Heritage lines, excursion trains, and other railroad attractions in MN

[Korh]

Recently I've been trying to find info of an old narrow gauge steam railroad I rode when I was really young somewhere in southern MN. while I can't dig anything up at the moment I thought it might be informative/fun to list some of the more unique railroads attractions in the state in case there's anyone unfamiliar with them (although knowing this form I highly doubt that) and maybe keep track of some sporadic news.

I'm probably overlooking some notable things but off the top of my head some notable attractions in the state include:

Heritage Lines/Excursion Trains:
Como-Harriet Streetcar Line/Minnesota Streetcar Museum
Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad
North Shore Scenic Railroad
Osceola and St. Croix Valley Railway
Friends of the 261

Museums:
Minnesota Transportation Museum/Jackson Street Roundhouse
Twin City Model Railroad Museum
Lake Superior Railroad Museum
Gopher State Railway Museum
End-O-Line Railroad Park and Museum

[LakeCharles]

Add in the Hennepin Overland Railroad Museum too

[Korh]

Knew I forgot something obvious, I'll add it to the list after I find a few more ones I think I missed, which so far was the old Minnesota Zephyr that I'm not sure to add since it was closed down years ago.
Also finally found that old narrow gauge, it was the Northfield & Cannon Valley Railroad
https://youtu.be/Y4co4oayxIE

[Uptown46]

A few other suggestions:

Excelsior Streetcar Line: https://trolleyride.org/excelsior-streetcar/
Minnehaha Depot: https://www.mnhs.org/minnehahadepot
Union Depot Rail Viewing Picnic Area: https://goo.gl/maps/WfrZkkzjzd4f4pAj7
Paul Bunyan Land (miniature passenger train ride): https://paulbunyanland.com/rides-attrac ... 19_145020/
Soo Line Depot Museum (Crosby, MN): https://www.cuyunahistory.org/museum.html
Crosslake Train Club: https://www.crosslaketrainclub.com/
The Depot Hotel Minneapolis: https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/m ... ot/rooms/#
Whistle Stop BnB: https://www.whistlestopbedandbreakfast.com/
Maplelag Resort (cabooses you can stay in, train-themed bunkhouses, and prior to the fire this fall had a massive collection of old railroad signs): https://www.maplelag.com/resort/accommo ... witch-yard
Northernrail Traincar Inn: https://www.northernrail.net/
Burlington Station: https://www.burlingtonstation.com/
Little Log House Pioneer Village (two old depots, a few rail cars, and model railroad displays at the annual Antique Power Show weekend in July: https://www.littleloghouseshow.com/gene ... tractions/
Wheels Across the Prarie Museum (train and depot): http://www.wheelsacrosstheprairie.org/j ... php/layout
DWT Trail Tunnel: https://exploringnorthshore.com/ely-tunnel/

And in the recently lost category: the former Broadway Pizza in Minneapolis on Broadway near the river had a lot of train ephemera, a basement made to look like rail cars, and the caboose that was outside. Rest in Peace.

[DanPatchToget]

Orchard Gardens Depot in Burnsville, which is the last passenger shelter on the Dan Patch Line. It was used until interurban service ended in 1942, but amazingly it still stands and looks great thanks to volunteer work. The tracks are still there but covered in trees and brush. I hope someday I can see a passenger train rolling by that depot.

Dan Patch Line Bridge: A swing bridge on the Minnesota River connecting Bloomington and Savage. Until the 1970s cars also used it until the road salt was deteriorating the bridge. You can still drive up to it on the south side, and on the north side you can walk or bike to it. Trains currently aren’t using it, but Twin Cities & Western plans to at some point.

Depot Coffee House in Hopkins was originally a station for the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway.

Casa Deli in Savage is in a restored depot.

Northfield Depot is a recently restored depot.

Rock Island Swing Bridge Park in Inver Grove Heights has an observation platform on the Mississippi River. It used to be a double deck toll bridge with trains on top and cars on the bottom.

St. Louis Park has a restored Milwaukee Road depot in Jorvig Park. Sometimes the inside is open but it seems to be random days.

Great Northern Depot in Wayzata is open on the weekends in the summer and has as an outdoor model train layout.

Great Northern Depot in Hutchinson is now part of a farmers market.

