Today I drove up to Avon Mn and back home to the Twin Cities. Avon is basically west of St. Cloud about 12 miles. Closer to Maple grove there is a line just to the west of I-94. I did not see a single train or car parked on it. Back around 09 or 10 nearly the entire line had parked cars that I think were TOFC type that I think were in storage. I think this line goes up to St.cloud but I’m not sure. Who owns it? Is it still used?
Boyd,
The ex-GN line from Lyndale Jct to St Cloud is what you are looking at. The west part of the line from Monticello to St Cloud has been gone for a number of years. The remaining line into Monticello basically is there to service the Excel Energy nuclear power plant. This is now BNSF trackage.
I suspect all of those TOFC cars you saw were stored in the depths of the recession…
Jim