An afternoon/evening of blizzard trains at Sturtevant +Amtrak Empire Builder#7

[@denniscoleman8802]

Great video!!! The passing trains at end AWESOME! As a retired CNW locomotive guy….I do not miss those winters in Wisconsin! I lived in MtPleasant very near to Sturtevant … correct me if I’m-wrong but I believe they saved and moved the old depot which was another great catch on you video. Now live in Arizona….but was a nice ride down memory lane 👍👍😎

[@jeffnorbert1871]

And the Milwaukee Road had an east/west branch line near the Sturtevant station. East all the way to downtown Racine with a 2 stall engine house next to the Root River. West out to Burlington and maybe beyond. A variety of switch engines were used on that branch over the years. You never knew what would turn up. Once saw an EMD derailed at the Memorial Drive crossing. Most of the east end is now a bike trail. At one point my bedroom was right next to the tracks at Deane Blvd. Sure miss the Milwaukee Road and CNW. CNW had a double track main all the way through the City of Racine and they also had a 2 stall engine house at the southeast corner of Dekoven Ave and South Memorial Dr. As with Milw. they used a variety of old switchers to do local freight. Late in the game Milwaukee was using a high hood Geep most of the time locally. In the early/middle 70s you would occasionally see an old F unit mixed in with newer power on the CNW main. Those were the days!

[@dwkcamman611]

Superb! My Dad and I visited here every winter to watch and film trains...My old VHS videos will end up on KZbin soon showing the glory of Soo Line trains at its best!

[@scoobycarr5558]

Soo Line did what the Milwaukee Road did not do - run fast freights at 60 on the Chicago-Milwaukee main and the Sprints up to 70 and Amtrak up to 79. Back in the day the MILW had to make do with 50 for freights and maybe 70 for Amtrak.

[@pkranz937]

Scooby Carr Sprints (Inc the Ford Fast) were 60+ mph trains on the Milwaukee. Once the CP tore up the double track, everything but the Sprints was 45-50 mph. In fact, CP had a bizarre policy in which we were not allowed to exceed 45 mph beyond the second notch. Amtrak ran 70 mph on the Milw, 79 mph on welded rail. This held true for the CP until the stick rail was all replaced.

[@Mrgregtrain]

Milwaukee Road Sprint Trains ran at 60 mph Amtrack at 79mph I know because I worked as a Conductor on the C and M sub as well as the Lacrosse Division and River Sub to the Twin Cities from 1968 to 1992 when they abolished Milwaukee as a crew change point and ran Chicago to Portage and Portage to Minneapolis StPaul I finished out my time in Milwaukee Terminal to avoid the driving to Portage until I retired in 2008 for a 40 year career.When I left I wasn’t aware that Intermodal(Soo)and Expadited trains CP Rail ran at anything over60 MPH check it out for yourself.Normal freight was still 50 mph barring any restrictions from the Milw Road days to present.Amtrak is still 79 MPH thanks to Gov Scott Walker who refused to take the federal stimulus for high speed rail over the line at Watertown,Wi to Madison and to Portage,the money went to Illinois and California where they put it to use for high speed rail.There was talk of speeds of 100 mph.If that wasn’t bad enough the Talgo plant which built some of the best high speed passenger equipment in the world moved to Illinois and followed the money from Milwaukee ,all probably because of his affiliation with Koch Industries which is heavily vested in the fossil fuel industry which lobbies against mass transit and renewable energy ,that’s what I’ve been told and there you have it to the best of my knowledge.

[@scoobycarr5558]

The Soo Line went past at 60 through Sturdevant along with Davis Junction, same speed as the Milwaukee Road, until CP took over in the mid 1990s.

[@CRQ5508]

Back in the days when CP Rail (It hadn't re-become Canadian Pacific yet) still ran MLW/ALCo power. GE's debut of the AC44 was just five months away at this point though.

[@pkranz937]

CRQ5508 CP Rail *is* Canadian Pacific. That's what CP stands for ... The MLW's were gone by 1993. Very few were operated in Soo/Milwaukee territory.

[@admydragon]

The year I was born...amazing footage

[@soolinefan1]

i love that railroad very amazing catches i really like those 3rd generation p3 horn on those units

[@redzmvt]

@HighIronofWisconsin Back in those days,it was mostly SD60s.A GE unit was a good catch,IMHO.Mostly CNW/UP units on coal trains.

[@pkranz937]

redzmvt We didn't start seeing much of the AC44's until after we got the 8500/8600's, which were/are Soo units assigned to St Paul.