KenRengo took this dramatic photograph of theDuluth& Northeastern #28 steam engine on thefirst night it wasfiredupinoverfifty years following afive year rebuild and FRArecertification by theLake Superior Railroad Museum. Read moreinour CoverStory“Steam Engines by theNumbers.”
Ironically the first steam engine restored to operating condition by the Lake Superior Railroad Museum was MN Steel’s “Seven Spot” (#7) the second was the D&NM #14 and the one just finished is the D&NE #28. If that numeric progression holds true, in about forty years the Museum will probably restore an engine numbered fifty six.
The numbers on the Duluth & Northeastern #28 are:
• 1906 the year it was built for the Duluth, Missabe & Northern Railroad
• 1955 the year it was sold to the Duluth & Northeastern Railroad in Cloquet, MN
• 1964 the year it was retired, but still
used for special excursions
• 1974 the year it was donated to the Lake Superior Railroad Museum
• 2-8-0 “Consolidation”
• 2 steam powered air pumps needed for longer iron ore trains in winter
• Five years to rebuild the engine starting in 2011
• $750,000 the cost in time & materials and donated labor and in-kind services to restore #28 to working order
• 15 years on the current FRA boiler license. 2017 the FIRST YEAR of service on the North Shore Scenic Railroad
Restoring a steam engine is a commitment that few tourist railroads or museums can afford
to undertake due to the very specialized knowledge necessary to do the work and the daunting amount of money the project consumes. In the case of the #28 the work came in under the normal one million dollar price tag due to partners such as; SAPPI Paper Company in Cloquet, Cloquet Terminal RR, Fraser Shipyards, Superior, the Heat & Frost Insulators-Asbestos Workers Union, A.W. Kuettel & Sons, Arrowhead Autobody, Cragin’s Machine Shop, ILS, BNSF, Friends of the #261, US Bank, John E. Daly Foundation, St. Louis & Lake Counties Regional Rail Authority and hundreds of donors and volunteers. Bob Purcell headed up the project for the Museum and Railroad.
This is why there are only about 150 operating steam locomotives in North America. These working relics are memories of how railroading grew up with our nation and are historic testimonials to how railroads keep America strong and moving today.
What makes the restoration of the
RIGHT: Before being sold to the Duluth & Northeastern in Cloquet, the #28 was the #332 and is seen here on her home rails of the Duluth, Missabe & Northern RR. This is a mixed train carrying both freight and passengers.
BELOW: Luke from Fraser Shipyards is working inside the firebox installing new tubes to the boiler. Rebuilding a steam engine is hard work and the skills necessary to do it are difficult to come by these days. The Museum wants to thank all its partners and volunteers who worked on, and donated to, the restoration of the #28. Photo by Tim Schandel.
#28 so unique is that very few operating locomotives today are anywhere near their home railroads. They have migrated with time to other museums and tourist lines. In the case of this engine her entire operating career was here in Northern Minnesota were she is still working today.
It’s going to be a busy summer for the #28. She is scheduled to pull trains between Duluth and Two Harbors on several Steam Weekends extending into the popular Fall Colors Season. You may be riding on our steam train right now. If so, you are supporting the work of the Museum and our partners and volunteers who made this ride possible. Thank you very much!
If you would like to ride with the #28 visit duluthtrains.com for schedules and to book your tickets.
The railroads have a long history of delivering a first-class experience for their passengers. Throughout the generations, guests have been treated to fine dining, deluxe sleeping accommodations, and exquisite service. At the North Shore Scenic Railroad, I’m proud that we can offer atleast a small taste of this legacy of premiere golden-age, first class experiences.
We are excited to be offering first class services on our daily trains starting this summer. This includes our Dome Car seating, lounge space, and some extra service options for those interested in paying just a little more for a unique experience.
Later in August, guests can ride “first class” on the evening train, and have a fine dining 4-course meal prepared by the best chef’s Duluth has to offer. The Elegant
Dinner Train runs Fridays and Saturdays throughout late summer into fall, and gives guests a unique dining experience found nowhere else in the Twin Ports.
