By Dan Meyer and Dawn Holmberg
November 1st and 2nd, 2002
Dawn and I went touring this weekend with the Northern Division of ACME Railfan Tours (1). We camped overnight at Camden State Park, about 10 miles southwest of Marshall. Overnight lows were in the low 20's; daytime highs were about 40. The BNSF railroad route between Willmar and Sioux City runs through the park a few hundred yards from the campground. There was one other soul in the campground, and he was hardy enough to be sleeping in a tent!
On the drive out, we inspected the Minnesota Prairie Line from the junction with the Twin City western at Norwood to Morton. I took a look at the railroad at Green Isle a couple years ago, and it was a sad weed-grown sight. There hadn't been a train in quite a while. Today, the railroad is in better shape than I've ever seen it, and I've been familiar with for over 15 years. There is new ballast everywhere, and all ties are now in good condition. As recently as 5 years ago, only one tie in 10 was good. Today, almost all ties are good. The railroad appears to be an honest 10 mph railroad today, and it wouldn't take a lot to make it a 20 mph railroad.
We stopped at Hamburg (looking east and west), Green Isle (looking east and west) and just west of Arlington, where we saw this interesting little industrial locomotive. We also stopped at Winthrop (looking east and west), where my uncle used to live. He moved several years ago, before this plant was built on the east side of town. We also stopped in Gibbon (looking east and west) and inspected the facilities there. There isn't too much business there today, but the siding switches are still in place.
The neatest structure on the line is the Fairfax Depot. (looking east and west). Some group has turned this depot in to a nice museum, and they have even obtained a semaphore signal and placed it trackside. For some reason, they placed it the wrong way, but it does look nice. The depot is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Fairfax also has a fair sized grain facility on east side of town. This worn-out wheel is evidence of a lot of work equipment in the area. On the siding we found several cars stenciled MPLI.
The next town west is Franklin. There was a side dump car attached to a rail-mounted crane sitting on the siding. At Morton we saw the engine house and a cut of cars sitting on the bridge west of town.
West of Morton, the highway has been re-aligned. There is a wayside rest part way up the hill that has a wonderful view of the railroad. It would be a nice spot to get a picture of a train.
Note (1); The Northern Division ACME Railfan Tours has extensive experience with railfan tours for more than 15 years. This year alone we have toured the semaphore equipped BNSF Raton Pass line in New Mexico twice, as well as the Black Mesa and Lake Powell Railroad, The Durango and Silverton, The Colorado Railroad Museum, the Union Pacific's Nebraska Mainline, and much much more. We also rode passenger trains on the Erie Mining Company Railroad, the Cumbres and Toltec Railroad, the Grand Canyon Railroad and the Verde Canyon Railroad.
