Tuesday I made a trip to Webster, Mn for a snow blower attachment. As I headed back home I saw the remnants of a RR ROW near the intersection of Dalton Avenue and another street with 3 different designations: 30th st. W or E 280th st or New Prague Blvd. Its the next major road north of downtown Webster. What RR line was operated over this and how long ago was it removed?
With some digging I found it was the Farmington to Mankato branch of the CMStP&P that ended around 1974. Would it have been Milwaukee Road in its latter years?
I have been under the impression that the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad was the first road acquired by James J. Hill and became the first part of his Great Northern Railway. Am I mistaken?
The line from Mankato to Farmington was indeed a Milwaukee Road branch. In later years a job based out of Farmington worked the line to Mankato three times/week. Not sure when service was ended, but I do have a picture of the train crossing the old M&StL line at Montgomery(Spring of 1974). Many times the line was out of service in the spring due to flooding. The Milwaukee would run extra ‘Wells Turns’ between Mankato and Wells to get cars into Mankato. That ended when the Red Jacket bridge south of Mankato was condemned The Milwaukee then obtained rights to run on the C&NW’s ;Omaha’ line from St Paul to Mankato to service their industries. This only lasted a short time and service was abandoned all over the system as the railroad was restructured.
Jim
Thanks for the explanation but please don’t test me on it. My own knowledge of the west is limited to western New Jersey.