SteinJR or Wolfie (W.E. Dudler), Where you at?

SteinJR, next time you and you lovely wife are in St. Paul, look me up. We need to walk the (paved over) tracks along Charles Ave. At one time, there were business that recieved rail service each day; an urban setting, switching in the streets. Das ist gut, ja?

Wolfie, where is Henry? I need more HENRY! I love 44Tonners, best switching Loco for a small urban setting, hands down! Please, more Henry!

Gracias a Dios, Jimmy

Didn’t Wolfie post on WPF a couple of weeks ago??

Hi Jimmy –

You seem to mix German and Norwegian a bit :slight_smile:

So are you talking about the part of Charles Avenue west of the Amtrak station and south of Minnesota Commercial’s Yard, or the part to the east of the Amtrak station?

I have walked the area west of the Amtrak station a couple of years ago, and took some pictures.

We had a thread about the Minnesota Transfer in the Midway area about a year and a half ago - here is the link to the thread: http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/p/157484/1776192.aspx - the thread included a link to a map showing tracks around this part of Charles street, linked from here: http://www.universityavenuehistory.com/images/map_000.jpg

I have also seen parts of Charles further east - we went visiting my wife’s maternal grandmother several times every summer while her grandma still lived - she lived on Charles Avenue somewhere between Dale and Lexington - can’t remember the exact address anymore.

But that area was just older homes - a couple of steps up from the street to the front porch, and an alley behind the houses with access to the garage in the back yard.

There is also an area that looks fairly promising on maps a block north of Hennepin, between Harding and 280.

A search of the Minnesota Historical Society’s visual database yields these hits on photos from location “minneapolis.northeast” between 1930 and 1970:

Here’s the latest picture - one hour ago - from Henry, the 44-ton:

This is where is ended after the last session. And this was on Feb 4.

I’m busy with my narrow gauge empire, the Silver Valley RR. Just now I’m coloring my rocks. Look under Rock Report.

Wolfgang