Just these few of many of the options of excursion options on our railroad make it a truly unique attraction here in Duluth. We hope you will come back later this year or in the years to come and try one of our many excursion options.
There are passenger trains, freight trains, coal trains, grain trains and the MRF, which was what the DM&IR called their “Mixed Road Freight.” These trains ran from Duluth, through Proctor, across the Iron Range to Two Harbors and back carrying whatever the railroad needed to haul when it wasn’t pulling tons of taconite from the mines to the docks in Duluth and Two Harbors. All kinds of trains and all sorts of the cargo and the one train that delivered the most fun would of course be The Beer Train!
Throughout the years there were several brew haulers that worked the rails. One of the best known was in “Beer Town” itself, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, the Milwaukee Road, served a series of famous breweries located along Chestnut Street on the city’s North Side. The route was called the “Beer Line” and along its six point two miles of downtown track were the nation’s largest breweries; Schlitz, Pabst and Blatz. Pabst “Blue Ribbon”, Schlitz “The Beer that made Milwaukee Famous” and Mr. Valentin Blatz, a more humble brewer, just called his beer; “Draft Brewed Blatz.” Around the turn the twentieth century, and usually during the hot summer months, these three giants of the brewing industry would switch out upwards of 250 cars a day to the Milwaukee Road. More traffic per
mile of track came from the “Beer Line” than anywhere else on the system.
But then the beer went flat in Milwaukee. Blatz closed down in 1959. Schlitz struggled up until 1981 and while Pabst is still available, “PBR Me ASAP,” its legionary brewery complex along the Milwaukee River is now apartments, a microbrewery and the Beer Line Café. Gone are the old Milwaukee Road tracks. They’re now a hiking path called the Beer Line Trail.
Duluth Brewing & Malt, Fitger’s and People’s breweries all had rail service in Duluth. Superior’s smaller Northern Brewery shipped most of its product south, as far as Milwaukee, by truck. The market for Duluth’s malted beverages was north to the Iron Range and most of the amber brew was shipped there by train.
Fitger’s had an edge. In 1890 they built the first mechanical ice plant in the State of Minnesota. That allowed refrigerator box cars to be brought up a spur line and into the brewery to be loaded with ice and beer for delivery to warehouses and bars across the Range and as far west as Montana. This was Duluth’s Beer Line!
Fitger’s took delivery of grain, hops, glass bottles and coal by rail and shipped out their finished product all on the Great Northern Railroad. Working the “Fitger’s Switch” was a sought after job by the railroad crews and timing was everything.
There were a couple of other stops along the way, the Duluth steam plant, the scrap
yard in Canal Park, Marshall-Wells, the hardware wholesaler, some general merchandise docks and a grocer, Gamble Robinson. But what fun were they?
If the crew timed their work right they got to Fitger’s just as the whistle blew for lunch. Railroaders call that “going for beans.” At Fitger’s it meant free beer! A perk of working at the brewery was that every worker got a pint or two of brew with their lunch and they would often share some with the hungry and thirsty train crews. That’s a Beer Train!
Sadly, Fitger’s brewery closed on September 30, 1972. Today it’s a Four Diamond hotel, shopping area and home to a popular brew pub. The train tracks no longer reach into the complex, but pass along the lakefront below its back door. These are the tracks of the North Shore Scenic Railroad were we still run the Midwest’s ONLY Beer Train!
Twenty years ago this summer Fritz Wrazidlo with Rohlfing Distributors came up with the idea of inviting a then fledgling number of small, micro brewers to ride the train to share beer and their passion for brewing it with passengers along for the ride. Like the old days at Fitger’s, the Beer Train was back!
At first there were just a few craft brewers on board. Twenty years later it’s the “Whole Damn Train!” This year’s
BEER TRAINS: Page 13
Directions: As the train heads back to the station in Downtown Duluth, see if you can spot these places along the railroad tracks. They are listed in order as we travel back to the Depot.
1. Ding Ding Ding Ding – I stop traffic while your train goes by
2. On the land side of the train: A big place of learning, built not in the west but here on the other side
3. ON the land and lake sides of the train: This is 40 feet below the track and flows through the rocks below, on a map its called “Tischer” but most people know its name from the family that owned Glensheen Mansion
4. On the lake side of the train: It’s the largest body of fresh water in the world – can you see it yet? What is its “better” name?
