In September Milwaukee Road 261 will be running trips out of Wayzata, MN as a part of that city's James J. Hill Days celebration. Judy Sandberg faxed our office the ticket info, and because I'm out of the office until evening I won't get a chance to make the tickets available on the shopping cart system until after about 7 PM CDT.

Please visit after 7 and purchase tickets if you can. We'd appreciate it.

Regards,
Doug

I admire the 261 and her crew as much as anyone. But I do think its too bad that we don't have any Great Northern steam to run at a celebration of James J. Hill.

Where is that Lotto ticket. . .

Scott,

I agree. A certain 4-8-4 with 80" dirivers (2584) would look pretty sharp on the front of that train. The only trouble is convincing BNSF to lease it out.

Of course we could settle for a H class pacific in Souix City if it were to finally get steam in her belly. My understanding is that they plan to stuff and mount her again.

There are a couple other contenders in North Dakota. That mike would look sharp too.

Just dreaming agian. By the way, I too am a fan of Steve Sandberg and the 261. I am just glad I had a hand in her restoration. The turbo generator on her came from Morehead.

Take care,

JD Johnson, Morehead and North Fork Railroad Historian

hmmm, what about Spokane, Portland, and Seattle #700? After all, the SP&S was a GN/NP subsidiary, and the #700 was built off of a GN design, therefore it has a "family resemblence." Heck, it even pulled the Portland section of the Empire Builder!

Now you're talking. . .or that certain P-2 class 4-8-2 stuffed under a tight little shed in Wishram, Washington!

Gosh, dreaming is fun.

All you have to do is stand by the BNSF and imagine that it is the Milwaukee Road, a few miles to the south, and it all comes together nicely.

RTK

Or squint really hard, or wear someone elses bifocals and pretend the 261 is a GN engine.
Lots cheaper and easier than getting a company engine resored and running.
I often find myself wondering about the JJ Hill days celebration. Seems to me I've read that the people of Wayzata back then had a pretty adversarial relationship with old JJ.
Or is my memory failing again?
Mark D.

Even this New York boy knows that SP&S 700 is a carbon-copy of an NP A-class 4-8-4.....

So, does 2584 still belong to the GN--BNSF???? Howzat??

As far as I know, the engine was put on permanent display by the Great Northern Railroad and never changed hands. I would then expect that it now belongs to BNSF. Some correct me if I am wrong.

I know that about 10 years or so ago, the BNSF moved the engine from its first display area close to the Park Hotel to the BNSF depot.

This is my favorite engine and I am building a replica of its unique 7 chime whistle.

The SP&S 700 would also look good on the train since it worked for the joint railroad venture GN/NP. It is a copy of a NP 4-8-4.

Take care,

JD Johnson, Morehead and North Fork Railroad Historian

Ticket information is now being entered into the ecommerce system and should be available later this morning.

Yes Wayzata took a rather dim view of the Hill's railroad separating them from Lake Minnetonka. I believe that originally, the street and the railroad were more or less in the same location, right along the lakeshore.

As a result of the dispute, Hill punished the town by establishing the depot about a mile east of town (near Highway 101). Eventially the rift was patched up, and as a sign of good faith, Hill built a particularly fine depot in the middle of town, which is the one that stands today.

This story is widely known, but it seems to me that there is some missing informations as to why Hill chose the particular spot a mile east of town for his "spite" depot. I also do not know whether that depot was preceded by an earlier depot that was acutally in the middle of town.

RTK

That's essentially what I had read.
He built the depot far enough east of town that the people would have to walk a long distance to catch a train.
The track is still right along the lake shore there.
I recall reading how Hill built the track where it is, but not the details. Something about doing the work over night, or on a weekend or something like that. Posession being 90% of the law.
Today, they celebrate this man who "stole" "their" lakeshore.
I also don't know why he wanted to run along the lake shore so badly. Perhaps to drop off people from the city near the lake.
Mark D.