( If, like poster Runs with scissors, you don’t care for this type of post, please skip over this post)
Here are your clues:
Two Chicago railroads used to serve this city.
One of the roads was a mighty fine line,but it’s gone now.
One of the lines radiating from town is now operated by a grain-gathering shortline. It runs infrequent trains, that cruise along at about 10 mph.
The other existing line through town is a mainline. The Chicago line being taken over by a Western line. It can be busy, as it connects 2 of the Upper Midwest’s busiest railroad towns.
A few miles out of town, the engineer on the mailine can see the sign pointing to the highest spot in the state.
Nah, not Mitchell. Highest point in SD is clear over in the Black Hills. How about if I shed some light on one of your clues- would the two cities being served by the mainline be Minneapolis and Omaha/Council Bluffs?
See, I thought it was Mitchell, because the two RR’s in Mitchell were the C&NW and MILW (weren’t they???). Both have Chicago in the name. One of the branches out of Mitchell is the Dakota Southern, a infrequent grain hauler which runs at 10 mph. I knew that Harney Peak was the highest point, so I thought there might have been a billiboard or something.
I have to give Phil (wgnrr) credit for his guess of Mitchell, S.D., even though it is incorrect. Except for the highest point in the state, Mitchell fits the bill, even to the point of a Western railroad, BNSF, taking over one of the Chicago lines.
For real? I’ve been to Grand Marais a half dozen times. It’s one of the most beautiful places I can think of, but I don’t think it has any railroad tracks.(?)
Are you mixing up Grand Marais with Two Harbors? Both have similar little bays, where the boats come in from the south. Two Harbors has the taconite loading dock. Last summer, at Two Harbors, I sat out on the breakwater near the lighthouse and watched a DMIR helper set push a train of empty ore cars up the hill.
I think I’ve got it this time.