White River Junction Wrote:
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> Craig Tambo Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > There is no Amtrak depot in Minneapolis, it's
> in
> > St. Paul.
>
> This thread has me curious about operations prior
> to Amtrak taking over passenger trains in 1971. I
> believe in the pre-Amtrak and pre-Burlington
> Northern days, trains like the North Coast Limited
> and Empire Builder had stops in both St. Paul and
> Minneapolis. The trains ran on the CB&Q
> (Burlington Route) from Chicago to the Twin Cities
> and then on Great Northern (Empire Builder) and
> Northern Pacific (North Coast Limited) west of
> there. But where in the Twin Cities did the the
> crews change? Minneapolis or St. Paul?

Consider passenger operations of BN to be the same as pre-BN for the most part. Amtrak (May 1, 1971) was the biggest change. St. Paul Union Depot (SPUD) was where most of action occured between the Hill lines (GN, NP, CB&Q). The Q forwarded NP and GN trains to Chicago from SPUD and vice-versa. Eastward trains would stop at GN's Minneapolis Station, then use GN trackage to SPUD. The GN or NP trains would back in and take the power to their respective roundhouses. SPUD crews would perform any switching and, depending on the era, combine the GN, NP and often a Q train for the trip to Chicago. A CB&Q crew with CB&Q power would take the trains to Chicago. Some Q trains would terminate or originate in the Twin Cities and would therefore begin the eastward journey in Minneapolis and make a stop at SPUD. They would use Q power for the entire trip. Some trains of the NP and GN terminated in Twin Cities and would use both stations.

Milwaukee and Rock Island could use the tracks south of SPUD as run through tracks without the need for backing in. They used the Milwaukee's Minneapolis depot as well as the SOO.

The Twin Cities--Duluth trains operated as a GN, NP, SOO pool. NP and SOO started in Minneapolis and made stops at SPUD while GN trains started in St. Paul and made a stop in Minneapolis on their way to Duluth.

CGW and CNW trains originated in Minneapolis and made stops in SPUD while M&StL trains only used Minneapolis with no service to St. Paul.