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!

National Railroad Museum

The National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin, is well worth a visit. These pictures can show only a part of the collection. And it happened to be raining when we visited, so some of them are not as good as I might like.

The operating train consists of a commuter coach and an open car built on a flatcar. Due to the rain, plastic covers are in use.

But the best place to watch this operation is the observation tower. I'd really like to have one of these! It gives you a great view of the property and the surrounding area. It's probably higher than we would need, I think.


In any case, there goes the train!

The main display hall has lots of open space, and is often used for private events of various sorts. A Big Boy, a GG-1, and some Pullman cars are the main attractions here.

There are also extensive displays of railroad china, drumheads, and other memorabilia, some of which are changed out periodically.

You can walk up a ramp to view the cab of the Big Boy.

And also the cab of the GG-1.

One of the Pullmans.

The Aerotrain is very interesting. They have the locomotive and two of the cars. I remember many years ago, c. 1975, when they were using these silly four-wheel cars for the service train. The ride was terrible, like riding a speeder. You could feel every rail joint. This was supposed to be space-age technology, but in some ways was a big step backwards. In any case, it's a very interesting artifact.

And here's a wooden Russell Plow, for those who are interested in such things.

I talked to Dave Bertrand, the head of the mechanical department. They have two or three full-time employees who do most of the restoration work, plus some which is done by volunteers. He showed us around the shop and some of the equipment.

Dave is very proud of the fine job done on this Burlington obs-lounge-diner. This is used for the Polar Express trains, which are very popular and profitable for the museum.

There's a lot more I haven't even touched on. So if you're passing through Green Bay, I can heartily recommend a visit to NRM. The alternative (football) is too revolting to contemplate.

Behind the Scenes

This was the last day of Day Out With Thomas for this year, and it rained pretty much all day, but that doesn't stop us here at IRM. The parking lot was full, the trains ran on time, and everybody seemed to be having a good time, considering the weather.

I was scheduled to be the conductor on the 4391, but it never left the barn, leaving me at loose ends. So I paid a visit to the nerve center of the Museum. Here we see (L to R) Steve Jirsa, Andy Chmura, Harold Krewer, and Al Reinschmidt masterminding the operation. They're actually busier than they might look. But with their vast experience, everything goes smoothly.

Most of the public areas were crowded with families and their children, but let's look behind the scenes.

The Zephyr was over the inspection pit in Barn 4, getting ready for its momentous journey on the Burlington from Chicago to Quincy and back next month. Tickets will go on sale soon, so don't be left out!

(R) Tim Peters has an unusual neighbor.

So I helped my old buddies Jeff Brady and Norm Krentel for a while. They were working on the Michigan Electric 28, of course, and Jeff has set up a system for steaming the wood strips that need to be bent over the curved end of the roof. (L) This is the boiler. I got to regulate the fire, so Jeff wouldn't have to keep running up and down the ladder. With proper care, we'll have perfect 150-proof moonshine.

Jeff and I carefully regulate the system. We're hams from way back.

Up on the scaffold, Jeff inserts a strip of wood into the pipe where it will be steamed for 20 minutes or so to make it flexible.

And when it's medium rare, he takes it out and nails it into place over the end of the roof. As you can see, there are dozens of these strips to be individually cut to shape and fitted, and there are two layers. But after a lot of work, this end of the roof is nearly done!

In other news, when we got back from vacation, we found that somebody had dug up and severed the cable to our block of townhomes, so we were without internet, phone, or TV. That's been fixed now, so after a delay I'll start posting pictures from our recent vacation. There will be lots to see.

The "Lake City" is Here!

The museum's newest acquisition, the Milwaukee Road heavyweight parlor-observation car "Lake City," arrived on Wednesday - and boy is she a beauty!  Hicks Car Works field reporter Chris Buck was there to take some photos of the event.

The "Lake City" is an early steel car that was gorgeously restored and backdated by its previous owner, who donated the car to IRM late last year.  More historical information on the car will follow.  To truly appreciate what a gem this car is you have to see the interior photos here.

 

And check out that rig - it looks like someone left an O scale model on our S scale entrance drive.

Many thanks to Chris for sending these great photos!