This is mostly gone, but there’s rubble left behind from the locomotive shops of the Cedar Lake Yard. It’s adjacent to where the North Cedar Lake Trail and Kenilworth Trail meet.

Milwaukee Road’s depot in Chanhassen is still standing. It’s right by the transit station and dinner theatre.

[mattaudio]

My son thanks you - we now have more places to go check out trains. Except he does not yet understand that I can't summon a train to show up just because we're near train tracks.

Since we're plugging depots, historic rail spots, and railfan sites:

- Depot Bar & Grill in Downtown Faribault. This is right along the very-active Union Pacific Spine Line and you can dine on the patio less than 10 feet from the tracks. I'm also nearly certain this is the depot from the opening scene in Grumpy Old Men falsely labeled as Wabasha. The depot was shown with a Rock Island sign (when we all know a Wabasha depot should have Milwaukee Road or SOO Line markings) and the passing train has Chicago & Northwestern power. The Spine Line was built by Rock Island and was then a part of C&NW until their acquisition by UP in the mid-90s merger cycle.

- Northern Pacific Center in Brainerd. This is the original shops and HQ of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and the opposite side of the mainline is still a large BNSF maintenance-of-way shop. Many of the 19th Century buildings survived and are slowly being renovated into shops, restaurants, and event spaces. Fun fact: The original HQ of Strong Towns (and Community Growth Institute, Chuck's planning firm) were in the upper level of the main clock tower building. I was up there a number of times and it was a beautiful old 19th century office space. I suspect he got booted when they couldn't lease out enough of that floor to justify keeping it heated in the winter. Below are a restaurant and coffee shop that both have good views of the mainline and the MOW yards beyond.

- Prescott, WI is always a fun spot to watch. There used to be a little diner overlooking the bridge and river, but it appears to have closed. Lots of other places with views, probably. That whole BNSF St. Croix Sub is a fun corridor in the summer - drive down Wisconsin 35 and enjoy railside small towns like Maiden Rock, Stockholm, and Pepin.

- St Anthony Pkwy bridge in NE Mpls just west of University Ave. This is an awesome place to spot the BNSF mainlines, the lower quarter of Northtown Yard, and the CP mainline on another large bridge just to the north. Has a small railfan spot and interpretive area on the western end of the bridge near Broken Clock.

[Hero]

Some rail related buildings off the top of my head.
FreightYard Townhomes and Flats
Soo Line Building City Apartments
James J. Hill House
Great Northern Lofts
Great Northern Building
Metro transit has two rail support facilities.
Last but not least a rail themed office/industrial park on Energy Park Drive. Probably not worth mentioning but they do have an engine sitting in front so I thought I'd include it. https://www.google.com/maps/@44.9708495 ... 2?hl=en-GB

[Tom H.]

I saw on Wikipedia that a heritage train used to be run from Mpls to the Renaissance Fest in the 80s along a now-abandoned ROW. Would it be possible to run a seasonal train like this today from Union Depot instead?

[DanPatchToget]

I saw on Wikipedia that a heritage train used to be run from Mpls to the Renaissance Fest in the 80s along a now-abandoned ROW. Would it be possible to run a seasonal train like this today from Union Depot instead?

For anyone interested, here's a collection of pictures showing that excursion train in several places between St. Louis Park and Merriam (west of Shakopee where the Renaissance Festival is located): http://johnhill_3009.rrpicturearchives.net/archiveThumbs.aspx?id=28718&Page=1

Union Pacific, from what I've heard, isn't open to excursion trains running on their tracks, so unless they have a change of heart unfortunately the idea of running an excursion between Union Depot and the Renaissance Festival grounds would probably be dead on arrival. I'm sure it would be popular if it happened, and a great alternative to being in traffic on 169.

