Nostalgia & History > SoDak Saturday*: Bandit in the hills!

Between Ft. Pierre and Midland, SD there was a 50+ mile stretch of “no-man’s land”. At least as far as the RR is concerned. I worked for the DM&E during the summer months of 1987 and got to know this stretch pretty well. But evidently not well enough…

There were 2 ghost-town locations between Ft. Pierre (just across the Missouri River from Pierre) & Midland, SD; our crew change point with the Rapid City crews. Neither ‘Wendt’ nor ‘Van Meter’ worked when I used them in Google Maps, but I was able to trace the old DM&E line all the way between Ft Pierre & Midland. From G.M. satellite photography it appears there has been a siding constructed somewhere in the old Wendt area.

I took a fair number slides in that summer of ‘87 while working the west territory out of Pierre (the state capital). But I had started a slide into bad note-keeping habits that would eventually lead to laying my camera down for the better part of nearly 2 decades. As a result I’m not 100% sure where the shot below was taken. There is a ‘Van Meter’ road that shows up in Google Maps which corresponds to where I remember the RR Van Meter being. And I’m pretty sure this shot was taken while I was working a ballast-dumping work train. The track I’m (purportedly) shooting from at Van Meter was only a stub track long enough to hold our engine and handful of ballast cars.

Results from my Google Maps foray were inconclusive, to say the least. So this is my best-guess for a location. The actual date (6th) could also be off by 2 or 3 days. (Bad habits always have to be paid for, they say…) On the up-side is the interesting paint covering my photo subject. In 1987 the bulk of DM&E’s fleet of road power consisted of ex C&NW SD-9s and MILW (SOO) rebuilt SD-10s. The patched-over noses of some of the MILW units were tagged with the amusing nick-name “bandits” for obvious visual reasons. Here is one of those bandits westbound (I think) taken at Van Meter, SD (maybe) in September of 1987 (pretty sure).

1. DM&E 556 at Van Meter, SD on September 6, 1987.

*Considering the website maintenance announcement by the TO gang I decided to post this late Friday night.

Thanks for looking!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/22 22:27 by santafe199.

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Hey, I thought it was past your bed time!

Marty Bernard

MartyBernard Wrote:
> ... I thought it was past your bed time!

Ain't retirement fun!?! No one forces you to go to bed if ya don't wanna...

;^)