Short Summary
The St. Paul Turn is how the TC&W makes connections with the BNSF, CN, MNNR, CP, ICE, PGR, and UP. The train is scheduled to work Monday-Saturday, but can make an extra trip on Sunday is traffic warrants it. This is especially common during the Fall.
The crew goes on duty at 0700 in Hopkins and usually departs by 0815, arriving at the Minnesota Commercial's (MNNR) yard in St. Paul about an hour later. After making the setout, the train continues onto CP St. Paul Yard. Lately, a setout and or pickup at UP's Western Ave. yard has become common practice either before or after going to St. Paul Yard. After making their setout and pickup in St. Paul Yard and Western Ave., the train heads back to the Commercial for a pickup and eventually to Hopkins where the crew ties up.
Traffic Handled
The TC&W interchanges the most with the CP, but with ethanol demand increasing, the UP is becoming a close second. The BN and CN combined usually don't have anymore traffic than the UP alone.
Canadian Pacific's traffic consists largely of grain (all types), more than anyone else. The majority of the canned foods are handed off to the CP as well. A good amount of ethanol is also interchanged to the CP. The majority of the fertilizer comes from the CP. Lumber is also received from the CP. Interchange with the IC&E is done through the CP at St. Paul Yard; mostly limestone.
Union Pacific receives a lot of ethanol and DDG traffic. Roughly 65% of the sugar traffic is also handed off to the UP. Grains are interchanged to the UP, but not nearly as much as the CP. Occasionally a few loads of perishable foods arrives from the UP as well fertilizer.
The BNSF receives the remainder of the sugar and most, if not all of the molasses. Ethanol is also received by the BNSF, but to a much lesser extent than UP and CP. A decent amount of lumber is interchanged from the BNSF.
The Canadian National interchanges less traffic than the other railroads, with the exception of the IC&E and Progressive Rail. Lumber is received from the CN. Corn is interchanged to the CN for an ethanol plant in Wisconsin.
Other commodities make it onto the train but these are the consistent items.
0700 at Hopkins
Unless something unusual is going on, the St. Paul Turn starts their day at 0700 in Hopkins. If all went well with the Glencoe Turn the night before, the crew can just get on the power, tie onto the train, and go. If the Glencoe Turn died on hours, the St. Paul Turn dogcatches the train which usually results in a call time of 0600 or so.
Most of the time the train is blocked and ready to leave, but sometimes it is not for various reasons. If it is not blocked properly, the St. Paul Turn gets the honors  of blocking their train. On the headed should be the Commercial cars (BNSF and CN), followed by the UP block and then the CP block. The UP block used to be given to the MNNR to be interchanged to the UP but that has stopped in an effort to save money. The UP traffic is now interchanged at the UP Western Ave. yard in St. Paul, just west of Chestnut St. To save even more money, the TC&W separates the UP cars into two sections to relieve the UP of some switching. Any block can be out of order but different blocks can't be mixed together unless it's the entire block in the middle of another. The main reason for a train not be blocked is that the either the Ruebel Turn or Glencoe Turn were running short on time and weren't able to do the work. If blocking is required, it typically doesn't take more than an hour to do so. Once all of this is accomplished, the train is ready to head East.
Usually departing by 0800 the train heads for Cedar Lake Jct. where it will join the BNSF Wayzata Subdivision for the 3.3 miles to Harrison St. The morning is a busy time on the Wayzata Subdivision so it isn't uncommon for the St. Paul Turn to be waiting to get on the BNSF. Usually the train waits  at the Cedar Lake Parkway crossing but if the train is longer than 90 cars or so, the train waits at the Wooddale Ave. crossing in St. Louis Park. There is a distant signal at the Cedar Lake Parkway crossing for the plant at Cedar Lake Jct. Once a warrant is issued from the West Hump it takes roughly an hour to arrive at the Minnesota Commercial's Midway Yard. Approaching the wye at Harrison St. the train takes the East leg of the wye towards Minneapolis Jct. Here it joins the BNSF Midway Subdivision that will take the train 2.5 miles to Midway Yard in St. Paul.
Once permission is granted to enter the Commercial, a simple setout is all that is required. The setout is done at the East end of the yard and typically doesn't take more than 30 minutes to do. Normal departure time from the Commercial is between 0930 and 1000. When the setout is complete, a call is made to the CP River Dispatcher for the signal at Merriam Park. The pickup is made on the return trip.
When the signal at Merriam Park turns to clear, the St. Paul Turn begins the 8.6 mile trip to St. Paul Yard or 3.8 miles to Chestnut St. /Western Ave. Going to  Western Ave. on a regular basis is still a new move and no standard procedure is in place. The work can either be done before or after St. Paul Yard, or both. The UP yardmaster isn't always thrilled about having the same train come into the yard twice, so sometimes the train does the pickup and setout in the same stop. Only making one stop at Western Ave. makes for some awkward moves as either stopping before or after St. Paul will result in having to hang onto cars in St. Paul. I'll make sure to update this once a standard procedure is adopted.
When the train finally does arrive at CP's St. Paul Yard, the train either goes into the yard at Hoffman Ave. or gets onto the BNSF mainline and heads out to Dunn Yard. Dunn Yard is on the East end of St. Paul Yard and is controlled by the hump yardmaster. After shoving in at Dunn, the light engines can either go back to Hoffman on the BNSF mainline, or go through the yard to get onto the outbound train. The outbound train is normally in "The Swamp" and sometimes on the old westbound if it's small. If it's a big one, it can be on tracks 1-4. Generally, it takes a little over two hours from the time the St. Paul Turn enters the yard to the time it leaves. This of course can vary greatly. Break time...
