#duplainville

Westbound at Duplainville

After a post on FB and some input from knowledgeable people, I believe this is Amtrak’s North Coast Hiawatha running westbound at Duplainville. This is where the Milwaukee Road (on which the train is running) crosses the Soo Line.

While it’s a long-haul train, it only ran beyond Minneapolis three days of the week, so this may be one of the short-haul days.

The light was fading. No 8 was running late. Kris and I arrived at Duplainville, Wisconsin where the Canadian National’s former Wisconsin Central crosses Canadian Pacific’s former Milwaukee Road. We were there just in time to see that the signals were cleared for an eastward train. We got into position, post haste, to roll by Amtrak’s eastward Empire Builder—train No. 8. Amtrak No.8, the…

Duplainville Tower

Here we see (what I believe to be) a westbound Amtrak North Coast Hiawatha running on the Milwaukee Road. The tower marks where the Soo Line crossed; it was torn down in 1987.

The two railroads crossing here now are the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National Railways.

Duplainville Tower

Here we see (what I believe to be) a westbound Amtrak North Coast Hiawatha running on the Milwaukee Road. In the second image we see a southbound train of the other railroad involved with this interlocking—the Soo Line.

The tower was torn down in 1987; the two railroads crossing here now are the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National Railways.

Duplainville, Wisconsin is a busy place for rail freight.

Here are two to four views (up loading difficulties makes the final number uncertain) of an eastward empty unit coal train on the old Milwaukee Road, now CP Rail, with Union Pacific GE diesels fore and aft working as distributed power. In the trailing photos you can see the diamond crossing with Canadian National’s Wisconsin Central…

You’ll need to pay close attention to figure out the players in this scenario.

Duplainville, Wisconsin is where the former Milwaukee Road mainline to the Twin Cities from its namesake crosses the historic Soo Line/Wisconsin Central route between Chicago and Fond du Lac.

Soo Line bought the Milwaukee in the 1980s, and in the 1990s the Soo Line branding was displaced by parent Canadian…

Empire Builder, Bloody Nose and a Snow Squall.

Friday afternoon January 18, 2019, Trains Magazine’s Brian Schmidt and I visited Duplainville, Wisconsin to catch Amtrak’s westward Empire builder, train number 7, as it split the signals in a snow squall.

Amtrak P42 50 leads train number 7 west at Duplainville, Wisconsin.

I was delighted to see that the Milwaukee Road-vintage searchlight signals that I remember from my days in Wisconsin…