Duluth Missabe & Iron Range Railway (DMIR)

I picked up a book on modeling real life railroads and came across a lengthy article on the Duluth Missabe & Iron Range.  I am not an expert on the railroad but the idea is that the railroad track starts from the western tip of lake superior including the cities of Superior WI and Duluth MN.  From Duluth the track went along the north shore of lake Superior to a town called Two Harbors.  Farther to the north and west of the North shore of the lake there is a hilly area called the Missabe Range that is rich in iron ore. Various tracks peel off from the line that goes from Duluth to Two Harbors into the Missabe range and the railroads main business was to get that iron ore and taconite down to the lake at various places like Two Harbors so it could be loaded onto mighty ships like the Edmund Fitzgerald.   During the road’s heyday it provided passenger service along the North Shore also. The road was most famous for having monster locomotives with wheel arrangements like 2-8-8-4, 2-10-4, and 0-10-2, to move all that ore and taconite.

The most striking thing about this railroad it that it’s business purpose was so clear and obvious that it was able to stand on its own for many years after other roads collapsed or merged with bigger roads.  It has been relatively recently that the DMIR became part of the Canadian National.

I wasn’t far into the article until I realized that I had been there two or three times before and taken pictures of the area.  There are still many signs of the mighty DMIR around Duluth and the North shore.  A few of my shots follow and don’t forget to check the link on the right.

The lack of a clear business purpose is one of the problems with the OMR&W.  My original intent was to make it mostly about lumber but it seems like maybe it will be just a stop between two other places left to the imagination.

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