Nostalgia & History > MILW Depot Friday: Vermillion & Yankton SD

Photographed 6/29/14 on former MILW trackage now operated by BNSF:

1) thru 3) Vermillion SD MILW depot

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4) thru 6) Yankton SD MILW depot

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For those not familiar with this area, what passenger trains may have called on these stations? The station at Yankton looks substantial. What endpoints would the passenger trains have had?

P Wrote:
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> For those not familiar with this area, what
> passenger trains may have called on these
> stations? The station at Yankton looks
> substantial. What endpoints would the passenger
> trains have had?
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From the June 1953 Official Guide, this line was already down to only one mixed train per day in each direction between Sioux City and Aberdeen, plus some bus service. I don't have any earlier timetables, so maybe someone else can help out. Looks like that would have been a long day on Trains 123/108, but I don't imagine many passengers were traveling between the two end points.

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The line was looking pretty Milwaukee for some time even under BNSF. The SAPA extrusion
plant in Yankton was taking aluminum at a regular rate but the local was still two Geeps and
a few cars. Then, someone decided they needed an elevator the size of a small town just
North of Yankton and all of a sudden there was money to make the track better. Case in point
don't abandon too quickly.

Out

Vermillion looks like a scene right out of the 1950s. Pretty cool.

Hey Terry, how about that switch stand they converted
into a mailbox at Vermillion. LOL

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.776555,-96.934389,3a,42.5y,167.51h,68.46t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1skwE9GTzHnBHSti2wtDmehA!2e0

BaltoJoey Wrote:
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> Hey Terry, how about that switch stand they
> converted
> into a mailbox at Vermillion. LOL
>
> https://www.google.com/maps/@42.776555,-96.934389,
> 3a,42.5y,167.51h,68.46t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1skwE9GT
> zHnBHSti2wtDmehA!2e0
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Good catch! Didn't even notice it when I passed through, but that sure is in keeping with the railroad tradition of making do with what you have.

callum_out Wrote:
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> The line was looking pretty Milwaukee for some
> time even under BNSF. The SAPA extrusion
> plant in Yankton was taking aluminum at a regular
> rate but the local was still two Geeps and
> a few cars. Then, someone decided they needed an
> elevator the size of a small town just
> North of Yankton and all of a sudden there was
> money to make the track better. Case in point
> don't abandon too quickly.
>
> Out
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Would this be the elevator you are referring to? Photographed at N. Tripp 6/29/14. There are others along these ex-MILW lines + ethanol facilities as well.

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That would be the one, the few on the South end of town (toward Vermillion) don't load
anywhere near what the Super Elevator does and most years take a few cars inbound fertilizer
and little else. There were miles of the line that were 10 mph for several years, welcome
change to see the unit trains.

Out

Trivial corrections; the Vermillion section house is a BN design that the state of South Dakota paid for when BN leased the state owned ex-MILW track. Identical buildings were also constructed at White Lake and Redfield . The grain elevator at "N. Tripp" is where the town of Beardsley was. Jointly owned by Cargill and Mitsubishi, it is called Dakota Plains. The depot at Yankton was built by the MILW and was sold to a local TV station when the MILW abandoned service in 1980. Nicely kept up, the wooden shingles were put on after the railroad sold the building.
Alex Huff

dsrc512 Wrote:
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> Trivial corrections; the Vermillion section house
> is a BN design that the state of South Dakota paid
> for when BN leased the state owned ex-MILW track.
> Identical buildings were also constructed at White
> Lake and Redfield . The grain elevator at "N.
> Tripp" is where the town of Beardsley was.
> Jointly owned by Cargill and Mitsubishi, it is
> called Dakota Plains. The depot at Yankton was
> built by the MILW and was sold to a local TV
> station when the MILW abandoned service in 1980.
> Nicely kept up, the wooden shingles were put on
> after the railroad sold the building.
> Alex Huff
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Well Alex, you really burst my MILW bubble for Vermillion and Redfield, but I surely appreciate all the corrections; I did kind of wonder how those two small wood stations might have been saved. I got the N. Tripp location from the sign leading into the grain elevator, so I'm not surprised it was actually a different station on the railroad.

I've really enjoyed exploring SD's present and past rail lines on trips through the state the last few years and have a couple more postings in the future; I'll be counting on your SD expertise for any future corrections.

I could be having a very senior moment, but I think I met you and Louis Salliard at the 1963 NRHS Convention in Denver. I remember staying in the good old Oxford Hotel for that one.

My wife and I were there the same day you were. Too funny.

Anyway, my June 1941 Guide has the #115 Arriving in Yankton at 10:33 am and the #116 leaving Yankton at 9:50 pm. The #123 got there at 4:18 pm and the 108-118-108 getting there at 3:20 pm. Plus the 503, 597 598, 508 all originated or terminated in Yankton. I guess 8 trains a day would call for that nice of a station.

Steve