Radio Frequencies Used
TC&W Frequencies
ARR 90 161.460 Road
ARR 51 160.875 Yard
ARR 50 160.860 MOW
BNSF Frequencies
ARR 15 160.335 West Hump Dispatcher - Cedar Lake Jct. to St. Anthony
ARR 76 161.250 East Hump Dispatcher - St. Anthony to Hoffman Ave.
CP Frequencies
ARR 44 160.770 River Dispatcher - Hopkins and Merriam Park to Hoffman Ave. & St. Paul Yard
ARR 88 161.430 Yard - St. Paul Yard (yard crews)
Minnesota Commercial Frequencies
ARR 30 160.560 Ch. # 1, Yard
Union Pacific Frequencies
ARR 71 161.175 S. St. Paul Yardmaster - Western Ave., S. St. Paul & Belt Yard
The Return Trip
The return trip to Hopkins operates much the same way as the initial trip. The only real difference is that a pickup, rather than a setout, is made at the Commercial.
 Once permission is granted and the light is given to leave St. Paul Yard, the train departs for either Western Ave. Yard or the Commercial. As previously discussed, there is no standard procedure for the work at Western Ave. However, making the pickup after leaving St. Paul seems to be somewhat common. When this is done the crew leaves the train out of St. Paul on the main East of Robert St. The train goes into Western Ave. light power and attaches to the West end of their pickup. After doing an airtest, the train shoves back through Chestnut St. and Robert St. to tie onto their train and then head up Shortline Hill. This usually doesn't take longer than 90 minutes.
After making the trek up Shortline Hill the St. Paul Turn approaches the Minnesota Commercial Midway Yard once again. The CP Merriam Park Subdivision is 25MPH for freight (40MPH for passenger) and is CTC controlled. The trip from Chestnut St. to the Commercial takes about 20 minutes, depending on the length and weight of the train. This is the same route that Amtrak takes.
Once in the Commercial yard, the St. Paul Turn beings to make their pickup. This is usually done by pulling in on a track, cutting the power off and going to wherever the pickup is light power. The crew performs an airtest and then simply doubles back to their train out of St. Paul/Western Ave.  and they are then ready to depart. If the pickup is large, it can require headroom through the plant at St. Anthony. If this is required, they typically wait until they receive permission to leave the yard because once they are all together, they will not fit in the yard. The Commercial is where a lot of delays occur. The BNSF Midway Subdivision is single track and with the BNSF Midway intermodel facility near, a lot of Z trains travel the line. In addition, if the crew is beginning to run low on time, some dispatchers won't let the St. Paul Turn depart out of fear of them dying on hours of service while on the BNSF. If the delays become too lengthy, the Glencoe Turn will be called early (usually 1700-1800) and be cabbed to the Commercial to relieve the St. Paul Turn crew.
Once out onto the BNSF, the train is headed for home in Hopkins. The train takes the same route as the eastbound does. From St. Anthony (connection to the Commercial) to Harrison St. the train is running under CTC authority. Past Harrison St. TWC ABS is in use and the plant at Cedar Lake Jct. is CTC. It's not uncommon for the train to stop at Minneapolis Jct. to wait for an eastbound BNSF (or UP MIR local) to come off of the BNSF Wayzata Subdivision.
When the train is in the clear at Cedar Lake Jct. the warrant is released and the St. Paul Turn begins the slow trip on the Cedar Lake Line. The Cedar Lake Line (ex-C&NW) connects Cedar Lake Jct. to the CP Bass Lake Spur (Hopkins). The line passes through what once were the Cedar Lake, Kenwood and Elevator Yards. The trip from Cedar Lake Jct. to the Bass Lake Spur takes about fifteen minutes, depending on train length. The CP Bass Lake Spur is controlled with BRT by the River Dispatcher.
Back at home in Hopkins, there is still work to be done. Depending on the time, the St. Paul Turn crew begins to block the train for the Glencoe Turn to take West. I'll skip the details of the Glencoe Turn blocking since this is already way too long. A stop at "The Creek" is sometimes made to either setout of pickup cars that are being staged. The blocking is usually done at the FTC crossover which is located on the west side of Hopkins. When the work is done, the crew cuts off the power and runs light to the depot and ties up. Then the Glencoe Turn takes over...
Variations
The TC&W has trackage rights on the BNSF from Cedar Lake Jct. to Minneapolis Jct. on the Wayzata Subdivision. The TC&W also has trackage rights on the BNSF Midway Subdivision from Minneapolis Jct. to Seventh St. and on the St. Paul subdivision from Seventh St. to at least Dunn Yard (maybe St. Croix). If no work is needed at the Commercial, the St. Paul Turn can use the Midway Sub to reach St. Paul Yard. This depends largely on the BNSF dispatchers if they are willing to take them. If the St. Paul Turn comes out of Hopkins light power there is a good chance the train will go straight to St. Paul Yard via the BNSF. 90% of the time the St. Paul Turn will take the CP Merriam Park Subdivision to reach St. Paul Yard. OK I'm done.
I tried to be as clear as possible while remaining detailed. If anything is unclear, you want me to expand on something or if you have any questions drop me a line. If you have any corrections, additions or updates please let me know.
Thank you.
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