Burlington Northern, Local Freight to Hugo, 1988-89

in 1988 I purchased a Sony video camera and used it to video trains, mostly around Minnesota, with a few trips outside the state. At the time I lived in White Bear Lake and at the end of my neighborhood was a Branch line of the Burlington Northern. This branch line became and easy target for me to film because if I was home I could hear a train in the yard and in minutes I could grab my camera and easily catch it.
The branch line ran from Northtown yard in Minneapolis to the small town (at the time) of Hugo MN. The Branch line was actually two separate lines of the Northern Pacific. The part running from Minneapolis to White Bear Lake was called the "Mulberry Line". The Mulberry Line joined the "Skally", which ran from St. Paul to Duluth. The two lines joined at a location called M&D Junction, where there was a wye and the small yard known as "New Yard". At the time I was video taping New Yard was reduced to just a run around track and the Skally Line had a section of track removed at Hugo, making it a dead end branch. The Skally line was no longer used south of White Bear Lake, although the track remained in place.
The Burlington Northern operated the line mostly with four axle Geeps at the time I was filming. I called the train "the local" but according to BN it was called "Transfer One". There were several industries along the line but my focus was mostly the section from New Yard to Hugo, where a lone lumber company received boxcars and flatcars of lumber. At M&D junction were two other industries, in the center of the wye was another lumber company and at the west end of New Yard was a industry that made structural wood products (it is still operating as of this writing).
Even though most of the time I stayed around the White Bear area to file, i did follow the train back to the outer limits of the city of Minneapolis. The case was pretty easy as good roads followed the line up to Minneapolis. My time spent with Transfer One was not very long, lift got in the way and I was not home much when the train was working the line. Ironically, my carrier landed me in a company that was located along the Mulberry line in Roseville MN , which I spent 28 years working at and watching the changes.
The line is still worked as of this writing by the Minnesota Commercial, and trains still go to Hugo, although not to the same lumber company. New industries have been built along the line and traffic actually expanded. Now trains work both north and south at M&D junction. The MC enters the Mulberry in Roseville at a diamond located just east of Walnut St. (where my office was). The Mulberry was removed about 1/3rd of a mile west of the MC diamond and converted to a bike path. I spent many lunch hours walking the path that I once chased the Transfer on.

[@tommyhunter1817]

Those green high hoods look sharp!

[@jobot]

Dang -- perfect Flying Switch !!

[@speng72]

I have lived I hugo all my life. Enjoyed the trains in the early 80s, Milwaukee road, bn, cn ran on the scally line. Thanks for the video.

[@SD457500]

Fantastic video!! So cool to see BN power on this line.

[@azrailfan2717]

Fantastic video. Love the old geeps and their prime movers throttling up 🤠

[@ThomasEide3318]

Awesome video! Always fun to see switching and locals! Rare footage of vintage power as well!

[@bradhardy2629]

I used to Run from C.p. St. Paul yard to Stinson yard in Superior Wisconsin..1997 1998. About 6000. Hp. Worth of Geeps. Lol.

[@MilePost106]

Right at 42:41 was a common sight with all those locomotives running the Brainerd line between Little Falls and Brainerd. High nose geeps were popular in Little Falls when they had the big rail yard and switched out the local industries. I can still see the geeps going across the trestle in the evening with those beacon lights flashing on the way up to Brainerd.

[@BNSF1458]

Wow

[@CrazyKaboose]

It’s weird this has been my stomping grounds all my life and I just found this video not to long ago!

[@BNSF1458]

@@CrazyKaboose LOL So true though, I'm always looking for old footage on this line

[@CrazyKaboose]

Wish I could’ve saw this. The trail is definitely a lot more lame than the Skally.

[@troyramberg4871]

Thanks for sharing this video! I grew up in North Branch, so I saw a lot of the local BN local switching in my home town. Interesting ops after the line was severed. Flying switch in Hugo!!! Great to see the smashboards at Bald Eagle in action. I wish I would have watched them work M&D Junction before and after their trip to Rush City.

[@BNSF2184]

3:30 Now thats old school!!

[@25mfd]

cool vid... like the drop to get the flat car in position... i think doing that on "todays" railroad would be banned

[@tommythomason6187]

They use big, six-axle road units to do lots of switching moves nowadays. I couldn't imagine an SD70, or ES4400 doing this kind of job. Don't those big locomotives beat up the, sometimes, not so great? local tracks?