150 years of Minnesota railroading

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mulad
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150 years of Minnesota railroading

Postby mulad » June 28th, 2012, 9:51 pm

I knew this was coming up a few months back, then it slipped my mind. On June 28, 1862, the first passenger train ran in Minnesota between St. Paul and St. Anthony. Trains magazine's news wire had this write-up:
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Today marks the 150th Anniversary of the first train to operate in the state of Minnesota. On June 28, 1862, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad 4-4-0 No. 1, the William Crooks (named for the railroad’s chief engineer), pulled a special passenger train ten miles from St. Paul to St. Anthony, near what is today Minneapolis’ St. Anthony Main neighborhood. It was the first run of a train in Minnesota.

The rail, cars, and locomotives for the first train had been shipped upriver by Mississippi River barge in 1861. The St. Paul Daily Press of June 29, 1862, said the invitation-only affair included Minnesota’s governor and lieutenant governor, St. Paul’s mayor and several “aldermen,” directors of the St. Paul & Pacific, and about 100 citizens. It left St. Paul at “about half past two o’clock and returned at six o’clock,” when an evening banquet was held.

Minnesota became a center of railroad activity. Great Northern and Northern Pacific were based in St. Paul, while mid-sized lines such as Minneapolis & St. Louis and Soo Line were based in Minneapolis. Duluth was headquarters for the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range, owned by US Steel.

Minnesota railroad leaders became rich, and in some cases, famous. They included James J. Hill, the “Empire Builder” who’s Great Northern Railway would reach the West Coast – and included the St. Paul & Pacific. Less well known today are Adolphus Stickney, who built the Chicago Great Western connecting the Twin Cities with Omaha and Kansas City, and W.D. Washburn, who had already made a fortune in lumber and milling when he became the first president of the Soo Line in 1883.

For years Minnesota residents had a choice of Chicago & North Western’s Twin Cities 400, Milwaukee Road’s Twin Cities Hiawathas, and Burlington’s Twin Zephyrs[/i between the Twin Cities and Chicago that reached speeds of 100 mph. To the West Coast, travelers had the choice of Great Northern’s Empire Builder, Northern Pacific’s North Coast Limited, and Milwaukee Road’s Olympian Hiawatha. They all made stops at the St. Paul Union Depot, which is being renovated and will again see trains late this year or early in 2013.

While no Class I railroads are based in the state today, Canadian Pacific’s U.S. operations are headquartered in Minneapolis, and shortlines such as Minnesota Northern, Progressive Rail, and Twin Cities & Western call the state home.

You can still see the William Crooks today. It is a featured attraction at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in Duluth, Minn. resting next to Northern Pacific’s first locomotive, the Minnetonka. You can examine the locomotive up close, and imagine what that day 150 years ago must have been like.

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