Yea Tom. Pipestone Pass was quite the place. Can't remember who it was, probably Sanders, Monger or Harrop said it was really amazing to watch a wb climb the grade out of Piedmont. Maybe it was Ed Lynch. Whoever it was would camp up at Cedric and wait for wb's. I know Monger took photos of wb's from the overpass at Vendome.

As an aside, exx-Milwaukee Road, ex-MRL engineer Bob Bateman (now retired from MRL) told me the story of how and why the siding at Vendome was taken out of service and never used again. He was the fireman on an eb coming down the grade and Jack Dorsey, Sr. was the hogger. They derailed 23 cars (broken switch frog) right at the west switch at Vendome and the Milwaukee Road never replaced the west switch after that derailment. Once that happened wb's were screwed if they had to set out a bad order car. They used Grace for set outs since they rarely used the siding at Grace for meets. They had to keep Cedric clear, however, as there were often meets at Cedric.


Ernie