5. On the lake side of the train: Stretching for over 7 miles from Canal Park to the Eastern edge of Duluth, its named after the lake right next to it.
6. On the lakeside of the train and ahead: It was designed by the same person who designed the Eiffel Tower in Paris, but here in Duluth everyone knows it for going up and down…
7. On the lake side of the train: A large area of town named after its famous “boat passing lane”
8. ON the lake side of the train after tunnel: Its too big and red to paddle with an OAR, that is why it can carry so much ORE. What is its name?
9. On the lake side of the train: Its home to the UMD Bulldogs
10. After stopping at the switch: Named after the person who donated money for its construction, the large tan building is where trains are fixed. What is its name?
1.Steve Goodman wrote this song while riding on the Illinois Central Railroad to visit his wife’s family. He recorded it in 1971. But Arlo Guthrie made it ahit three years later after Goodman sang him the song in aChicago bar after first agreeing to buyGuthrie abeer. Arlo said he’d listen to the song only as long as it took him to finish the beer.
2.Complete this Glen Miller hit lyric….”Dinner in the Diner, Nothing could be finer than to have your ham and eggs in ____________.”
3.In what Doobie Brothers Hit recording did Tom Johnston, the song’s lyricist, see…”Miss Lucy down along the tracks, lost her home and her family and she won’t be coming back.”
4.This hit song by Tommy Hart and Bobby Boyce was about arealtown in Nevada called Clarksdale, but the name was changed to a similar sounding city in Tennessee because it was home to the 101st Airborne Division that fought in the Vietnam Warand in thesong ayoung woman is told to take the last train there. Name the song. (HINT –itwas a1966 hit for “The Monkees.”)
5.Name the artist who performed theselyrics, which also include the song’s title; “In the shuffling madness of the Locomotive Breath.” (HINT –the rest of this tune’s lyrics are alittle too “earthy” forthis quiz.)
6.In 1978 an advertising firm in Omaha wrote apromotional song forthisstill famous railroad, also basedinOmaha, which had the following lyrics. Fill in the blank with the name of the railroad. “We’re amillion miles of history, ashinin’inthe sun, we’re the _________ _________ and our story’s just begun.”
7.It’s the sad anthem of everything gone wrong by Bruce Springsteen. Complete the lyrics with the name of the song. “NowIwork down at the car wash, where all it ever does is rain. Don’t you feel like you’re arider on a_ ___________.” (HINT –the tune was on Springsteen’s 1984 album “Born in the USA”)
8.Most of the membersofthis group were from the Knight family of Atlanta, Georgia but it was young Gladys, who at age seven won first prize on the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour in 1952, that would lead them to stardom. They started their singing career as the“Pips” after the nickname of one of their cousins. But it wasGladys who would shine bright at nightand take them on “ _________ ____________
Name this 1973 hit song.
Answers on page 15
BY JOSH MILLER
Think what they would say if you were able to go back in time and tell the builders of the railcars you are riding on, such as Ralph Budd, Pullman, or Lowey, that over 70 years in the future, people would be still using the same traincars they built, for fun, scenic railroad excursions? They would probably tell you “they’ll never last that long,” and would probably add some profanity in there somewhere. It is a true testament to the hard working, mostly volunteer, maintenance crews who keep ours and many of the heritage railroads operating as well as we do. Our past few years have had plenty of mechanical problems on the railroad. At no fault of our own, the people who built our historic equipment simply never designed them to be used as long as we are attempting (and for the most part have succeeded) to use them for. Or did they?
All across the country, railroad museums and tourist railroads like us, restore and operate their historic railroad equipment. Some of the equipment has held up better than others, but for the most part, the heritage railroad industry has some really great restoration work accomplished, and the historic railroad equipment keeps rollin’ on.
