Lake Superior
Railroad Museum

Category: "Latest News & Features"

Open Daily
September 14, 2022

The museum is proud to be open 7-days-a-week from 10am to 5pm, making a great option for the fall and winter tour. Stop by and see the impressive collection of […]

Summer Season is Here!
May 28, 2022

The museum is open daily from 10am to 6pm in the summer season. Enjoy the huge indoor and outdoor museum all for the admission of $12 for adults and $6 […]

May 5, 2022

National Train Day! May 14th… The Lake Superior Railroad Museum is open daily from 10am to 5pm. Come to the museum on May 14th for extra fun to celebrate National […]

Holiday Hours & When the Museum is Open
December 21, 2021

We are open… until noon on Christmas/New Years Eve. Then closed on Christmas Day (Dec 25) and Closed New Years Day (Jan 1). Other than that, the museum is open […]

Museum Closes early on weekends
November 23, 2021

With the Christmas City Express starting this weekend and each weekend up until Christmas, the Railroad Museum will close at 3pm each day for the event. Meaning those days its […]

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Latest News & Features

  • May 27, 2026

    by Doug Buell As the Missabe caboose C-205 returns to the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in Duluth, MN after a period of refurbishment and painting, it is a good time to review some of the history of this caboose. The C-205 was delivered in 1952 as part of an order for new, steel, wide vision (extended vision) cabooses built by International Car Company. Coincidentally, about the same time, Erie Mining Company was being designed and planned, including the 73-mile mainline railroad from Hoyt Lakes on the Minnesota Iron Range to Taconite Harbors on the shore of Lake Superior. Equipment for the mainline railroad included three steel cabooses manufactured by the same International Car Co. In this case, these cabooses would be ordered in a bay window configuration. This is perhaps because some of the railroad equipment selections were guided by Bethlehem Steel and eastern railroad experiences, where bay window cabooses were common. Hang on, we’re getting to the connection with the C-205. After operating on Erie’s mainline for a short period it was found that the bay windows on the side of the cabooses were being broken by pellets falling off of the pellet cars as the train rolled along, bouncing on the ground and back up the side, hitting the caboose window. Due to a close working relationship between Erie and the Missabe, Erie borrowed one of their newer wide vision cabooses to test. You guessed it, that turned out to be the C-205. After the use on the Erie pellet trains, all three of Erie’s bay window cabooses were returned to International Car Co. to have the bay windows removed and extended vision cupolas added. In the mid-1970s Duluth Missabe and Iron Range had half a dozen of their steel cabooses modified by removing the cupolas and adding bay windows for use on the Thunderbird Mine to Fairlane plant crude ore trains. The C-205 was one of those chosen to be modified. After it’s sale to Northshore Mining, the C-205 came to the Lake Superior Railroad Museum where it has been maintained in operating condition.

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