Mon Dec 10, 2012 11:02 am

STILLWATER, Minn. – The owner of the defunct Minnesota Zephyr Dinner Train says he intends to scrap the two F7A locomotives that powered the train when it shut down in 2008.

The two locomotives are landlocked in Stillwater, the train’s former operating base. The line they ran on is being salvaged for a state trail.

The train’s owner, Dave Paradeau, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press his plans to sell the six Minnesota Zephyr cars and two locomotives over the summer fell through when a buyer from the West Coast defaulted on a purchase agreement.

Last summer the two engines were to move about three miles to a siding in Bayport, Minn., for storage, but on July 27, a main suspension beam on a 16-axle trailer snapped while crews were moving one locomotive, Paradeau said. “That caused a severe safety situation,” he said.

“The tractor-trailer rig could not move forward or backward without tipping the locomotive over on its side.” The movers left the locomotive where it was on property owned by the city of Stillwater.

City officials want the locomotive out, and issued an abatement order against Paradeau on Nov. 16 because “talks with him were not being productive,” City Administrator Larry Hansen said.

Paradeau said he plans to appeal the order. He said he needs a 35-day extension to hire a salvage company to break apart the locomotive for scrap.

The city said the locomotive must be removed because it is sitting where city crews build a berm each spring to prevent flooding. The city has been in contact with a company to have the locomotive moved back to Paradeau’s property at the former Zephyr depot. 

Stillwater would pay the $12,000 to move the locomotive and have that amount placed on Paradeau’s property taxes as a special assessment, Hansen said.

The Zephyr’s other F7 is on blocks near Paradeau’s depot property; the six cars are stored in Bayport. Paradeau said he plans to have both locomotives salvaged and sold for scrap. “It’s emotional,” he said. “The locomotives are in good operating condition. To sit there and have those two nice locomotives salvaged is a shame.”

Wed Jan 23, 2013 9:32 pm

BAYPORT, Minn. – The Washington County sheriff’s office plans to hold a public auction today at the Anderson Corp. plant in Bayport to sell six passenger cars from the defunct Minnesota Zephyr dinner train.

Andersen Corp., which manufactures windows, agreed last summer to temporarily store the cars in the yard outside its Bayport plant. The company said it agreed to store the cars for 15 days, but they never moved. Andersen says it is owed $250,000 by Zephyr owner Dave Paradeau, so it will turn them over to the sheriff for auction.

“After five months, the cars have become an impediment to our business and must be removed,” Laurie Bauer, a spokeswoman for Andersen told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “We’ve been very patient and have tried to help (Paradeau) out, but, unfortunately, it’s just been too long.” Bauer said Andersen agreed to let Paradeau store the cars on company property beginning in July 2012 in order to support the new Brown’s Creek State Trail as the cars “were transitioned to their new home” away from Stillwater, Minn. about three miles from Bayport.

Paradeau sold the six-mile ex-Northern Pacific line the Zephyr used west of Stillwater, Minn., to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources last year for $4.25 million to become the Brown’s Creek Trail.

The Zephyr made its last run on Dec. 31, 2008.

Legal notices advertising the auction have been running in the Stillwater Gazette newspaper since December, Bauer said. Among the cars for up auction are former Southern Pacific home-built full-length dome No. 3604, ex-Missouri Pacific Pullman Standard dome No. 894, and three diners.

There is no minimum bid. The amount due to Andersen on the date of the sale is $250,653, $249,000 for rent and storage and $1,653 for site preparation before storage.

If proceeds of the auction are less than $250,000, Paradeau would be liable for the remainder, Bauer said.

“We had a contract to store them and he didn’t make the deadline for removing them,” Bauer said. “He owes us that much for the use of our rail line.”

Paradeau, who lives in West Palm Beach, Fla., said that he was working with Andersen and that the auction would be canceled.

Bauer said that the auction was still scheduled to take place, but added that the company was “working with Mr. Paradeau to reach a mutually beneficial agreement that will allow us to cancel the auction.”

The train’s two F7 locomotives remained stored on blocks at the former Zephyr depot in Stillwater.

Paradeau says he intends to scrap the two units.


Tue Feb 12, 2013 11:04 pm

STILLWATER, MINN. – Vandals hit the two F7A units from the defunct Minnesota Zephyr dinner train last week, according to police.

Police said an employee discovered the battery compartments on the two locomotives had been cut open and the batteries were missing from one of them.

Each of the four missing batteries weighs about 350 pounds and costs $400, according to a Stillwater police report. The damage is estimated at $2,000.

The locomotives are sitting on blocks next to the closed Zephyr depot in downtown Stillwater.

The Zephyr made its last run on Dec. 31, 2008.

The ex-Northern Pacific line the train ran on was sold to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources last year and the rails removed to become the Brown’s Creek State Trail.

The six train cars are stored at Andersen Corp. in Bayport, Minn., about three miles from Stillwater, which no longer has any rail access.

Fri Mar 22, 2013 10:53 pm

STILLWATER, Minn. – Stillwater's defunct dinner train is now headed west, shorn of trucks and loaded on top of flat cars destined for Colorado. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that six cars of the former Minnesota Zephyr dinner train were loaded onto flat cars for the San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad in Alamosa, Colo. Chicago-based Iowa Pacific Holdings owns the Colorado short line.

Dave Paradeau, who formerly owned the dinner train, operated excursions through the St. Croix River Valley for 20 years. Paradeau recently sold his stake in the rail corridor to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, which plans to use the land as a pedestrian and bicycle trail.


FOAMING WET Wrote:
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> WEDGE PHOTOS OF IT FOR LIKES ON
> FACETOOBCHATGRAM!"
>
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> the reason they haven't sold"
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