Minneapolis Daily Photo Blog

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There Goes the Neighborhood

2915 Knox Avenue South falls to the hammer of progress. It seems that the ban on new developments in Uptown has ended. This house is on the left-most edge of the property shown below: This promotional sign was on the side of the second house they demolished Tuesday. They are removing all five houses that are there now. I'll keep you up to speed as the development progresses. I snapped up pics of all the houses, since they will be gone by the end of the week and I know I'll be scratching my head in a year wondering what used to be there.

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Private Locomotive with a View

View of the tracks for the Private Locomotive.

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Private Locomotive

A private locomotive in it's service bay attached to a grain elevator on the Hiawatha Rail Corridor.

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Industrial on the Fringe of Ruin

I wish I could own this place. I'm sure fixing it would break the bank, but it's beautiful.

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Industrial Minneapolis

Please, please don't paint them!

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Graffiti-strewn Brickhouse & Chair

This is my favorite picture from the day of shooting on the Hiawatha Rail Corridor. This abandoned little brick office sits between two elevators. Despite it's situation, it's held it's own. In fact, it politely invites you to rest in it's mello-yello deluxe laundromat-style chair. So pull up a mello-yello chair and celebrate, it's my birthday.

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Rippling Wall

Welcome to the wonderfully neutral gray industrial wonderland.

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Minneapolis Railroad Graffiti

The  rail main lines carry big drag-freight of coal and lumber in new rolling stock, but Minneapolis has many small transload lines too that use old, beat-up cars that have definitely seen better days. I was delighted to find an old Chicago Northwestern car peaking out between to equally Graffiti-encrusted cars. A lot of the old branch lines around here have been cut or go nowhere and just end up being storage for these old hulks which is good news for us graffiti hunters. Note* Please, if you're inspired to go hunting, never step between parked rail-cars, I leaned in for this shot, but did not step in. If a switcher bumps the line of cars, you could suffer serious injury, these babies weight around 80,000 lbs empty!

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Minnesota Commercial Approaches

The Minnesota Commercial Railroad is a local Transload line that handles loads from the Hiawatha Corridor (shown here) to Fridley and the Twin Cities Arsenal. For you hard-core train nuts, have I got a deal for you! The Minnesota Commercial Railroad is selling an old EMD 567 Engine. She's a fixer-upper, but imagine putting a 1350 horse-power motor in the middle of your living room — one heck of a conversation starter. Check out that track; it's fun to watch a 250-ton yard switcher lazily wobble down these mangled rails.

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The Last Color of Fall

A small maple tree struggles to eek out a living in a split rail along the Hiawatha rail corridor.