There's also DTE's Midwest Energy Terminal in Superior. Catch those BNSF trains of PRB coal being unloaded, for feeding into 1000' footers if you can!
Here's someone who just released a book on railroads in the Twin Ports:
https://www.twinportsrailhistory.com/
The last passenger train service to Duluth was in May, 1969, the NP RDC connection with the North Coast Limited at Staples.
The NP had most of what would become BN trackage in Duluth including Rice's Point yard and the Grassy Point drawbridge over the St. Louis River. There's also ex-NP trackage to and along the waterfront in Superior, but the main yard for the terminal is 28th Street in Superior, an ex-GN yard (home of the statue of James J. Hill). Also in Superior is the ex-GN Allouez Yard where taconite trains from the Iron Range still terminate. The ex-GN ore docks (once the largest in the world) still stand north of the yard, but no longer have rail access. Instead, the taconite is moved by a long conveyor belt to ships. It was from the ex-GN docks (then BN) that the Edmund Fitzgerald departed for the last time on November 9, 1975. The ex-NP dock is still partially there in back of the Kwik Trip off US 2 in Superior. The Nemadji River empties into Lake Superior between the ex-NP and ex-GN docks.
The former NP routes from the Twin Cities and Carlton have been abandoned in favor of the ex-GN lines. Except for some waterfront trackage in Superior, the ex-NP Superior-Ashland branch is also long abandoned.
Mark Meyer
BaltACD Believe the SOO's Laker was the last passenger train serving Duluth with service to Chicago.
Believe the SOO's Laker was the last passenger train serving Duluth with service to Chicago.
That's kind of an awkward sentence. But if you mean that the Laker was the last passenger train serving Duluth, it wasn't. The Laker was cut back to a Superior-Chicago train in May 1961, about the same time that Soo Line discontinued its Duluth-St. Paul train. (The Laker was discontinued altogether on January 15, 1965.)
The last actual pre-Amtrak passenger service to Duluth was NP trains 57 and 58, which were an RDC connection to the North Coast Limited in Staples in late May, 1969. GN had always provided the superlative passenger service to the Twin Ports, but the agreement among tenants at Duluth Union Depot (served by the GN and NP) stated that the last one serving the facility had to bear the cost of shutting it down, so on May 1, 1969, GN started terminating is St. Paul-Duluth Gopher and Badger in Superior, Wisconsin instead with a bus connection to the Duluth Greyhound station. The Gopher and Badger were consolidated into one St. Paul-Superior round trip in 1970 (after the BN merger), and were discontinued on April 30, 1971 (the day prior to Amtrak day). This was the last pre-Amtrak passenger service to the Twin Ports.
If the intent of the statement is that the Laker was the last passenger train at Duluth to/from Chicago directly, then it probably wasn't. My May 1961 Official Guide shows the C&NW Duluth-Superior Limited still operating (the month the Laker was cut back to Superior), but it was gone by the fall of the same year.
NKP guy Global warming has heated up Duluth's housing market as people look for homes in a cooler climate.
Global warming has heated up Duluth's housing market as people look for homes in a cooler climate.
Cooler is hardly the word. After a turn with INS in Grand Portage in the summer and fall of 1976, winter was already beginning to start (4 inches of snow in October) before I returned home.
I saw Duluth a few times in 1967 because my ore boat had work there. I thought it was a pretty city with dozens of Art Deco buildings downtown. The women there all seemed to have stunning good looks (was it the Scandanavian heritage?). As a railfan, I didn't know where to look first; railroads I'd only heard of and equipment I was unfamiliar with--everywhere.
I'll never forget seeing Duluth from the boat in the night time, with the lights going up the hill surrounding the city; I was smitten. I always intended to go back, but without passenger train service it's a pain to get there.
Frankly, I think Minnesota in general is just a gem.
Certainly not train related - a visit to the Duluth Aerial Bridge when a ship is coming through. I'm sure that information is available locally, but you can also check marinetraffic.com to see what boats may be incoming off the lake.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Not directly answering your questions, but there are three DM&IR Yellowstones in the area. One at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum at the station downtown, one up the hill in Proctor and one up the road in Two Harbors. I haven't been there in over ten years, but there used to be part of the old GN steam backshop in Superior right before you go over the bridge on US2. The BN ore dock is in Allouez, WI and is fed by conveyors, so there are no tracks on top. The DM&IR dock in Duluth still is loaded the traditional way. The LSRM is a good museum. Other things to do include going to the famous Split Rock lighthouse up the coast. There are some nice overlooks in Duluth on Skyline Drive. Going out by the ship canal to see the thousand footers come into the harbor is exciting.
Duluth... the green tomato capital of the world.
SFbrkmnLast September into October covering 10 days, we are vacation trip to Minesota w/stopovers in Mankato, St.Paul and Duluth. Want this to be 90% railroad free, but am interested in Duluth rr history. What was the presense of the NP up there? What was the last passenger service to the city? Like I told my wife, who came from a Santa Fe family, it will be different for her being on BNSF territory that is NP and GN hertiage, not the famiiar ATSF. I told her perhaps we might see the well known logos of NP-GN. NP Eddie, if you see this, perhaps we can meet for lunch if it works out. It has been awhile since we yaked and I still have your number. Be great to talk NP history with you. Sam Andrews
Sam Andrews
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Last September into October covering 10 days, we are vacation trip to Minesota w/stopovers in Mankato, St.Paul and Duluth. Want this to be 90% railroad free, but am interested in Duluth rr history. What was the presense of the NP up there? What was the last passenger service to the city? Like I told my wife, who came from a Santa Fe family, it will be different for her being on BNSF territory that is NP and GN hertiage, not the famiiar ATSF. I told her perhaps we might see the well known logos of NP-GN. NP Eddie, if you see this, perhaps we can meet for lunch if it works out. It has been awhile since we yaked and I still have your number. Be great to talk NP history with you.
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