M&StL Cedar Lake Yard - Trains Magazine

Looking at at Google Earth or Google Maps with the aerial background turned on:

Start at the intersection of I-94 and I-394 just west of downtown Minneapolis. Go west on I-394 until it crosses over a set of railroad tracks; this is the BNSF (GN) Wayzata Sub. Just west of I-394 you will see a junction where a track breaks away from the Wayzata Sub and goes off to the southwest; this line is owned by the Hennepin County Regional Rail Authority, operated by Twin Cities & Western (TCW), approximately in line with the M&StL main line, and the most controversial segment of the proposed Southwest Light Rail Transit alignment.

Right near the junction, southeast of the TCW track, is a grassy field with some bike trails going through it. It backs up against hill, on top of which sit some houses and then the Kenwood Parkway.  This grassy area was the location of the M&StL Cedar Lake Yard.

If you trace back east across I-394, you see a huge parcel of land (split in half by the new Van White Memorial Blvd) belonging to the Minneapolis department of public works for, among other things, salt and sand storage. The GN had a yard here named Lyndale.

The M&StL ran along the south edge of that GN yard. I believe they had a small yard there as well, also called Lyndale. There is a yard office or depot building still standing there just east of I-94 along the Cedar Lake Trail - in the aerial it is the building just to the west of the tall cell tower.

Hope this helps.

Dan