(The St. Paul Pioneer Press published the following story by Beth Gauper on its website on August 18.)
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Their glory days are long gone, but trains will never die.
Thanks to the almost evangelical zeal of their devotees, the locomotives, coaches and cabooses of the 20th century still are serving passengers today — on excursions and as overnight lodging, if not for transportation.
Noisy, smelly and outmoded, these trains still are marvelously evocative of a more romantic era, and those who love them are legion. So rather than fading gracefully into the mists of time, they’re bellowing into the present, with plumes of black smoke and earsplitting whistles.
Steam locomotives, which tamed the frontier and shaped the nation, inspire the most reverence. But they’re also costly to keep up, labor-intensive and often grounded by high insurance rates.
In Minneapolis/St. Paul, however, more than 700 members of the nonprofit Friends of the 261 have managed to keep a 1944 Milwaukee Road steam locomotive and a fleet of vintage cars operating, and this fall, in collaboration with Amtrak, they will offer fall-color excursions down the Mississippi River to Winona, Minn.
Rail fans are coming from all over the nation to volunteer as engineers, conductors and brakemen on the runs, said Judy Sandberg of Shoreview, Minn., administrator of Friends of the 261.
“It’s history, it’s fun, it’s keeping something alive that’s a dying thing,” she said. “It’s a huge challenge.”
Teams of avid volunteers also keep passenger trains running in Duluth, Minn.; Osceola, Spooner and North Freedom, Wis.; and Boone, Iowa. From these towns, vintage trains traverse scenic routes on tourist excursions, many of which also include lunches, stops for pizza, even marshmallow roasts and murder mysteries.
People who want to spend even more time on trains can stay overnight in cabooses and Pullman cars, converted into inns. John Gerlach, who operates the Short Line Railroad B&B in Viroqua, Wis., with his wife, Yvonne, is a lifelong train fan who always wanted to work on the railroad. He worked instead in real estate and insurance but always took the last week of August to “hobo,” donning old clothes and hopping freight cars to get as far west as he could before turning back.
“I tell you, when I came back on the job, I was a whole new person,” he said. “I just love trains. Wherever you find trains, you’ll find Jack Gerlach.”
In retirement, he bought his own Great Northern caboose and refurbished it, turning it into a B&B after Yvonne remarked on the cost. He also is a member of a La Crosse, Wis., club that’s raising $120,000 to refurbish a Chicago, Burlington & Quincy steam locomotive that sits in La Crosse’s Copeland Park.
All that money will go to rehab the exterior, not to make it operable, but Gerlach said it’s worth it.
“It’s beautiful; how many of those machines do you see, anyhow?” he said. “When you see them sitting there, you just dream on and on. We spend so much so we can keep it for future generations. You do it because someone saved it for you; why not save something worthwhile for someone else?”
Linda Bracho wasn’t a big fan of trains when she stayed in a 1920 caboose in Napa Valley on her honeymoon. But it gave her an idea, and last June, she and her husband, Miguel, opened the Northern Rail Traincar Suites in the woods near Two Harbors, Minn.
“I felt like a little kid again when I was in the train, and I wanted to re-create that for people,” she said. “We get kids who have read `The Boxcar Children,’ and adults who are avid collectors of train memorabilia, or whose parents worked for the railroad. It’s fun to hear the stories.”
Many train aficionados take their vacations on the real train _ Amtrak, which heads eastward from St. Paul at 7:40 a.m. every day. Day trips on Amtrak can be inexpensive: As of Thursday, for example, two adults with an AAA membership could travel to Red Wing, Minn., for its annual Fall Festival of the Arts on Oct. 11, have dinner and get back on the train at 8:46 p.m., for a total fare of $27. The same couple could travel to and from La Crosse for the Sept. 26-28 opening of Oktoberfest, $65, and they could ride to Chicago with their two children over MEA weekend, Oct. 16-19, for $227.
Folks who have a bit more to spend can shoot right to the top of the class by taking a jaunt on the Royal Canadian Pacific, whose exquisitely restored business and parlor carriages, built between 1916 and 1929, take tourists on excursions in the Canadian Rockies but also can be chartered. It came through St. Paul last May, picking up passengers going to the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Ky.
