LAKE SUPERIOR TR~ANSPORTATIONCLUB

FALL

1983

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LS&M BOARDPresident. . . .. Mark OlsonVice President, Administration•••••••••• Leo McDonnellVice President, Operations •••••••••••••••••• Ed PufallVice President, Mechanical ••••••••••••••• Norm LivgardVice President, Engineering•••••••••••••••• Frank KingVice President, Public Relations •••••••••• Jergen FuhrSecretary••.............•............... Wayne C.OlsenTreasurer ••••••••••••••••••••••••.•••••• Bill MickelsenDirectors ••••.••••••••••••.•..•••.••••••• Jim Goulding

Bill BradleyDave Carlson

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I President •••••••••••••••••••••••.••••••••••Jergen Fuhr

I Vice President, Administration•••••••••••••• Pat Dorin

IVice President, Public Relations ••••••• ~ ••• Frank K~ng

Recording Secretary••••••••••••••••••••••0. Allen AnwayMembership Secretary••••••••••••••••••••• Tim SchandelTreasurer ....•.....•.......•.....•....... Chuck JensenDirector, Operations and Safety•••••••• Bill Mickelseni Director, Equipment Restoration••••••••••• Bill Bradley

= Director, Model Railroad•••••••••••••••••• Martin CarrI Editor ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Dave SchauerE

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ABOUT THE COVER

GREEN BAY & WESTERN R.R

The C&NW had a very nice locomotiveand freight car display at theDuluth departure site. Planningis already underway for a possibleMTM #328 operation up here nextyear. If the super success of thisyear's operation is any indication,next year's possible excursionshould be e(]ually sllcCE'ssful.

The photo shows Chicago andNorthwestern #1385 under a fullhead of steam departing Duluthearly Sunday morning, September 25.The train had close to 300 peopleon board. This was one of only twotrains that weren't sold out.

The train consisted of C&NWlocomotive #1385, GP-9 #4119, ourown Northwestern parlor car, ex­CN-Milw full dome car on loan fromthe Lake Superior & Escanaba, twoex-CRI&P coaches from the MTM, ourown CN coach, coach #33, GT coach,and SP&S baggage car plus DM&IR's"Minnesota II".

The 21 mile round trip betweenDuluth and Itaska (eastern Superior)took around four hours with smalldelays for re-watering the locomotive.

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GREEN BAYROUTE

GBW RAILROAD

PRESIDENT'S PAGEFHOH THE PHESI DENT

It was a beautiful fall week­end, smiling faces and waving armsat every grade crossing, oldstersremembering something from theirpast, youngsters in awe of somethingfrom the past they had not seen be­fore, and #1385 rolling merrily alongwith her nine car train in tow.People waving from their back porch,yards, fields, capacity crowds onboard ... its been many years sincea steam locomotive was last seen orheard in the Twin Ports in actualoperation.

CNW's R-1 10-wheeler, on loanfrom the Mid-Continent RailwayMuseum performed admirably on itssix trips between Duluth andSuperior on September 24 and 25 forthe annual fund-raiser for the LakeSuperior Transportation Museum.Rather than one day-long trip aswas done in past years, it was de­cided to try a series of short tripsin a metropolitan area for betterexposure and giving more people theopportunity to ride behind a steamlocomotive.

Thanks to Ed Burkhardt, vicepresident of CNW, to Gary Newman,division super, and his crew, to theMid-Continent people and the 40club members who served as carattendants, safety people, foodservice, gift sales and mechanicalpeople. The CMv steam special wentoff smoothly, though steam locomotivesdo get thirsty, causing some delay.

A quick review of the financialsheet shows tickets sales of $14,399,food and gift sales of $2,384, totalexpenses of $7,927 for a net profitof $8,856, carrying over 2,500people. The total capacity was3,000, 500 for each trip.

Again, a sincere thank you tothe many involved who put in manylong hours in planning and operation.

••.. Jergen Fuhr .•.•

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEET

The Board of Directors of theLake Superior Transportation Museummet on September 27 in the BN buildingin St. Paul. Russ Fridley of theMinnesota Historical Society had somegood news about possible future fund­ing from the state.

