The Rail network in Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota hosts key routes to and from Chicago, Kansas City, ports in the Pacific Northwest and Canada. BNSF, CPKC, Canadian National and Union Pacific are the major players here. Many trains travel through the area, but the most unique trains are led with EMD locomotives. Most of which no longer exist or are on their way to retirement. In Volume 3 of Twin Cities Mainline EMD’s, we visit the southern part of BNSF’s Hinckley Subdivision from Brook Park to Coon Rapids. Here we get to see many locomotives still in their BN green and black paint, along with EMD SD70ACe T4’s in BNSF demonstrator colors. The Hinckley Sub also hosts Canadian Pacific and Union Pacific trackage rights trains, and those railroads provided great EMD power as well. Then we get into the heart of the Twin Cities to visit 2 short subdivisions. CPKC’s St. Paul Sub is a 10-mile ex-Soo Line route from St. Paul to Shoreview, and the Merriam Park Sub is a 9-mile ex-Milwaukee Road route in St. Paul, also known as Shortline Hill. Both these lines encounter moderate grades making the EMD’s work hard. Finally, we revisit some of the subdivisions we covered in the previous volumes to see more trains. The stars of this segment are CPKC’s transfers led with KCS GP40-2’s and GP40-3’s in the fancy red, yellow and black paint scheme. If you are a fan of the Twin Cities rail scene, and EMD locomotives, you must have Twin Cities Mainline EMDs, Volume 3 in your collection!