This summer, members of the Lake Superior Railroad Museum will be finishing some very significant rehabilitation and restoration projects – back to working order: Steam Locomotive #28 is pulling passengers again, AND the Silver Club Dome Car is in service. Meanwhile, fresh paint has been applied to the W24 and Rainier Club cars, and the NP #2435 Engine will be cosmetically restored. Hopefully projects like these, among many others across the country will continue into the foreseeable future.
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FROM PAGE 5
“Twentieth Anniversary Beer Train” is Saturday September 16th and tickets for coach and First Class are on sale at duluthtrains.com.
The nonprofit North Shore Scenic Railroad thanks Fritz Wrazidlo, Brian Spehar, Rohlfing Distributors, est. in 1951, and the many micro, local and regional craft brewers who share their beer and the passion for brewing it. We appreciate our passengers who over the years have made the Beer Train the oldest and most sought after beer tasting event in our region.
The Schlitz Brewery on the Milwaukee Road’s “Beer Line” is being switched by a Fairbanks Morse Diesel in this company photo from the 1950’s. Joseph Schlitz was a bookkeeper for August Krug who owned a brewery and tavern in Milwaukee. Krug died in 1856 and Schlitz took over by marrying Krug’s widow.
Craft Beer Spirits Wine Full Menu
Daily Happy Hour 3-7 pm
• Reuben
• Asian Chicken Salad
• Black Bean/Quinoa Burger
• Korean Pork Slider
• Pulled Pork Tacos
• Fish Tacos
• Drunken Lucy
• Grouchy Lucy
• Black/Blue Sirloin
• Prime Rib Cheese Steak Sandwich
Signature 10 oz. Steak Burgers 9 to choose from Salmon Club Smoked salmon with lettuce, tomato, mayo, and bacon
Chicago Beef Italian beef, au jus, your choice of hot or mild giardiniera
Walleye Melt Walleye with onion, celery, mayo & swiss cheese Spent Grain Burger Our own veggie burger made with grain from the Carmody brewery
Basic Breakfasts, Plus
Breakfast Bowls Eggs on a bed of hashbrowns topped with Hollandaise
Chicken Fried Steak
Eggs Benedict Basted Eggs, Ham, English Muffin, topped with Hollandaise
Scotch Eggs Served on a bed of hashbrowns topped with gravy or a side of Hollandaise
Corned Beef Hash
Scotch Eggs Hard-boiled eggs wrapped with sausage and lightly breaded
Breaded Mushrooms Giant mushrooms breaded and deep-fried
Homemade Onion Rings Served with spicy garlic ranch or bleu cheese dipping sauce
BY KEN BUEHLERAfter telling his friend Percy what a great time he’s had every summer visiting Duluth as a guest of the North Shore Scenic Railroad, Thomas the Tank Engine invited Percy to join him here this summer. The Friendship Tour 2017 features a Day Out with Thomas and Percy during the first two weekends of August. This is the very first time the two popular
engines from the Island of Sodor have traveled together to Duluth.
“We always have such a great time with our friends in Duluth and Thomas wanted to share all that fun with his good friend Percy,” explained Sir Topham Hatt, the Railroad’s Controller from the Island of Sodor. Along with Sir Topham Hatt arrives drivers for Thomas and Percy giving train rides. There’s live, kid’s themed musical shows, a magician,
and character actors everywhere, festival foods, bouncy houses, games, crafts, a miniature train ride and the All Things Thomas Gift Shop. It’s a family carnival with Thomas and Percy Information and tickets are available now at duluthtrains.com. Thomas and Percy will be in Duluth this August 4, 5 & 6 and 11, 12, & 13. Bring everyone to the happiest time they’ll have all year!
Walleye Cakes Topped with pickled onions and caper aioli
Poutine Beer-battered fries topped with cheddar cheese curds and gravy
Homemade Soups & Chili
Seasonal & Daily Specials
Summer Breakfast Hours July 1st - October 22nd Mon-Thurs 8 am - 11 am, Fri-Sun 8 am - 2 pm
Restaurant Open ‘til 11 pm Sun - Thurs, Midnight Fri & Sat
1102 7th Ave, Two Harbors On Hwy. 61 218-834-1102 www.carmody61pub.com
RV & Trailer parking in rear lot.
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