It was posted on the OMR Yahoo! group this afternoon that the Staples Sub from Becker to Big Lake and Gregory (Little Falls) to Philbrook will be getting double tracked . This is a move that I think had to happen as the single track from Becker to Big Lake was a big bottleneck and with the increase in traffic, trains need to move. It should be a fun project to follow and I will get shots of the double tracking between Becker and Big Lake when I can.

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-Jacob Nelson

RRPA: http://nels1jac.rrpicturearchives.net/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21929373@N05/

Activity of track work has increased in Big Lake lately, but no "official" signs of the double track yet...
Certainly hope it's soon, then it will be fun to see what happens with the Big Lake Northstar Station, and the Northstar's expansion to Rice!

I hope this happens too, but I'm doubtful this late in the season it will happen in 2014. Seems to me a big project like this would have had signals/crossings being worked on by now. But hey, trying to figure the railroad and it's operations out is like me figuring out quantum physics, not good.

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- Eric

Yeah, far too late in the season to start anything like this. It appears though that recent tie and rail work to existing infrastructure is complete. As far as Northstar to Rice, that will not happen. If there is an extension in the future, it'll include station stops in Becker and in St Cloud at the park and ride, no further.

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-Jacob Nelson

RRPA: http://nels1jac.rrpicturearchives.net/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21929373@N05/