Minnesota Railroads: A Photographic History, 1940-2012

“The Great Northern Railway, in the eventful year of 1941, met every requirement made of it as the Nation hurriedly prepared for war.” So Great Northern’s president spoke of the Minnesota railroad that transported the tanks and airplanes, materiel and troops, that were critical to America’s military success. This illustrated volume offers an enlightening—and irresistibly entertaining—look at Minnesota railroads from that shining moment, near the end of the romantic era of steam locomotives and luxury passenger lines, to the reemergence of railroads as one of the few profitable transportation industries in our day.

Remarkable photographs, many never before published, take us inside the cab of a monumental steam locomotive, which hauled iron ore from the Mesabi Range, and into the lounge car of the luxurious North Coast Limited streamliner. We visit the huge shops that worked on massive locomotives and go trackside to witness the morning rush hour at the St. Paul Union Depot. From the modest St. Charles depot welcoming the Rochester 400 in 1962 to brand-new locomotives speeding container trains west at Hawley in 2009, Minnesota Railroads combines thrilling close-ups and an edifying long view, fine details and a full history.

Traveling from Winton to Worthington, Noyes to Winona, tracking the transition from steam to diesel and the mergers that created today’s mega railroads, Minnesota Railroads gives readers a richly textured picture of railroading’s past and future and its impact on life in Minnesota.