Russ has been meeting withGovernor Perpich and according to thegovernor, Duluth is considered as aregional interpretative center bystatute. The railroad museum has agood track record (no pun intended)and has been established for the pastdecade. Four other cities are con­sidered as regional interpretativecenters, Waseca, Winona, Stillwaterand Moorhead. Winona and Stillwaterare inactive and Moorhead is stillin the planning stage.

Larry Sommer reported on atten­dance at the museum: the first ninemonths of 1983 saw a total gatecount of J06,000, compared to thesame period of last year of 119,000,which had the grand opening of DepotSquare.

The board also adopted a pro­posed budget for 1984 with projectedrevenue of $187,000, down from $215,924for 1983, and projected expenses of$186,815, down from $215,341 for 1983.

Frank Bifulk, vice president ofMTM, stated that this would be hislast board meeting. He is not runningfor office in MTM next year. Frankreported that they are having problemswith the DOT. Having just acquiredthe BN rail line out of Stillwaterfor their excursion train, theMinnesota Department of Transportationwants to take out the bridge overHighway 95 north of Stillwater, lowerthe track eight feet, raise the high­way five feet to make a grade crossing,which would give the railroad a threeto four percent grade. They aretrying to get the DOT to replace the

(continued on page 4 )

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•BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEET

(continued)

bridge.The board also adopted a

membership and dues structure todevelop asa base of member supportand to increase income for the mu­seum. A proposed membership sched­ule is: retired railroad veterans,$7.50 per year; individual, $10.00;family, $15.00; associate, $25.00;contributing, $50.00; sustaining,$100.00; and a life membership,S1000.

Income from contributing, sus­taining and life memberships shallbe deposited in a Depot FoundationAccount which will provide interestincome, while other contributionswill be used for current operations.

A report on the recent CMisteam excursion train was given andappreciation for the volunteers whostaffed the train was expressed bythe board. Part of the profit fromthe excursion train will be usedfor the Ma-ttl-i-n ear whi-eh"-8rrived -­October 22 and is now in the museum.The first year's payment has beenmade and there is enough in thespecial account to pay the nextyear's payment, according to treas­urer Bob Sederburg. The museum isto pay $5,000 per year for fiveyears plus interest for the formerNP observation-lounge #390.

Tr~IN '83 HOSTED BY MTM

The Minnesota TransportationMuseum of the Twin Cities must bedoing something right. Of the manylousy weekends that cut into theirridership figures during the oper­ating season, the last weekend ofOctober was beautiful for the 12thannual Tourist Railway Associationconvention held at the MidwaySheridan. The annual streetcarpicnic was also held Oct. 30 andin the half dozen yeRrs since itsinception, they have not yet had a

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bad weekend weather-wise.

THAIN now has 119 members, upseven since the 1982 convention, whichconsists of both operating and staticmuseums, railroad publishers, suppliers,trolley museums and groups dedicatedto the preservation of a certain caror locomotive. The 1983 conventionhad 204 registered participants from54 organizations across the country.

Attending from Duluth were, Mr.and Mrs. Bill Mickelsen, Mr. and ~rs.

Leo McDonnell, Wayne Olsen, NormLivgard, Elaine Ellian, Tom Gannon,Mr. and ~trs. Jergen Fuhr and daughterKathy.

Friday afternoon and Saturdaymorning were taken up by seminars onsafety, locomotive repair, insurance,wood car restoration, track and right­of-way work, overhead wire repair andorganization of work crews. Mickelsenand Fuhr attended the Saturday morningsession conducted at Lake Harriet ontrack and wire repair and had an op­portunity to operate street cars #1300and #265.

Ed Burkhardt, vice president ofthe CNW, spoke at a banquet Fridayevening. In his remarks, he stated"Politics is the key word why rail­roads have been in financial diffi­culties the past 20 to 30 years, whythey have lost business, politics inthe name of the ICC. Trucking hastaken a lot of business off the rails~'

"We have to be sensitive of thepublic. We have not been and thismay go back to a former NYC presidentwho stated: 'The Public be damned.'"

