TWIN PORTS TRAINS—The Historic Railroads of Duluth & Superior 1870-1970, by Tony Dierckins and Jeff Lemke.
Nominated for the coveted 2025 Minnesota Book Award, here's a BRAND NEW BOOK RELEASE direct from the authors and publisher...
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Details about our book:
224 Pages.
280+ Images and Illustrations in Color and Black & White.
Hard cover.
LIMITED SIGNED EDITION includes BOTH author signatures.
Printed in Brainerd, MN USA.
Ships from Bloomingdale, IL USA.
Price is $65 per book that includes UPS shipping in the USA.
You can buy your book HERE.
We ship FAST.
Each book is waterproofed and packed in a heavy cardboard box to prevent damage.
TWIN PORTS TRAINS Book Launch in Duluth, MN. on August 1, 2024
In case you missed it, our TWIN PORTS TRAINS official book launch was held on August 1, 2024 to a standing room only crowd at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum inside the historic Duluth Union Depot in Duluth, Minnesota. Several images are included highlighting this historic event. Our book project is very much about giving back to the greater community of Duluth-Superior to help everyone better understand what happened here between 1870 and 1970. It was a time of immense effort to create not just a network of interconnected railroads, but also the thriving communities that sprang up on both sides of St. Louis Bay at the western tip of Lake Superior. That all happened thanks to the countless transitions these railroads made to handle more and different kinds of freight within the greater Duluth-Superior terminal district in this greatest of all inland rail and sail seaports in North America. Our book explains each railroad's unique adventure to establish itself at the Head of the Lakes region so that anyone who ever lived or worked in Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin can enjoy our story about how it all came together one railroad at a time.
TWIN PORTS TRAINS includes the history of events that brought these railroad companies into town, one railroad at a time, chaptered as follows:
Our book starts out with an introduction called: Before the Railroads 1856-1868. It tells the tale of how just how rough things were here before the coming of the railroads. Eventually, Northern Pacific would become THE major railroad on the Minnesota side of the St. Louis River. Chapters 1 and 2 in our book detail the evolution of the Northern Pacific that was first into Superior. Then with its acquisition of Duluth’s pioneer railroads, the Lake Superior & Mississippi and and St. Paul & Duluth, the NP’s dominance spread throughout Duluth and West Duluth.
The second railroad into Superior was the C.St.P.M.&O.—known affectionately as the Omaha. The Omaha’s main facility was built on the eastern outskirts of Superior at a place called Itasca. Chapter 3 covers the Omaha and its transition to become a part of the Chicago & North Western System.
The Missabe Road’s dominance of the iron ore business coming from the Vermillion and Mesabi Iron Ranges was an impressive accomplishment. Chapter 4 in our book covers the D&IR, DM&N and the DM&IR.
James J. Hill’s Eastern Railway Company of Minnesota was the early builder of the Great Northern’s massive presence in Superior, WI. It was Hill’s plan to dominate the Wisconsin side of the St. Louis River as much as the NP controlled the Minnesota side. This view shows locomotive 204 on the turntable at the Eastern’s first roundhouse along Winter Street in Superior. Later, they constructed a much larger roundhouse along Belknap Street, some of which remains in use today by BNSF Railway. Our Chapter 5 covers the Great Northern along with its predecessors Eastern Railway Company of Minnesota and the Duluth & Winnipeg.
Chapter 6 discusses the coming of the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic, the Wisconsin Central, and the Soo Line. Last to enter Duluth, the Soo Line paid dearly for that opportunity, and our story details what it took for them to build a rail line and their own Union Station in the heart of Duluth.
Chapter 7 talks about the bridge lines that came into Duluth, most notable among them was the Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific that had freight facilities in West Duluth and shared use of the Omaha’s downtown Duluth passenger station; shown.
Chapter 7 also includes the Milwaukee Road that began operating over the NP’s right of way from St. Paul to Duluth in 1900. When NP began retiring some of its line into the Twin Ports, the Milwaukee got bounced around pretty good. This shot shows the daily train from St. Paul passing the NP freight house at 27th Avenue West in Duluth while plying the rails of what used to be known as the Duluth Transfer Railway (DT). The DT was part of the NP, later BN, and later still, BNSF Railway. Today, the DT is a hyper-important rail line. It’s the only direct rail connection remaining between Superior and Duluth and is used by every railroad in the area to move trains between the two cities and across the St. Louis River via the Grassy Point Draw Bridge.
