WCfan
Three Hundred and Ten Miles
LTA-41 arrived Tunnel City with no time to spare, barely squeaking in front of a west bound fleet of 149, 247, and 7. Once on CP, it was nothing but green signals and LTA was able to keep ahead of a fast approaching 7. Here we see them passing the Donehower station board, about 17 miles from hopping off the CP at Tower CK in Winona.
Winona is an island terminal on Union Pacific; a product of rationalizations and spin-offs by their predecessor CNW. These trackage rights trace their origins to the 1972 collapse of CNW's bore at Tunnel City. Initially, it appears that the CNW obtained a short section of trackage rights through the parallel Milwaukee bore before hopping back onto their own tracks on the other side.
This arrangement was expanded in 1977 when the CNW extended the trackage rights agreement all the way to Winona. This allowed them to abandon their own Mississippi River crossing in Winona, while still retaining an eastern connection to their Dakota Division and the famed "Alco Line".
By 1986 the CNW spun off the Huron Line and associated trackage to the new regional start-up Dakota Minnesota and Eastern. Excluded from this sale was Winona, resulting in the isolated terminal UP operates today. 36 years later, this island pocket of track still produces enough black on the spreadsheets to avoid raising any flags, for now.
Big thanks to those who made this happen, as we would have been hosed otherwise. Earlier in the morning I dropped DanK off at CUS, MP 0. 310 miles and 9.5 hours later, I waved at him at Tower CK.
Three Hundred and Ten Miles
LTA-41 arrived Tunnel City with no time to spare, barely squeaking in front of a west bound fleet of 149, 247, and 7. Once on CP, it was nothing but green signals and LTA was able to keep ahead of a fast approaching 7. Here we see them passing the Donehower station board, about 17 miles from hopping off the CP at Tower CK in Winona.
Winona is an island terminal on Union Pacific; a product of rationalizations and spin-offs by their predecessor CNW. These trackage rights trace their origins to the 1972 collapse of CNW's bore at Tunnel City. Initially, it appears that the CNW obtained a short section of trackage rights through the parallel Milwaukee bore before hopping back onto their own tracks on the other side.
This arrangement was expanded in 1977 when the CNW extended the trackage rights agreement all the way to Winona. This allowed them to abandon their own Mississippi River crossing in Winona, while still retaining an eastern connection to their Dakota Division and the famed "Alco Line".
By 1986 the CNW spun off the Huron Line and associated trackage to the new regional start-up Dakota Minnesota and Eastern. Excluded from this sale was Winona, resulting in the isolated terminal UP operates today. 36 years later, this island pocket of track still produces enough black on the spreadsheets to avoid raising any flags, for now.
Big thanks to those who made this happen, as we would have been hosed otherwise. Earlier in the morning I dropped DanK off at CUS, MP 0. 310 miles and 9.5 hours later, I waved at him at Tower CK.