GN 309A         
Going west from St Paul and Westminister tower the Great Northern had a four track main line on which both the Chicago Great Western and the Chicago North Western also ran between St Paul and Minneapolis!!! At St Anthony Tower the freight mains entered the east end of Union Yard crossing over the Passenger mains on four crossing diamonds as the Passenger mains headed west thru the University of Minnesota and then crossed the Mississippi River on the Stone Arch Bridge which i believe had a curve in it on the west end going into the Passenger Station!!! West of the GN Union Yard and the Minnesota Transfer which connected with the Milwaukee Road was Minneapolis Jct which was south of the Soo Line at Shoreham and the NP at Northtown--- this is all to say that there was a lot of railroading in not really a lot of space!!! At Mpls Jct was engine GN 309A--- but as you can see from the GE U Boat on the right and the "Big Sky Blue" engine on the left--- change was coming like it or not it!!!
Date: 6/6/1968 Location: Minneapolis, MN   Map Show Minneapolis on a rail map Views: 1933 Collection Of:   Steve J Rush
Locomotives: GN 309A(F7A)    Author:  Steven Rush
GN 309A
Picture Categories: Roster,Yard This picture is part of album:  Great Northern
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User Comments
Name Type Comments Date
Harold Beaudry General Great shot,love those old loco's.. 9/26/2007 2:46:45 PM
Ron Moraca General Excellent photo, Steven! GN, NP, and BN to a lesser degree had 36 months to bemoan their fate before Conrail took over and screwed rail freight transportatoin up so badly that it's never fully recovered. That's the USG (Uncle Sam) for you. Conrail never, ever got it together, and Amtrak's just as bad. 11/8/2008 10:57:25 PM
Mr Hobo General Ron that might actually be the most full of sh*t comment I have ever read. 12/7/2015 10:17:12 AM

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