Chapter 8 covers a variety of switching and terminal railroads including the Lake Superior Terminal & Transfer Railway, the Duluth Transfer Railway, Duluth Union Depot & Transfer Company, and the Northwestern Coal Railway. This view shows a forgotten portion of the Duluth Union Depot. For many years the Railway Express Agency maintained a freight express office at the west end of the depot with a freight elevator to the train concourse.
Chapter 9 is entitled Interfacing with Industry and explains how the railroads worked together to serve the needs of almost 500 railroad served businesses scattered throughout Duluth, West Duluth, Steelton, and Superior. Here, the Cliffs Victory takes on a load of iron ore at Great Northern Dock 2 in 1961.
Our Epilogue is called Consolidation and Beyond. It covers the period 1970-2024 beginning with the creation of Burlington Northern on March 2, 1970. When BN was created, in the Twin Ports it combined the GN, NP, and eventually took control of the LST&T Railway as well. This image shows the former GN roundhouse near the west end of Superior’s Belknap Street overpass. Only a small portion of this facility remains today. Our epilogue also includes short stories about the balance of Twin Ports railroad consolidations, followed by the Appendix that includes a series of colorful Duluth-Superior Development Maps along with an accounting of all the Historic Railroad-Owned Yards, Docks & Freight Stations. There was a time when the rail yards here could handle 37,500 freight cars and we’ve identified each yard by name, purpose, car capacity, and railroad ownership for the year 1930.
Long live the railroads and the railroaders that made all of this happen in the Twin Ports of Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin!
What reviewers are saying about TWIN PORTS TRAINS...
"There is more than just the fascinating history of railroading at the Head of the Lakes. The anecdotes and personal biographies of the men and women who influenced and built the railroads here introduces a whole new dynamic for telling the story of why we are here and how the railroads made that possible."
— Ken Buehler, Executive Director, Lake Superior Railroad Museum
"It would be hard to overstate the importance of railroads in shaping the Twin Ports as we know them, and the authors of Twin Ports Trains have performed an invaluable service in collecting a vast amount of information in a single, accessible volume that's sure to become a go-to guide for everyone curious about Duluth and Superior history. Twin Ports Trains will fascinate both casual railfans and hard-core foamers."
— Jay Gabler, Arts and Entertainment Reporter, Duluth News Tribune
"Twin Ports Trains will make a welcome addition to the bookshelf of those interested in railroad history and general industrial development at the Head of the Lakes. Authors Dierckins and Lemke have compiled a wealth of historical facts along with numerous images and maps that expertly tell the rich story of railroading in Duluth-Superior."
— Dave Schauer, President Emeritus, Missabe Railroad Historical Society
"Great book!" — Steven R., Duluth, MN.
"A 5-Star Transaction from a Trusted Seller. Shipping was immediate, the item was well packaged, and arrived quickly! I've only done a quick skim through the book at this point, but the content looks great if you are at all interested in the development of Duluth, its railroads and its industries. Thanks!" — Steve E., Mokena, IL.
"Excellent book & seller - 5 stars." — Robert G., Reidsville, NC.
"Awesome photos and excellent information. Well written and very readable. Safely packed, fast shipping. Highly recommended!" — Peter Y., Dallas, TX.
"An excellent seller super service." — Philip D., Port St. Joe, FL.
"Received this book a few days ago and finally had an opportunity to look through it. VERY WELL packaged. Excellent book, with nice, sharp b&w and color photos, lots of information/history, and a GREAT group of maps, in color, a great reference for anyone interested in the Twin Ports!" — Mark D., Westlake, OH.
"Perfect. Fast shipping." — DeLonce S., Shoreview, MN.
"YOUR BOOK IS AWESOME! Quick look thru at all the awesome pictures. Look forward to reading it all. WELL DONE. Cheers!" — Mike M., Janesville, WI.
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— Roy J., Jamestown, ND.
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