Milwaukee Road #261

Circle Trip  July 2, 2004

CPR #2816 and Milw #261 Doubleheader on July 3, 2004

On July 2, 2004 Milwaukee Road #261 made the "Circle Trip".  This trip was from Minneapolis and return.  However the southbound leg of the trip was on the BNSF railroad which runs down the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River.  The return trip from La Crosse, WI was on the Canadian Pacific which runs on the Minnesota side of the Mississippi River.  However the same day the Canadian Pacific #2816 was also running on the CP rails.  The two steam trains met in Red Wing, MN along with Delta Queen docked there.  I was able to photograph two mainline steam excursion trains passing the same spot with an hour of each other.  That doesn't happen very often. 
On July 3, 2004 the Canadian Pacific #2816 coupled with the Milwaukee Road #261 to run a Main-Line doubleheaded steam excursion.  This train was part of the culmination of the Grand Excursion.  The Grand Excursion grand ending was planned for St. Paul where the 7 riverboats and the double-headed steam train would come into town together.  Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate very well.  The entire day was overcast and shortly after the train got north of Winona, MN on its return trip there was a torrential rainstorm. 
Photo Locations Include:
Dakota, MN
south of Red Wing, MN
Prairie Island, MN

Click on the thumbnail photos to see larger images. The larger image is not the actual size of the photo it is only about 20% of the actual size. Original Photo size is 3072x2048 pixels.

IMG 3865
IMG 3878

IMG 3882

IMG 3889
IMG 3899
IMG 3902
IMG 3919
IMG 3922
IMG 3987
IMG 3999
IMG 4003
IMG 4021
IMG 4031
IMG 4037
IMG 4043
IMG 4066

Actual Size of photo file is 3072x2048 pixels or about 1 to 1.5 MB per photo. Of course photos on the CD will not have "Steam Trains and Tractors" printed across them.

Click Here to return to Steam Trains and Tractors Main Page

Click Here to return to CPR #2816 Main Page

Click Here to Return to Milw 261 Main Page

All Photos above were taken by Keith Schmidt Copyright 2004

To Include photos from this page use "File Name - Doubleheader and the File Number below the desired photo" 

CPR #2816

Video Segment Available - Video shot at locations listed.  Length 6 minutes 52 seconds.  To order use File 261 Circle Trip
Video Segment Available - Video shot at locations listed.  Length 8 minutes 10 seconds.  To order use File Doubleheader
Listen to the Sounds of the 261/2816 Doubleheader including the whistle from the Steamboat "Mississippi Queen"
<BGSOUND SRC="_RefFiles/Doubleheader Steamboat.mp3" loop=FALSE>
(Best Heard Using Internet Explorer)
Click on Above Link to see sample video of 2816/261 Doubleheader