A BN or early Amtrak Empire Builder knocks down a semaphore as it approaches Newport Tower, just southeast of St. Paul on its way to Chicago. Newport Tower has been preserved, but move from its original location. A heritage management plan for the tower from the city of Newport indicates that it was located at 11th Street in Newport, so I'm assuming that the crossing in the picture is 11th Street (which no longer crosses the tracks). The tower was closed by the Milwaukee Road in 1983 and moved to 600 7th Avenue in 1984. Since the train is traversing the Milwaukee Road, I believe this is an early Amtrak train, since the Empire Builder used the CB&Q route between St. Paul and Chicago prior to the Amtrak takeover. R.T. Steinbrenner Photo
Huge Album that Includes over 2,600+ photos of classic passenger trains across USA & Canada before and during the time of Amtrak & VIA Rail. More Images will be Added.
