urbanMSP

Here's the view from the parking ramp near Central Station in St. Paul on Saturday. Love this spot!

The Spine Line (yellow going North out of Northfield to SPUD via Inver Grove Heights on Mike's map) will be the subject of much infrastructure improvement from Union Pacific over the next few years to relieve congestion - the Robert Street bridge in Downtown St. Paul is apparently slated for replace...

The "Friends of 261," operators of the large steam locomotive based in Minneapolis, will be operating some holiday events out of SPUD on December 4-5-6 and December 12-13-14. Full details haven't been published yet, but, it'll be a Polar Express sort of thing for kids.

I would prefer that they replace the whole bridge with a deign that gets rid of more of the supports and uses a smaller footprint in the park area. Also making a pathway/stairs for bikers/hikers to get off of the bridge and down to the Bruce Vento park. Easy pedestrian access from the new railfan p...

The Pioneer Press is reporting that the Kellogg Blvd. Bridge will need significant repairs in order to address structural deficiencies ; as a result, it will be getting reduced to a single lane in each direction, with a third for pedestrians/bicycles. The city must now decide if they should simply r...

Here's a photo from a few nights ago when we got a few rounds of nice, soaking rain - great conditions for photography.

Mind if I share the link with some Facebook friends? These are too good not to share and gush over. Incredible! No problem; I think you can generally assume it's safe to share Flickr links, nothing secret here :) It'd be great if you would be willing to license one of them CC; the picture on the Wi...

really great! that last shot with the Ford building is gold. I have to agree with that Ford Building shot. That and those shots could be very profitable selling the rights to, or as prints. They are all very good shots and you have an excellent eye with the camera. Appreciate your comments, both, t...

I spent a couple of hours there last night taking photos; see the whole set here ; or skip to my favorite which is linked/previewed below: https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3926/14962749500_5e7bdeba6d_z.jpg It's an insanely cool place to take pictures at night; if you're into photography and have an ul...

I have a bunch of HO-scale stuff from when I was a young pup so obviously that's a place to start but what are the advantages of N-scale or HO-scale, beyond the obvious space savings? The space savings are pretty amazing; N scale takes up roughly 1/4 the area as HO does. If you get into doing lots ...

Ah make it stop, I've got enough expensive hobbies already! *closes the Kato browser tab* If trains aren't your thing, they've got buses too... lpYaryP0ikg Some of the transit oriented layouts are pretty freaking cool... would be fun to attempt an accurate model on either St. Paul or Minneapolis. p...

Awesome! In the past I've been into trains much more via photography, but, with two kids, and a third on the way, enjoying them at home is a nice option. I've been kicking around the notion of doing some T-Track modules, haven't ever really dabbled with doing scenery and such before. Kato's coming o...

I have a few .pdfs saved showing revised livery designs that are vector based, so they are pretty detailed. They don't have dimensions, but it should be able to calculate if you know the length. The one I have for the Siemens LRVs is higher quality and has a front view. I also have a slightly highe...

Found this on a Metro Transit infographic, which might be of use assuming I can get a dimension off of the real thing to scale off of.

I'm interested in making models of the LRVs in use in the Twin Cities; anyone happen to have technical profile drawings of the LRVs with dimensions that I can use as reference so I can get the proper proportions? Perhaps there was a side drawing of one in a PDF presentation at some point? This is fl...

It's easy to forget that the checkpoint, barbed wire, and watch towers have only been gone for 23 years.

Back in the good old days you had to pay an additional fare when you went between cities; perhaps we could reinstate that?

I'd rather see a DMU regional service on the UP Spine Line. Now that the FRA has revised buff strength requirements, I think DMUs will become much more feasible for these types of services. This could serve Mpls > SPUD > Rosemount > Northfield > Faribault > Owatonna > Albert Lea (with future extens...

"Green Line" / "Minneapolis" for westbounds and "Green Line" / "St Paul" for eastbounds.

I think that's an excellent solution. How'd they label the southern/western(?) terminus of the Blue Line Trains?

I got out, took a few photos, and rode from SPUD to Snelling and back; felt bad for the bands, vendors and other exhibitors at the outdoor events; it was really blustery and rainy. The "DOWNTOWN ST" signs were a bit odd. For the Green Line, seems like "St. Paul" and "Minneap...

How about a pretty picture? Took this from upper level of Target Field last week; didn't get a chance to walk around the platform, but it's stunning from above. Note the screen showing the game in progress.