LAKE SUPERIOR RAILROAD MUSEUM - DULUTH DEPOT
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Museum in an old train station with old locomotives, some of them in working order
Commonly known as the "Depot", this former railroad station was built in 1892. By 1910, it was served by seven train lines, and five thousand passengers passed through daily. In 1971, the last train stopped at Duluth station. Two years later, the depot was transformed into a cultural center that today houses a theater and three museums: the Duluth Art Institute, the St. Louis County Historical Society and the Railroad Museum.
The latter houses some gleaming marvels, old locomotives, most still in working order, some with the famous iron triangle at the front to clear the track of beasts and possible obstacles. Admire a gigantic 566-ton, black, twin-engine, piston-powered steam locomotive used to haul the heavy iron ore cargoes from the Mesabi mountain range; just behind the locomotive, its container, loaded with 26 tons of coal and 90,000 liters of water, forcing the locomotive to stop every two hours to refuel the steel monster; the "Soo Line" diesel locomotive; track-clearing equipment, with a huge flat base at the front to clear the track in snowy weather; and a snow blower mounted at the front of the train to blow away the snow. A small village has been reconstituted on the sides of the tracks, including a small souvenir kiosk selling postcards of the trains on display.