# The Great Train Robbery



## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

The Great Train Robbery of 2010, That Is

The Whistle Stop, it's called, set right spang next to the train line that runs from Minneapolis to the Dakotas. Dating back to the late 1850's, the trains laid down new track and small towns were platted by the rail owners, who sold the land, hauled in the people and the supplies that formed the support system to hordes of immigrants that followed in the following thirty years, homesteading the land by square mile. Nowadays there is not a lot of passenger rail, though the Empire Builder still runs from Chicago through Minneapolis all the way out to Seattle, in Washington State on the Pacific Coast.

Nate Bucklin, my husband, had agreed to a benefit concert to aid a town that was creamed by a tornado that chewed a 1/3 a mile wide swathe right through their town. In Wadena, this meant that everything was ground off and swept away leaving only basements, concrete slabs an huge amounts of debris. There will be no middle or high school there this year as the school is gone, every last little bit of it. They may be able to have some kind of temporary housing for the school in about three months.

Cannonball Paul and His Gandy Dancers do a show of songs about trains, so they were a natural choice for the venue at this bed and breakfast in New York Mills, another town about 10 mi. NW of Wadena, just one whistle stop away. The Whistle Stop Bed and Breakfast consists of a Victoriam era home, built in 1902, and several vintage Pullman Parlor cars and a caboose.

There are three rooms in the house, and three of the train cars are rented as luxury suites in restored and refurnished vintage style.





The interiors are divided into a large living space, with two other original sleeping compartments converted into a double jacuzzi and bathroom, with closets and observation platform at the end of the car. Here's the inside of the one we stayed in, The Palace Car. Yes, with old Victrola works!



A glimpse of the house with a peek at the Imperial Car in the background.



moustress and mate



This is the Palace Car, where we were.



This is The Imperial Car, where Cannonball Paul and mate were.



And here are Cannonball Paul and his gandy dancer, Fast Freight Nate, doing what they do.

I wish someone warned me that the Palace Car was only about 10 feet from the rail line; I wouldn't have expected to sleep much. There were trains passing, first one way, then the other way every half hour or so, up until about midnight, when it seemed they stopped, and then starting up again around 1 am there seemed to a be train every 10 minutes. There are three or four at grade crossings, and the engineer is obliged to whistle twice at every crossing. We didn't need to call out for a massage at that time as the whole car vibrated vigorously as hopper cars by the scores rumbled by. Of, course the car was on a side rail and that's where it is. The side of the rail car facing the main line has all the original solid wood wainscoting to provide the illusion of privacy.

I want my sleep back! Wahhh! I was robbed!


----------



## WoodWitch (Oct 18, 2009)

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Oh Moustress, how you make me smile


----------



## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

I do my best!*snicker*

BTW, I slept until 1 in the afternoon yesterday, and had a nap later in the pm. We were soggy and hard to light when the lady knocked at our car at 9 am to deliver our fresh hot huge breakfast. I suspect they are used to guests in that car being slow to answer, bleary eyed, blinking owlishly...at massive quantities of food and coffee and juice. It was a strange and dreamlike meal, to be sure!


----------



## zany_toon (Apr 3, 2010)

:lol: You were well and truly robbed but at least you were staying in a very classy abode at the time!!


----------



## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Yeah, we thought we were getting a free ride, and got taken for a ride, and had to sing for supper in the bargain!


----------



## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

I looked at the pics before reading the text and thought how great it must be to live with such fab sunny weather.Then I read about the tornado and felt almost lucky to be in rainy Britain.I'm off work and I've invested in a full set of water proofs after being drowned every afternoon walking the dogs.Summers gone.It looks a really interesting place to stay moustress.


----------



## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Sarah, it was fascinating. I grew up in another little whistle stop village, Bethel, Minnesota, which is about 175 miles southeast of Wadena, so the sound of the train whistle was sort of nostalgic. We had passenger service up through about 1961, at which point the grain elevator closed, and the train didn't stop anymore. It was sad. One of the things I've always been interested in is England's passenger rail system as well as all the hiking paths and biking paths. Freight trains have come back into heavy use since the cost of fuel has risen, and the wee hours are heavily used as the rules governing speed are looser, and trains can zip through smaller towns without slowing down.

We're just starting to see commuter rail lines built in the metro area of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and I still can't believe they are building above ground in the city! It really messes up auto traffic, especially during rush hour. Folks love it though, as ridership is more than twice what was projected on the part that is complete.

I don't envy your English weather as my sinuses dislike clammy, rainy weather. Sunny tropical heat with deadly humidity is even worse, though, and we've had a lot of that this summer. I am so glad we have AC at home, htough it has gotten kind of expensive. Today the AC stays off as we are having a respite, with temps in the 70's and low humidity. Just in time for the opening of the Minnesota State Fair, the largest fair in the US. It's been a scary season for severe weather, though. Minnesota had more tornadoes than any other state in the US, which is a new thing. It used to be Oklahoma or Kansas that won those honors in past years.


----------

