Roberts Street
Just another frame of this train as I clean out photos from last year's trips before I return to Minnesota next month.
I never did get a properly lit shot here but at least we did shoot four trains crossing the famous Robert Street Lift Bridge which was one of my goals for my couple days in the Twin Cities. This is the same Twin Cities and Western unit grain train shot moments earlier curling through Westminster Junction. The pair of grubby, faded, tired looking two decade old Union Pacific AC4400s are crossing the Mississippi headed to South St. Paul and handoff back to the UP.
This bridge is officially at MP 529.2 on the State Street Industrial Lead of UP's Albert Lea Subdivision. The bridge still carries the mileposts of its historic owner, the Chicago Great Western Railway which measured distance from Kansas City. At South Saint Paul yard two miles away the milepost becomes 349 as measured from Burlington, IA via the former Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. The UP came to own this route in 1995 when it acquired the Chicago and Northwestern which itself had gobbled up the Great Western in 1968 and then later purchased the 600 mile Minneapolis to Kansas City 'Spine Line' from the bankrupt Rock Island's trustees in 1983. The CNW upgraded the route and then abandoned virtually all of the longer former CGW main between those two points.
The 914 ft long span was built in 1914 and is one of the most important pieces of the former Corn Belt Route still in service today. To learn more about this bridge here are a couple links:
www.minnpost.com/cityscape/2021/12/downtown-st-paul-is-li...
And for more on the Great Western itself I highly recommend you find yourself a copy of H. Roger Grant's seminal 1984 work titled 'The Corn Belt Route: A History of the Chicago Great Western Railroad Company'
Beyond the train can be seen the slightly younger Robert Street road bridge dating from 1926. With a total length of 1534 ft its most notable feature is its 264 ft long rainbow arch main span with 62 ft clearance above normal river level.
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saturday May 6, 2023
Roberts Street
Just another frame of this train as I clean out photos from last year's trips before I return to Minnesota next month.
I never did get a properly lit shot here but at least we did shoot four trains crossing the famous Robert Street Lift Bridge which was one of my goals for my couple days in the Twin Cities. This is the same Twin Cities and Western unit grain train shot moments earlier curling through Westminster Junction. The pair of grubby, faded, tired looking two decade old Union Pacific AC4400s are crossing the Mississippi headed to South St. Paul and handoff back to the UP.
This bridge is officially at MP 529.2 on the State Street Industrial Lead of UP's Albert Lea Subdivision. The bridge still carries the mileposts of its historic owner, the Chicago Great Western Railway which measured distance from Kansas City. At South Saint Paul yard two miles away the milepost becomes 349 as measured from Burlington, IA via the former Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. The UP came to own this route in 1995 when it acquired the Chicago and Northwestern which itself had gobbled up the Great Western in 1968 and then later purchased the 600 mile Minneapolis to Kansas City 'Spine Line' from the bankrupt Rock Island's trustees in 1983. The CNW upgraded the route and then abandoned virtually all of the longer former CGW main between those two points.
The 914 ft long span was built in 1914 and is one of the most important pieces of the former Corn Belt Route still in service today. To learn more about this bridge here are a couple links:
www.minnpost.com/cityscape/2021/12/downtown-st-paul-is-li...
And for more on the Great Western itself I highly recommend you find yourself a copy of H. Roger Grant's seminal 1984 work titled 'The Corn Belt Route: A History of the Chicago Great Western Railroad Company'
Beyond the train can be seen the slightly younger Robert Street road bridge dating from 1926. With a total length of 1534 ft its most notable feature is its 264 ft long rainbow arch main span with 62 ft clearance above normal river level.
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saturday May 6, 2023