Back to gallery

CPKC 243 At Westminster

Just another frame from this scene to go into the trip album.

 

CPKC train 243 (St. Paul to Edmonton manifest) with a merger consist of one locomotive from both CP and KCS is westbound on Main 2 of the joint CP/BNSF St. Paul Subdivision near MP 1 at the historic east end of the former Northern Pacific Railway.

 

This particular location was one I'd always wanted to visit ever since first seeing a photo of a CNW switcher trundling above, and was one of my top two locations to shoot in the Twin Cities. The train is passing beneath the west end of Union Pacific's Altoona Sub mainline, the former Omaha Road (a long time CNW subsidiary headquartered here in St. Paul) via a stone arch built in 1885. This junction features four tunnels (and once there was a fifth for the Soo Line) and is absolutely fascinating. To learn more about it here is a great article:

 

rchs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/RCHS_Spring1998_Schmi...

 

And for a brief overview of St. Paul's railroad history check out BNSF's own corporate page here:

 

www.bnsf.com/news-media/railtalk/heritage/st-paul.html

 

Saint Paul, Minnesota

Friday May 5, 2023

1,617 views
27 faves
0 comments
Uploaded on May 31, 2023
Taken on May 5, 2023