New to the list of operating railroads for Minn-Rail in 2011 is The Milwaukee Road - Hastings & Dakota Division. This railroad models a portion of the Milwaukee’s old Hastings & Dakota (H&D) Division between Minneapolis, Minnesota and Aberdeen, South Dakota in August of 1954.

 

Operation consists of a number of scheduled passenger trains & time/way freights, plus numerous extras and locals (called respectively "Dead" freights and "Patrols" in Milwaukee Road parlance). Scheduled trains are consistent with the actual H&D Employee Timetable for the period. Almost all trains do some work en-route, even passenger trains.

 

East of Minneapolis, trains from the LaCrosse & River (L&R) Division, as well as some thru trains off the H&D, run to/from St Paul, Minn (staging yard for trains to/from points east & southeast). West of Aberdeen, trains run to/from Roscoe, So Dak (staging yard for trains to/from points west & southwest). There is also a "live" branch line to Fargo, North Dakota, and interchanges with two other branch lines en-route.

The numerous way freights and "Patrols" perform lots of switching duties at major terminals and towns along the way. All together, there are 170 car spots at on-line industries and en-route branch line staging/interchange tracks have another 21 cars spots. A realistic demand based car card and waybill system is used. Scenery is underway and almost all structures are in place.

Crew lounge, refreshment area and restroom are all adjacent to the layout room with a full library of railroad books and videos to peruse between trains.