Housed in Duluth, Minnesota's Historic Union Depot, the Lake Superior Railroad Museum works in conjunction with the North Shore Scenic Railroad to offer one of the richest historic experiences in railroading available anywhere. The beautiful French Chateauesque building was completed in 1892 and was a bustling hub of activity for much of the 20th century. In 1910, seven railroads dispatched over 50 trains a day from Duluth. An Immigrants' waiting room served as a small Ellis Island for the region's newest arrivals to await their connections. During times of war, regiments of soldiers would march down Superior Street to board trains for service. The last train pulled out of the station in 1969, and in 1973 work began to restore the Depot and create the museum. Since then, and with the help of thousands of enormously talented and dedicated volunteers, we have been striving to preserve and enrich this historic environment as the zenith of an era past, frozen in time. Along with the trains on display inside the museum is Depot Square, a 3/4 scale recreation Duluth's downtown in 1910. It is claimed that this area had more millionaires per capita than any state in the nation at the turn of the century. Our collection of railroad equipment is the finest in the midwest, featuring steam, diesel and electric locomotives, passenger cars, freight cars, dining cars and specialty equipment used by logging and mining industries. Many of our exhibits are hands-on, we even have a genuine, 1990s-era locomotive simulator where you can be the engineer. As a part of our effort to preserve history, we maintain an active library of books, publications, maps and photos. We're also proud to offer a variety of educational programs adaptable to all grade levels, including outreach programs and kits for loan to educators.
