From the locomotive’s home base at Minneapolis Junction, the route north takes the train past BNSF’s huge Northtown Yard in Minneapolis and suburban Fridley. Three miles north of the yard, at Coon Creek Junction in Coon Rapids, Minn., BNSF’s single track Hinckley Subdivision will be the train’s route. The line is operated with ABS and track warrants, with sidings at Andover, Cambridge, Grasston, Hinckley, Askov, Bruno, and Nickerson, Minn. and Foxboro, Wis.
North of Coon Creek the scenery is primarily flat, with a county road paralleling the line just to the west. At the north end of Cambridge, Minnesota Highway 65 crosses over the Hinckley Sub, then parallels it for about 10 miles to the junction just south of Braham with Minnesota Highway 107. This highway follows the main line 17 miles from Braham to Brook Park, the junction with Minnesota Highway 23. The Highway 23 overpass at Brook Park is a favorite for photographers as the line curves briefly to the east. In this area the scenery begins to change with wooded areas becoming more prominent.
Highway 23 joins Interstate 35 at Hinckley. It parallels the tracks on the west side seven miles to Sandstone. The large Kettle River Bridge at Sandstone is one of the scenic highlights of the line; it is accessed off highway 123 just north of town. Highway 123 joins Highway 23 at Askov, which has the last remaining depot on the line. The ex-GN structure is now the Pine County Historical Society Museum.
From Askov Highway 23 closely parallels the tracks for roughly 22 miles on the west side until just north of Nickerson. North of Nickerson, North Holyoke Road heads east; at Holyoke there is a large steel trestle. Holyoke Road crosses the tracks at the Wisconsin state line and parallels the line briefly through Foxboro, Wis. From there East County Road B stays just east of the line to Wisconsin Highway 35, which follows the line north into Superior, Wis. In this section the Hinckley Sub switches from ex-Great Northern to former Soo Line track, which Burlington Northern purchased in the 1980s so it could relocate the line to avoid marshy soil, which was undermining the ex-GN route. Two scenic highlights in this area are large steel ex-Soo Line trestles over the Black River, accessed from Highway 35 and Baumgartner and East Manitou Valley roads, and the Nemadji River Bridge is right next to Highway 35.
At the north end of the Nemadji River is junction with BNSF’s double track Lakes Sub at Boylston, the train will use this route to Central Avenue in South Superior, where it will switch to the single track “coal main” for the trip into Superior proper. BNSF’s main Superior Yard at 21st Street will be from the west side of the train. A tight curve at LST&T Junction in Superior will send the excursion train toward the Grassy Point Drawbridge, which crosses the St. Louis River and takes the train from Wisconsin into Minnesota.
At the west end of Grassy Point the train will swing north and pass under the huge Bong Bridge, which takes U.S. Highway 2 from Superior to Duluth. About a mile north the tracks pass under the approaches to Canadian National’s ex-Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range railway ore docks, then pass BNSF’s Rice’s Point Yard and on into the Lake Superior Railroad Museum, where the train is scheduled to arrive at 3 p.m.
At 6 p.m. that evening a special dinner train powered by Soo Line 4-6-2 No. 2719 will depart the museum on the North Shore Scenic Railroad. Interstate 35 and U.S. highway 61 parallel the North Shore Scenic from downtown Duluth through to the far east end of the city. The tracks cross the four-lane highway 61 seven miles from the museum. At this point the tracks lie between four-lane Highway 61 and two-lane old Highway 61, which sticks closer to the tracks and the North Shore of Lake Superior. Scenic highlights in this stretch are the steel trestle over the French River at milepost 13, and another over the Big Sucker River at Palmers, 16 miles from the museum. At Palmers a diesel will pull the train back to the museum, with arrival scheduled for 8 p.m.
On May 12, the 261 excursion train will depart Duluth at noon with scheduled arrival back in Minneapolis at 5 p.m., concluding 261’s first public trip in five years. For tickets and more information, go to www.261.com.