Hr. Burkhardt said nothing willcapture the public interest like asteam engine. "1982 was the worstyear for the CN\\-" and the steamexcursion "Prosperity Special" with#1385 was aptly named in rememberanceof another "Prosperity Special" in 1932.And as #1085 rambled about wisconsin,little or no advance publicity was

(continued on page 5 )

NEWSr-lINNTAC TRAINS ROLL

SEE THE NEW

WORLD'S FA1R-~

The depressed Iron Range hasfound some business in supplyingtaconite to United States Steel'sProvo, Utah plant. The good news forour area means bad news for the F-unitoperated rail line that used to servethe Provo plant. That line was closedwhen U.S.S. decided to ship in thepellets from the Iron Range.

The taconite is loaded at Minntacand shipped over the DM&IR to theC&NW connection at Itaska where theNorthwestern handles the train to aninterchange with the Union Pacific inNebraska. The UP then handles thetrain to the mill location. This all­rail taconite train can easily be thelongest distance tac train shipped.The BN ships many tac trains to the5t. Louis area but this distance isno where as long as the DM&IR-CNW-UPtrain. Let's hope the train continuesin the future.

•

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THAIN' 83

(continued)

given but yet scores of peoplesUdde~ly showed up at stations andgrade crossings. School busessuddenly arrived as schools let thechildren out to see a bit of Ameri­cana.

Burkhardt stated that CNW hadmore H-1 engines than any other classand #1385 was typical of CMv power.The repairing and operation of the10-wheeler has boosted employeemorale, heightened public interestand respect, and has been a goodpublic relations tool. A busy sch­edule for the steamer is planned for1984: tours in May, July and September,with appearances in Kansas City andCouncil Bluffs and possibly inNebraska in 1985.

Chris Burger of CNW who hadspent a lot of time with #~085 sho~ed

slides of its re-construct10n and 1tSoperations around Wisconsin.

5aturd~y afternoon was high­lighted with an excursion behind#328 to Hudson, Wis. using one RockIsland commuter, three former GNcars, two in sky-blue and one inOmaha orange and Pullman green, andthe private car, Hiram. Loading atthe Amtrak station, the train usedthe CN\o,- tracks to Hudson where it waswyed and made a photo run-by.

The general business meetingand election of officers was held onSunday morning. Huber Leath ofStrassbury, Dwight Smith of ConwayScenic Geoff Blaesing of Mid­Contin~nt and Joe Minich, editor 01TRAIN were elected to the board.,The Indiana Railway Museum at FrenchLick will host the spring meeting,the annual convention will be inEssex, Connecticut in 1984 andpossibly in North Freedom in 1985.It is hoped to have the 1986 convent­ion in Denver -- the Great Westernis looking to run steam again.

.5

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1385 STEAM!

OPPOSITE PAGE:

Steam locomotive #1385 shows offits lines in a clear Nemadji riverreflection. The sights and soundsof #1385 were seen and heard through­out Duluth and Superior during theweekend operation. The Nemadji riverbridge is around a quarter of a milelong and gave the riders a nice viewof the fall colors within the riverbasin.

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TOP:

Our 1385 excursion could verypossibly be the last one ever tocross the St. Louis bay over BN'sMinnesota and Wisconsin drawbridges.The train is shown crossing the baybetween the two draws. BN plans toclose the draws later this winterafter the shipping season closes.

Staff Photos by Dave Schauer

EVENTS AND DATES••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

. . . . .. . .

January 10 - Tenth Anniversary Celebration, Depot.

January 27 - Annual meeting, Depot 7:00 pm.

February 24 - General meeting, Depot 7:30.

HAVE A HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON!

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LAKE SUPERIOR TRANSPORTATION CLUBST. LOUIS COUNTY HERITAGE & ARTS CENTER506 W. MICHIGAN STREETDULUTH, MINNESOTA 55802

M l.Jl S1 1 4Tti STp eTL .N

NON-PROFlT ORS.u.s. POSTAGf

PAIDPUWTlt, MINH.f'lnnit No. 228

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