Osceola & St. Croix Valley Railway
The last event of the convention kicked off at 8:30 on Sunday, July 5 when
the buses departed for the Osceola & St.
Croix Railway. Since no parking facilities are avaliable at that end of the line, attendees boarded the train at a grade crossing in Withrow,
Minn. The
trip continued east for several miles before crossing the Wisconsin state line.
Shortly after, passengers were permitted to debark for a photo runby (see photo below). After the runby, the
train traveled directly to Osceola where it quickly departed for Dresser, Wis. Just outside of the Osceola station, the ex-Rock Island GP7 No. 559 blew
a water hose. Some duct tape enabled the diesel to limp into Dresser and while
the passengers ate lunch, the crew went in search of a replacement water hose.
The train was fixed by 1:20 pm and departed for Osceola at 1:50 after the last photo
runby of the trip.
At Osceola the train was put into a siding and passengers were allowed to deboard to visit the gift shop and
photograph the regular passenger train passing by. By this time a steady rain was falling. At 2:30 the trip continued back to Withrow where
conventioneers got back on buses and were taken to the airport, Amtrak station
or back to the convention hotel. By the time passengers were reboarding the buses, the rain had stopped and the sun was out again.
The consist for the train was:
-
Soo Line GP7 No. 559
-
Great Northern No. 265 baggage car
-
Rock Island No. 2608 coach
-
Great Northern No. 1097 coach
-
Great Northern No. 1213 Empire Builder
-
Great Northern No. A11 first class car
A good time was had by all despite the broken water hose and rain.
Report by Jeffrey Smith
