Two Harbors

Two Harbors, Minn. is a great place to visit. It was and still is one of the main places where iron ore from the Iron Range is transferred from the railroad (DM&IR) to lake freighters for the trip down to the steel plants. And there's more than just trains on display.

The first thing you come to is the DM&IR Yellowstone, #229, on display under a roof. It's a very impressive locomotive and is maintained in excellent cosmetic condition.

The accompanying signage is very complete.













Across the street is #3, a 2-6-0 from the D&IR, which has been on display at this location since 1923. It's an 1883 Baldwin.

And there is a wooden ore car and a bobber.

The two displays are alongside the old main line, which is still used by the North Shore Scenic. The station building houses the local historical society.

Nearby at the harbor, ore cars loaded with iron ore (now in the form of taconite) are still being dumped into the ore boats.






And if you're wondering what exactly "taconite" is, it looks like this. Or so they would have you believe.

One of the chutes seems to have had a problem; workmen were running it up and down to test it out.

While we were watching, an empty ore boat came into view and pulled alongside one of the docks. On the wrong side for photography, unfortunately.

But we could have a nice romantic picnic lunch looking across the bay at the docks and watching the ore being loaded. It makes a tremendous roar sliding down the chutes and falling into the hold. We also visited the lighthouse and maritime museum nearby. What a neat place!