Re: To the traveling man
Posted by: "Thomas Baker" [email protected] millcitieslimited
Fri Feb 10, 2012 8:31 am (PST)
Ken,
Your commentary brings back memories. I recall seeing the Minneapolis-
Hutchinson mixed train switching cars on the yard tracks that we under Lyndale
Avenue. The mixed always had one of those rare GN NW-5 units equipped with a
boiler but still carried an ancient combine painted in Pullman green.
Although I lived two years in Hutchinson, I regret not riding the mixed on
Friday afternoon back to Minneapolis. Wending its way around and over the
Minnetonka lakes and bays, the train would have offered some scenic vistas one
never sees from Highway #7. I had plenty of opportunities to take that ride but
never did....
Tom
Hey, Tom, what years were those memories of yours regarding the GN line that
crossed our driveway? I've seen photos of the passenger cars that was part of
one of those short consists. It's private varnish somewhere, I read. If I had
the room for a second layout (heck, I barely have room for the first), modeling
that short line from Wayzata out to Hutch would have provided some great scenes
as it wound its way around the bays, sloughs and eventually farmland. I
paralleled this line while it was still operating and it was dotted with grain
elevators and rural small sidings. The trackage looked like bacon! I'm sorry
it's gone and hope that someday the State or Feds will deem it worth it to put
in a light rail line into downtown Minneapolis.
Anyway, back to S! Ken stopped over last night to continue work on a curved
turnout at the Chicago yard lead. It's a tight fit and will probably call for
one more curved turnout before he's finished, but we're halfway there. While he
worked on that, I was back in the coachyard installing new plastic gears in an
old Bowser motorkit, installing it on the bottom of the turntable and screwing
it down in the benchwork. Applied the power and the darn thing works! The
turntable bridge slowly moves in the arc, giving me the ability to turn
incoming steam from either the Chicago Yard or hidden storage from the boiler
room. When I get into operating sessions, the value of the turntable and the
efforts of Ken and Ron Kemp with the sledgehammers will become more evident.
Right now it's just fun to turn 'em and send them out.
Steve
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