It’s the most expensive railroad operation in the world, but passengers can play cards where Winston Churchill slept and sip a Saint Emilion sancerre where a young Princess Elizabeth drank tea the year before her coronation. Furnished with Circassian-walnut paneling, burgundy leather upholstery and the original light fixtures, not to mention a French chef, it’s a rolling cocoon of opulence.
Still, says managing director David Walker, who acts as host on the trips, those who take this train tend to be on it because they love trains _ all trains.
“Fundamentally, our guests are here because they love railroading,” he said.
Most people would need to save their pennies for a while before boarding the Royal Canadian Pacific. In the meantime, there are many other trains to ride and to sleep in. They’re very popular, especially on weekends and in the fall, so reserve early.
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IF YOU GO:
Special excursions:
The steam locomotive 261 will leave Minneapolis Oct. 4 and 5 for a 278-mile round-trip to Winona and La Crescent, Minn. Coach to Winona is $99, first-class $199 and luxury tail car class $299; fare between Winona and La Crescent is $29, $59 and $89. Reserve at www.261.com or call 651-765-9812 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Friends of the 261 also have scheduled fall fund-raising trips to Chicago on two private business cars, with fares starting at $300, and they also lease the cars to private parties.
The Royal Canadian Pacific offers regularly scheduled five-day tours of the Canadian Rockies out of Calgary, $5,100 to $5,450, and theme trains _ fly fishing, golf, hiking, wine and music _ that start at $2,275 to $5,100. However, it also runs custom charters for groups of at least 20. Call 1-877-665-3044, www.cprtours.com.
Regularly scheduled excursions:
In Spooner, Wis., the Wisconsin Great Northern Railroad operates diesel trains between Spooner, Trego Junction and Springbrook. Through August, 2 1/3-hour trips make the 30-mile round-trip run to Springbrook at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Wednesdays-Sundays; people also can make the round-trip from Springbrook at 12:20 p.m., $15 adults, $10 children 3-12. A pizza train leaves at 5 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays, $18 and $12; a hobo train at 5 p.m. Thursdays, $18 and $12; and a lunch train at 11 a.m. Aug. 29, $24 and $16. After Labor Day, trains leave Saturdays and Sundays, with pizza trains Saturday. Two-hour pumpkin trains go out every weekend in October at 10 a.m., 12:30 and 3 p.m. and include carnival games, motor-car rides and a marshmallow roast at Trego Junction, $15 and $10; reserve early. For details, call 715- 635-3200, www.spoonertrainride.com.
From downtown Duluth, the North Shore Scenic Railroad offers 90-minute runs to the Lester River and back daily at 12:30 and 3 p.m. and at 10 a.m. Friday-Saturday through Labor Day and then 12:30 and 3 p.m. Fridays-Sundays through Oct. 19, $10 adults, $5 for children 3-13. The 27-mile, six-hour run to and from Two Harbors leaves at 10:30 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays, arrives in Two Harbors between noon and 12:30 p.m. and leaves for Duluth at 2:30 p.m.; $18 adults, $8 children. The 2 {- to 2 }-hour Pizza Train goes to the Sucker River, halfway to Two Harbors, at 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays through Aug. 30; then 5:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays through Oct. 18; $17 adults, $12 children; reservations required. Tea trains, dinner trails and murder-mystery trains (sold out) also are offered. 1-800-423-1273, www.lsrm.org.
From West Duluth, the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad, run by volunteers, travels along the St. Louis River for narrated 90-minute, 12-mile round-trip tours at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. weekends through Oct. 5. It leaves from a parking lot behind the Little Store, across from the Lake Superior Zoo at Grand Avenue and 71st Avenue West. Adults, $8, children 12 and younger, $6. 218- 624-7549, www.lsmrr.org.
In Osceola, Wis., eight miles south of Taylors Falls, the volunteers of the Minnesota Transportation Museum run the Osceola & St. Croix Valley Railway. On weekends through Oct. 26, 1 {-hour trips go to Marine on St. Croix at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., $14 adults, $7 for children 5-15, and 50-minute trips go to Dresser at 1 p.m., $10 and $5.
Dinner trains go out Aug. 23 and Sept. 13, $45; pizza trains are on the same dates, $20 and $10. Sunday brunch trains are Sept. 7 and 21, $45-$30. Leaf trains will go out Sept. 27-28 and Oct. 4-5 at 4:15 p.m., $12 and $6. Pumpkin trains will be held on the usual runs Oct. 25, $16 and $9 to Marine and $12 and $7 to Dresser. 715-755-3570, www.mtmuseum.org.
