Railroading, winters, and relocation to st paul area from CA (real estate, rental)

[BigP66]

I'm going to be relocating to the MSP area in the next month or so from Southern california. I know this is probably an opposite trend from what most people are doing, but I have a good career getting started and am looking for some insight on the way things are up there. I currently have a 1 bedroom apt for 1350/month, and am looking for housing that is similar or cheaper. Also, I have noticed there are alot of duplexes that offer good rental prices and i was wondering if anyone has an insight on how those are and what areas would be good to check out. I've been the to MSP area once and checked out most of St paul but i didn't look much into the real estate/renting market, nor was I concerned with the local areas because I wasn't considering moving there at the time.

Now one of the biggest issues with moving to the midwest is definitely the winters, and I wanted to get some insight on things to get prepped for next year as it would be my first major winter in a place other than CA. CA doesn't experience much of a winter besides some rain, colder weather (40's would be the minimum in CA), and barely enough to wear a jacket/long pants. My other question is with transportation. I currently have a 2wd newer chevy truck and was hoping that I could get some insight on whether or not that would make it through a winter or if I would need to get a 4wd. I know for sure I would need some tires more suitable for the weather (snow tires or some allterrains). Would there be a more suitable vehicle for such weather?

So, my last question, I recently got a job with one of the railroads that operate up in the MSP area, does anyone have any idea of the traffic mix in the MSP area and where the major routes are. The job is with CP and i know most major RR's have hubs up there (UP, BNSF, CP, etc.) I have experience working with the RR so I'm familiar with how railroads operate but with new territory comes new styles of the job. Anyway, if anyone works for the railroad or is familiar with the traffic, can you give me a little insight. Is there mostly yard/road work up there? Anyone familiar with the SOO lines as they were purchased by CP. Thanks.

[red91sit]

$1350 a month is going to go MUCH futher in MSP than it would in Cali. City data has a good maps of the high crime areas, generally speaking, the further away from central MSP you go, the safer the area.

As far as winter goes, OH BOY! You're off to a good start by saying 40's is barely enough for a jacket / long pants. It does get bitterly cold here for long periods of time. You'll want to invest in a good setup; a nice hat, a thick coat, proper fitting gloves, and you may want to consider remote start. This lets you start your truck up from inside your home, so you'll only have to make the quick dash between your home to the car.

2wd is fine, snow tires do make a huge difference, so a lot of folks get 2 sets, summer/winter mounted on different wheels. It is also important to keep a winter survival kit in your car, basically a kit to keep you going if you get stuck off the road. Weight in the pickup bed helps too, some folks put bags of sand back there during the winter time. The cities are good about plowing as soon as it stops snowing, so it's more about keeping traction on the hard packed ice and snow, rather than fording through 3 feet of snow.

No idea about the RR up here.