This got me thinking about the many excursion trains the Twin Cities used to have. Off the top of my head:
-MTM (Minnesota Transportation Museum) ran an excursion on a short route along the Mississippi River between Harriet Island and Lilydale
-in addition to the Minnesota Zephyr in Stillwater, which ended operations in 2008, the MTM also ran excursions on that route until sometime in the 1980s due to area residents complaining about the noise
-before it was the Minnesota Zephyr, this train was the Minnetonka Zephyr and ran on what is today the Dakota Rail Trail between Spring Park and the north shore of Lake Waconia
-Dakota Rail briefly ran excursions between Hutchinson and I think as far east as Lester Prairie
-I'm not sure how many of these trips were available to ride, but the steam locomotive Northern Pacific #328 made many trips around the Twin Cities region in the 1980s including the aforementioned Renaissance Festival excursions
-Friends of the 261 ran excursions available to the public to Duluth, Willmar, Montevideo, and Winona in the 2000s

[mattaudio]

I saw on Wikipedia that a heritage train used to be run from Mpls to the Renaissance Fest in the 80s along a now-abandoned ROW. Would it be possible to run a seasonal train like this today from Union Depot instead?

Yes that HCRRA line was the Chicago & Northwestern line to Minneapolis via Hopkins. Abandoned east of Chaska in the early 90s. It was then an industrial spur from the Ren Fest wye to Chaska for the sugar beet plant until the Minnesota River bridge collapsed under weight of a train during a flood event maybe a decade ago.

I pitched an idea in the fantasy thread years ago to extend the Green Line from Eden Prairie to Downtowns Chaska and Shakopee (two of our seven core county seats) with maybe every third or fourth train terminating at each. This would also provide connection to any potential regional/intercity service on the UP Mankato Sub at Shakopee. This could be mostly single-tracked, at least past the split and likely through the Lake Reilly/Bearpath area as well.

If this existed along with a Ren Fest shuttle bus with some temporary transit advantage around the clogged traffic, it could help.

[Korh]

-Friends of the 261 ran excursions available to the public to Duluth, Willmar, Montevideo, and Winona in the 2000s

Wasn't the reason the friends stopped doing there Duluth excision something to do with PTC/the line needing a lot more upgrades or was that just because BNSF was being BNSF.
If it was the former, hopefully they might get a chance to run one or two trains a year when the NLX gets built.
I also wonder if the NSSR might try to a one way option in the summer as well since it would be cool to get a chance to transfer at the depot and potentially get to two harbors.

[DanPatchToget]

I remember PTC being an issue, and I think they were forced to cancel an excursion to Duluth because of the lack of PTC, but I thought Friends of the 261 was able to raise enough money to have their excursion trains equipped with PTC. I could be wrong though.

[Tom H.]

For anyone interested, here's a collection of pictures showing that excursion train in several places between St. Louis Park and Merriam (west of Shakopee where the Renaissance Festival is located): http://johnhill_3009.rrpicturearchives.net/archiveThumbs.aspx?id=28718&Page=1

Absolutely fascinating - thanks for this. The abandoned rail line (now bike trail) runs behind my backyard and it's so interesting to see it in its original form.

[commissioner]

I remember PTC being an issue, and I think they were forced to cancel an excursion to Duluth because of the lack of PTC, but I thought Friends of the 261 was able to raise enough money to have their excursion trains equipped with PTC. I could be wrong though.

I believe they did raise enough for PTC, the other reason (I could be wrong here) is both BNSF and CP were OK with 261 running on their tracks up until the oil boom of the mid 2010's and then it suddenly stopped because of all the traffic during that time (granted there may have been other reasons).

[Korh]

Noticed something in the freight rail forecast that the north shore scenic railroad is looking for $760,000 in support for a "rail siding for private car Bed & Breakfast"
Anyone know what car/plan they could be talking about? iirc they did add the Puget Sound to their collection but I assumed they where just gonna attach it to one of their excision trains.

[Korh]

Might be jumping the gun a bit but CPCK announced their "final spike steam tour" about two months ago and the 2816 should have a stop in MSP (probably at SPUD unless anyone can think of a better spot) in mid to late April.
https://www.cpkcr.com/en/community/fina ... team-train

[DanPatchToget]

I rode the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad yesterday and it was a great experience! The LS&M has a passionate group of volunteers that know their history along the route and are always happy to answer questions. I feel like it's always overlooked, or perhaps not even known, by the public due to more attention being given to the North Shore Scenic Railroad. I haven't been on the NSSR in a long time so I don't remember the scenery along its route, but even though the LS&M doesn't go along Lake Superior it has its own unique scenery that's worth seeing, and the perfect way to do it in my opinion is on a slow train trundling on 100+ year old rails. If you're very lucky like I was you'll get to see a Canadian National freight train right above you as it makes its way across the Oliver Bridge.