[Magdalen] Railroads

[Lynn Ronkainen]

My grandad in MN was a lifer with the railroad. Not sure which line. He retired in the late 50s
Lynn


Sent from my iPhone

On May 30, 2016, at 2:02 PM, Joseph Cirou <romanos at mindspring.com> wrote:







-----Original Message-----
> From: Cantor03--- via Magdalen <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
> Sent: May 30, 2016 12:46 PM
> To: magdalen at herberthouse.org
> Cc: Cantor03 at aol.com
> Subject: Re: [Magdalen] Railroads
> 
> 
> 
> In a message dated 5/30/2016 11:51:09 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
> polycarpa3 at ckt.net writes:
> 
> Ditto  for my home town, with later dates.
> 
> More railroad stuff:
> 
> In, say, 1950, there were no less than four passenger train routes
> from the Twin Cities of MN to the Twin Ports (DuluthMN/SuperiorWI)
> Now there is one route (as near as I can determine) provided by
> Amtrak..
> 
> The original four were:
> 
> (1) The Great Northern with a route entirely within MN, and the furthest  
> west
> of the series.  This is the route Amtrak uses.
> 
> (2) The Northern Pacific, with a route hugging the MN-WI line and  
> essentially
> replaced by I-35.  Portions of this route are still used by small,  regional
> railroads, and part of it is public trails.  My hometown spur  connected to
> this route at Rush City, MN.
> 
> (3 The Soo Line with a route  mostly in Wisconsin, and the one that we  
> always
> used.  A chunk of this is still used by an excursion ;private railway  from
> Osceola, WI to Minneapolis.  The rest is abandoned with some of it  trails.
> 
> (4) The Omaha Road (C&NW) with a route far to the east nearly  completely
> within Wisconsin.  Much of this trackage is abandoned, with some use  as
> public trails.
> 
> What I wouldn't give to travel any of these routes now.
> 
> Ditto for riding the three crack trains Twin Cities to Chicago (The  
> Burlington
> Zephr, the C&NW 400, and the Milwaukee Road Hiawathas).
> 
> End of trains babble.
> 
> 
> David Strang.
> 
> David
I think I took the 400 once with my parents as a child, I don't remember exactly, I remember sitting in the observation car of the Hiawatha, but I don't remember being to St Paul that often as a child. My grandfather was a fireman for the CNW from 1910 to 1940 when he retired at the age of 70 the same year as his wife, Rose died as the tresult of a tragic fall. My father and his brothers were all raised in St. Paul and Stillwater, MN.

My grandfather Leon moved in with us in the late 40's. He was buried in Stillwater, and was entitled to free passage for the final trip. There is a picture of the 4 sons who all came to Chicago for the funeral. 

Joe