We are vacationing in Sioux Falls and I would like to see some trains. Any suggestions for close railfanning spots.
This one is kind of difficult for me to answer, as there is not a whole lot of rail traffic that runs through Sioux Falls on a daily basis. The local BNSF yard can be seen from 8th Street in the downtown area, or from the 10th Street viaduct. We have a shortline known as the Ellis & Eastern Railroad which is owned by Concrete Materials, and they run through my neighborhood, and you would generally catch them at the intersections of 14th Street & 5th Ave, or at Minnesota Ave, roughly three blocks south of 14th Street. I wish I could tell you something about the operating schedules of the BNSF in this area.
If you are still in Sioux Falls next Tuesday night, I might suggest you drop in on the Sioux Valley Model Engineer’s Society out at the WH Lyon Fair Grounds. We have one of the best HO scale layouts in this part of the country and visitors are always welcome. The club usually meets on Tuesday evenings between 6:00 and 9:00 or 9:30 PM.
Ray Loftesnesss CANADIANPACIFIC2816
Thanks for the information Ray. For security reasons I do not want to say wether I am there, or not, at this time. Your HO scale club sounds interesting and I would like to drop by but feel uncomfortable saying when. Is it an open house type of thing every Tuesday? Could we just drop in? It sounds like my 2 year old would love it.
Can you also direct us to a hobby shop where we might pick-up HO or Thomas pieces. I like to get something from everywhere we visit.
Don’t forget to stop by the lumber store and say “Hi” to Murphy![;)]
Finally! A question I am somewhat qualified to answer. Unfortuneately, Ray pretty well sums it up, as there isn’t a lot that goes on here, relatively speaking. The only thing I could add to his list, is that the Dakota & Iowa rock trains comes through from Dell Rapids to Sioux City about twice a day. Like every other train in town, it has to cross 8th street in the downtown area.
Another option would be to drive to Garretson, S.D., about 15 miles northeast. The BNSF line from Wilmar, MN to Sioux City intersects with(?) the Sioux Falls branch. A fair amount of coal and other traffic goes through there. There is also Palisades State Park, and 2 very nice city parks, along Split Rock Creek, in Garretson.
Check out Hills, Minnesota, which is just 20 miles directly east of down town Sioux Falls. Four or six trains a day with meets in the evenings between 6:30 and 9:30. If you catch a meet you can get up close and personal to the cab and sometimes the crew will come down or?? and have a friendly chat with you.
Also, this line, a former Great Northern line and operates in dark territory. At the time of my visit there was plenty of chit chat going on my scanner so bring your scanner too.
Also, if your up in Sioux Falls on Saturday, July 14th, drive over to Luverne which is east on interstate hi-way 90 about 30 miles. The First Iowa Division has a railcar ride planned setting on around 6:30am and departing at 8:00am. The cars will be running between Luverne and Worthington then back to Luverne for lunch before heading west to Manley junction with the BNSF same line that runs through Hills and Garretson, S.D…
So if you want to see just plain old trains or find some real action check out the speeder ride in Luverne. Incidently, my car is the fourth car from the right edge of the photo. See the link below on First Iowa Division web page. This photo was taken June 2nd of this year on LaVeta Pass Colorado.
http://www.firstiowadivision.com/
myrail