Western Railroad Discussion > Ex-Milwaukee Road Missouri River Bridge-Chamberlain, SD

Dakota Southern Railway, Mitchell to Rapid City, SD, line.  RailWorks Track Systems and Koppers work on Chamberlain to Presho, SD, track upgrade project.  Koppers did the tie replacement, walkway posts and inspection planks replacement.  90-pound rail replaced with 132-pound welded rail on Missouri River Bridge west of Chamberlain, South Dakota.  Old 90-pound rail will be used as guard rail.  New welded rail in place May 16, 2016.

Rebuilding of 42-miles of ex-Milwaukee Road Rapid City line between Chamberlain and Presho, SD, including the bridge over the Missouri River at Chamberlain.  Mitchell to Rapid City Regional Railroad Authority.

Dakota Southern Railway rebuild project will serve a new Wheat Growers agronomy services and shuttle loader facility complex at Kennebec, SD, along a segment of the state-owned line.  In Fall 2014 Dakota Southern received a $12.7 million Federal Tiger grant to help fund the $29.9 million rebuild.  South Dakota Wheat Growers started construction on its $40 million Kennebec facility in 2014.  Project scheduled to be completed September 2016.  Access/escort was granted with appropriate PPE equipment.

1 - Newly laid welded rail (note lack of spikes) on Dakota Southern Railway (ex-Milwaukee Road) Missouri River Bridge west of Chamberlain, South Dakota.

2 - Dakota Southern Railway had occasionally used track west of Missouri River Bridge to store cars in recent years.  New Wheat Growers loop loading elevator prompted State of South Dakota (track owner) to upgrade the ex-Milwaukee Road line.  May 16, 2016.

3 - RailWorks Track Systems track maintenance equipment at Chamberlain, SD, May 16, 2016.  In foreground was Nordco TRI-384 tie remover/inserter machine.  The prairie grass overgrown right of way (right) now clearly visible after 65-pound rail replaced with 132-pound stick rail.  Ballast trains expected to start running west of Chamberlain in June 2016.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/16 07:06 by cozephyr.

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Thanks for posting these photos. That's an impressive bridge from an area with not much rail activity. Hopefully this will help the fortunes of this line.

Thanks for the photos.  The Milwaukee's Chamberlain bridge over the Missouri was built by the US Army Corps of Engineers in 1953 when the Fort Randall Dam was built, which resulted in Milwaukee's original steel bridge being flooded by Lake Francis Case (that bridge had been built in the 1920's to replace a pontoon bridge).  The new bridge was the longest bridge on the Milwaukee Road, approximately 4,600 feet long.

Interesting to see a line like that get upgraded, thanks for posting.

Great to see this line being rebuilt, that bridge is an impressive sight out in the open lands of South Dakota. Thanks for sharing

King_Coal observes:
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> Thanks for posting these photos. That's an
> impressive bridge from an area with not much rail
> activity. Hopefully this will help the fortunes of
> this line.
To me, one of the perverse truths about the Milwaukee Road is that while its traffic base, particularly toward the end of its days, was pretty lean, the quality with which it was engineered and to which it was constructed lay at the other end of the spectrum.

Can you tell us more about the UP engine in the picture?

UP DD40X 6925 owned by Dakota Southern. Never used by them. TFV

wp-913 Wrote:
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> Can you tell us more about the UP engine in the
> picture?

Dakota Southern Railway purchased (what year?) ex-Union Pacific 6925, DDA40X, for parts.  Only Centennial ever to ply 60-pound Milwaukee Road rails!  She's surrounded by out of service equipment.

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While the DD40AX was used for parts it was purchased for it's large fuel tank. Buying fuel in bulk rates got it at a far lower per gallon rate. Fuel could be purchased in truck load quantities then used in smaller quantities as needed.

Spare parts were just an added benefit.

