Jct. except for the coal trains to Excel Energy (NSP) Allen S. King plant at Bayport.
BTW- I forgot to add that Lumber is what brought the railroads to Stillwater. For a number of years it was the Saw Milling center of Minnesota, until the St. Croix Valley was logged over. There is a wayside marker with a plaque that talks about the great boom that stretched across the St. Croix River just north of Stillwater to trap the logs floated down the St. Croix. The marker is along Hwy. 95 north of Stillwater a mile or so, its marked by highway signs.
For pictures, try and find a copy of John Lueck’s book the “Milwaukee Road in Minnesota” or visit the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul, also I believe
Some additional info: The Milw line ran up to the Stillwater Union Depot(A copy is north of town and used by the dinner train). The ‘Omaha’(C&NW) originally built a line from the top of the hill down through the old state prison area and into the Union Station. Sometime in the 1930’s that line was pulled up and replaced by a new line that paralled the existing Milw line. Through the years the C&NW and Milw combined terminal trackage from the Bayport area into Stillwater.
The NP had a small yard north of the depot, and a turntable with a ‘double ended’ single stall engine house. Go out to the Minn Historical Socioty webesite and look through the ‘collections’ area for Stillwater photos. A photgrapher named John Runk took hundreds of photos of the Stillwater area, with a lot of good shots of the trackage/industies. Here is the URL:
http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresources/search.cfm?bhcp=1
Jim Bernier