Western Railroad Discussion > Progressive Rail's Rosemount job

This past Tuesday the Rosemount Job pulled corn syrup empties from a local bottling plant and crosses over the I35E birdge in Eagan MN on former Milwaukee Road rails. This is the former I&M line up from Mason city Iowa that is stub ended just behind the train.

Joe

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I've seen this line a million times when landing at MSP on 29L&R.

Who operates the line now, where did it go no the nw end before it was cut,
and where does it connect on the south end?

thx

Progressive Rail operates the line now. It connected with the UP's Valley Park-South St Paul line at Cliff in Mendota. From end of track to the junction is now a bike trail, fun one way as it's mostly downhill and was prown to washouts....

PGR94 Wrote:
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> Progressive Rail operates the line now. It
> connected with the UP's Valley Park-South St Paul
> line at Cliff in Mendota. From end of track to
> the junction is now a bike trail, fun one way as
> it's mostly downhill and was prown to washouts....


It is the original connection of Minneapolis with the outside world. Coming north from Albert Lea, MN, it crossed the Minnesota River at Mendota, climbed the bank of the Mississippi below Fort Snelling, then northward through South Minneapolis Yards to a passenger station in Minneapolis. Original building was a through station, with the clear intent to extend north or west, but this was never done from that point. Later line relocations in the Mendota area resulted in the connection at Cliff which rerouted the line into St. Paul, rather than Minneapolis. The Milwaukees' Minnesota River bridge at Mendota was removed in the late 1950's.

-LD