NorthShoreScenicRailroad30thAnniversary-Howabout133rd?

ByKenBuehler

While the North ShoreScenic Railroad is celebrating its30thanniversary,the Lakefront lineyour trainisrunning on wasbuilt by the Duluth &IronRangeRailway 133 years ago,just 17 years afterthe Transcontinental Railroad.

These tracks wereanafterthought forD&IR. In 1884 the railroad openedits line fromTwo Harbors up to Minnesota’sfirst iron oremine in Tower Sudan on theVermilion Range. Similar to the Transcontinental, the railroadheld aland grant earning the companyaportion of adjacent propertyfor each mile of track laid.

However,there weredisagreements among the earlyowners of theD&IR.Out of spite more than anything, the ones who lost that argument –and the railroad –convinced the government to holdoff giving the D&IR itslanduntil tracks werelaid, but not necessarilyneeded, between TwoHarbors to Duluth. Putting “Duluth” in the Duluth &IronRangeRRwas done in 1886, 133 years ago.

Most of the traffic on the linewas lumber shipped down fromKnifeRiver offthe Duluth &

Northern Minnesota, acommon carrier owned by theAlger Smith lumbercompany. There waspassenger traffic up until 1961 and the last commercial freightwent by here in 1982.

One of the mostunique rides offeredbythe D&IR wasthe Fisherman’sTrain. It ranon Sundaymornings, after church, and would drop anglers offatnorth shorestreams,thenpick them up later in the day. In the middle of July those trains also carried women and children who wouldpick an abundance of blueberries, which grew wide alongthe right-of-way.

Theflagstop at Larsmont wasalso unique.An unscheduled stop at alocation without aregular station, wherea flagishoistedtotellthe train to pick up passengers, is called aflag stop.Such an arrangement existed at the tinyNorthShore community of Larsmont. Butitwasn’tpeople thatgotonthetrain. Larsmontwasafishing village and when the flag wasupthe train crew knew therewerebarrels of freshly caught laketrout and herring on ice that needed to be transported to Duluth forsale.

Todaythe North ShoreScenic Railroad operatesontheLakefrontlinewithregulartourist train serviceincluding tripstoTwo Harbors, ourpopular Music and Pizza Trains, Elegant Dinner Trains,mirth, mayhem andmurder on our who-done-itMurder Mystery Trains, abeer train, Pumpkin Patch Trains, and our very own Christmas CityExpress.

Allour trains areavailable by going to www. duluthtrains.com or by calling our ticket agents at 800-423-1273 or locally at 218-722-1273.