Posted from iPhone

Unless it has recently dissapeered there is also the only existing spare truck for a DD40AX sitting in the weeds not to far from the Depot. Alex can tell you which Centenial it came from.
Steve

fbe Wrote:
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> While the DD40AX was used for parts it was
> purchased for it's large fuel tank. Buying fuel in
> bulk rates got it at a far lower per gallon rate.
> Fuel could be purchased in truck load quantities
> then used in smaller quantities as needed.
>
> Spare parts were just an added benefit.
>
> Posted from iPhone

Speak of the Devil and up he jumps.
To correct some mis-information, I once jokingly said we bought the DDA40X for its fuel tank and have regretted it.  It was actually bought for its 645 parts as the two B/O prime movers had fifteen reusable power assemblies which we could have swapped into our ex-MILW SD's with 16-567C blocks which had been upgraded with 645 power assemblies.  It was a pleasant surprise when we discovered the B/O engines were not original but drop-in  heavy-block" 645's, probably from SD40's.  Although we had stripped some parts, Morrison-Knudsen was happy to buy them after inspection confirmed the crankshafts were not damaged.  The blocks became cores  for rebuilding and installation in commuter locomotives.  The spare truck, minus wheelsets, came from the 6906 which was sold at the same time as the 6925. DSRC never entertained any serious thoughts of restoring the 6925 to service, but we knew the trucks were the one basically irreplacable casting.  The truck might be of value to a future owner.  We were told that a couple of trucks over the years had been cracked when someone ignored the warning attached to the truck to never support a locomotive when only the first and fourth axles were in place.  We also learned that the DDA40X truck has a longer wheelbase than the DD35 truck.

Other trivia-- The original rail on the Missouri River bridge was bolted 9020.  It is now being repositioned as guard rail between the heavier steel shown in the photographs.  Other than some short bits in sidings, there is no 60# west of Mitchell.  The rail is primarily 6507.  The Napa-Platte Line was primarily 6007.

Alex Huff   

Ballast coming from LG Everist?    Can we get advance warning on those, suspect some of us nearby might jsut want to make a trip or two.

Any idea when the first train will run to the new plant?

Joe

So, Alex, do I get a free cab ride as a reward for falling for the fuel tank gag?

The way my memory is these days I may forget there has been a correction and you will have to live with this for decades more.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/16 10:04 by fbe.

Joe asked who is supplying the ballast.  Spencer Quarry, east of Mitchell will supply the quartzite.  The quarry is jointly owned by two competitors, L. G. Everist Co and Sweetman Construction.  The quarry manager said he had to keep his owners equally mad at him by underbidding owner A on a project to the satisfaction of owner B, then underbid B to the satisfaction of A.  And you think you have a tough job!  Spencer is no longer served by rail.  Rock will be trucked to Mitchell and transloaded to twenty ballast cars owned by L. G. Everist and leased to Railworks.

As an aside, Everist family members own the D&I Railroad which operates between the Everist quartzite quarry at Dell Rapids, SD and Sioux City, IA.  Sweetman family members own the Ellis & Eastern Railroad which serves a quartzite quarry on the west side of Sioux Falls, SD and a sand plant east of Sioux Falls at Brandon, SD.  Using locomotives which are numbered so the last digit is a seven, #7, #17, #27, etc., the E&E serves a redi-mix plant at both quarries.  Running a mini-shuttle of dedicated cars with no empty miles, the train hauls quartzite to the eastern redi-mix plant and backhauls sand to the western redi-mix.

Alex Huff                   



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/16 20:11 by dsrc512.

What a fantastic posting and thanks to all who contributed.  Wish I could have fanned that line
back in the glory days, especially Mitchell to Rapid.  Lots of the old roadbed and some trestles
still there to enjoy around the Badlands.  The Missouri River bridge has always been a favorite
and I recommend to all fans the State rest area on the east side of the river which has a great
overlook including excellent views of the bridge.  Thanks again for this very interesting thread.

Rich

I think 1980s by the Huff family. Never operated, used for parts.