In North Freedom, Wis., the Mid-Continent Railway eight miles west of Baraboo, offers seven-mile, 50-minute trips through the Baraboo Hills at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30, 2 and 3:30 p.m. daily through Labor Day, then weekends through Oct. 19, plus a Santa Express Nov. 29-30 and a snow train Feb. 20-22. Fare is $11 adults, $6 children 3-12. Dinner trains in first-class cars leave at 7 p.m. Oct. 3-4, 10-11 and 18; Nov. 29 and Feb. 20-21, $69. Steam locomotives usually pull the cars but now are being upgraded. Call 800-930-1385, www.mcrwy.com.
In Boone, Iowa, west of Ames, the Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad takes daily 15-mile round-trip excursions in the Des Moines River Valley that include the crossing of two bridges, one a 156-foot-high trestle. Through Oct. 31, trains leave daily at 1:30 p.m. and, on weekends and holidays, 4 p.m. Fare is $14, $5 for children 3-12. A steam locomotive is used most weekends; dinner and dessert excursions also are offered on a 22-mile trip. 1-800-626-0319, www.scenic-valleyrr.com.
Train lodgings:
In Viroqua, Wis., south of La Crosse, the Viroqua Short Line Railroad B&B sleeps up to four people in a Great Northern caboose on John and Yvonne Gerlach’s wooded acreage two miles south of town. The caboose has a small kitchen and VCR with a library of railroad tapes. The rate of $100 for two, $10-$15 for each additional person, includes wine, cheese and a very large breakfast. 608-637-3706.
Three miles north of Two Harbors, the Northern Rail Traincar Suites, across the Stewart River from Betty’s Pies, has 17 attractive rooms and a condo in 10 boxcars, connected by a hallway lined with vintage train photos and covered by a domed roof. Through October, rates are $99-$139 for the rooms, $153-$190 for the suites and $229-$329 for the condo and include a continental breakfast. 218-834-6084, www.northernrail.net.
In New York Mills, Minn., the Whistle Stop Inn B&B includes 1903 and 1909 Pullman cars with double whirlpools, gas fireplaces, VCRs and mahogany paneling, $115-$140, and an 1893 caboose with whirlpool tub and VCR, $95. Two other rooms are in the adjoining 1903 grand Victorian, $70-$80. Roger and Jann Lee, 1-800-328-6315, www.whistlestopbedandbreakfast.com.
In nearby Callaway, Minn., north of Detroit Lakes, Maplelag cross-country ski resort includes two cabooses. Rates include three meals a day during ski season; the cabooses also are available in spring and fall, but not summer. 1-800-654-7711, www.maplelag.com
Taking Amtrak:
The Amtrak train leaves from St. Paul at 7:40 a.m. every morning and arrives in Red Wing at 8:44 a.m., La Crosse at 10:25 a.m., Milwaukee at 1:55 p.m. and Chicago at 3:45 p.m. It departs from Chicago at 2:10 p.m., Milwaukee at 3:50 p.m., La Crosse at 7:11 p.m. and Red Wing at 8:46 p.m., arriving in St. Paul at 10:25 p.m. Fares can be a bargain if reserved in advance or during a sale. Reserve at 1-800-872-7245, www.Amtrak.com.
Railroad festivals:
In Boone, Iowa, near Ames, the 27th annual Pufferbilly Days will be held Sept. 4-7. Named for the small steam cars that carried coal, the festival will include rides on the Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad (see above), model train exhibits, a spike-driving contest, a parade, music and an arts fair. 1-800-266-6312, www.booneiowa.com.
In Spooner, Wis., Railroad Heritage Days will be held Sept. 12-13, starting with a Sept. 12 concert by fiddler Peter Ostroushko, who will give workshops Sept. 13 for the Northern Heritage Fiddle Contest. Old-fashioned games, ethnic food, a visit from the Fils du Voyageur, Ojibwe youth dancers, traditional crafts and a farmers market are featured Sept. 13, in addition to rides on the Wisconsin Great Northern Railroad (see above); www.railroadheritagefestival.com.