1999 Excursion on the Lake Superior & Ishpeming Railroad
by Jeremy Winkworth
The pleasure of some activities often lessens over time but riding on the Lake Superior & Ishpeming Railroad (LS&I) in Upper Michigan is definitely NOT in that category. It’s not known to me exactly how many times we’ve had formal excursions on the LS&I, but the most likely number is 8, starting in 1994. Each time our escort has been Al Freeman, and thus we owe him huge thanks for his time and his support.
On August 28th of this year, a total of 15 motor cars and one hyrail assembled on the ore dock relief track in West Yard, Marquette. There was a sprinkling of old faces like Mike Paul and Mike Mitzel, plus some newer members like Jim Jameson of Kalamazoo, MI and Bud Stych of Traverse City, MI. As the weather forecast was sunny and 70 degrees, with not a drop of rain in sight and no early morning fog to deal with, we were in particularly good spirits. The LS&I was busy, with an ore boat being loaded and another due the next day. After the mandatory safety meeting, given by coordinator Jim Lindholm of Great Lakes Railcars, we waited for a long train of empty ore cars to trundle by and tackle the Marquette hill up to Eagle Mills. This movement is known as the "Hill Job", the other two jobs on the railroad being the "Dock Job" and the "Mine Job". Power for these trains is a fleet of older GE’s that were featured in Trains magazine this summer, all painted Cascade green.
After giving the Hill Job a good start, we departed from West Yard, lead by Al Freeman in his company hyrail. Track on the hill up to Eagle Mills is very well maintained, and needs to be, as this is the section where all LS&I traffic funnels down to the ore dock on Lake Superior. It includes two high trestles and a scale used by all ore trains. The hill is a good test of a 2-stroke operator’s skill, as it is 11 miles of pretty much continuous grade and inevitably you will have to stop a couple of times. The WC line seen on the right at Bagdad is now disused and may be purchased by the LS&I as a relief route around Eagle Mills for empties returning to the mines. When we reached Eagle Mills, we found a loaded ore train waiting for us to clear the section – it’s all part of the thrill of riding the LS&I! The bathroom break was in the maintenance facility, some people using the bathroom more as an excuse to walk through the facility and examine the locomotives being repaired rather than to deal with a real biological need. Past Eagle Mills we no longer had to share the tracks with ore trains and thus could feel a lot less pressured.
We rode through Diamond Junction onto the joint section through Negaunee to Euclid Yard. This yard is now the WC headquarters in Marquette, but the GP that is normally housed by the ex-C&NW engine house was not visible. It was probably on its way down to Escanaba with freight cars collected from the North Country over the past couple of days. It was good to see so many freight cars in Euclid yard, as only 5 years ago it was completely empty most of the time. West of Ishpeming, we passed under US-41 and past a spur to Ishpeming Steel, where #7, an old GE 65 tonner switcher from the long closed Cliffs Dow chemical company in Marquette, is stationed. I noted some wooden bodied narrow gauge cars from long closed underground ore mines on the Marquette Range or Copper Range still in the scrap yard.
Passing through Humboldt Junction, where the WC diverges off to L’Anse and Baraga on the historic Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic (DSS&A) route, we entered the LS&I branch to Republic Mine. Despite very little use right now, the track was still in excellent shape. It’s not well known that the DSS&A once had a branch to Republic from Humboldt Junction, but it was torn up in the 1920’s. The LS&I branch was later built on much of the old South Shore grade. The wye tracks to Humboldt Mine were still connected but you’d never have known where they went as the undergrowth has closed in. It’s downhill on the branch, dropping a couple of hundred feet in elevation. Our convoy did surprise one nude sunbather on the deck of her home beside the track, who promptly fled into the house. The snowmobile trail to the right of us was the trackbed of the former Milwaukee Road line to Champion, now reduced from the prestige of bearing the long distance passenger train "The Copper Country Limited" to carrying only snowmobiles. A motor car shed still exists on the branch, home to the last LS&I speeder on company property, which we hope to see in next year’s excursion.
Forty-two miles from Marquette, we stopped just outside of Republic Mine and turned the cars. The mine buildings are still standing but it’s my understanding that a contract has been signed with a demolition company to tear them down, so next year they may no longer be in place. In fact, it’s a question as to how long the rails on the branch will stay. We quickly motored uphill to Humboldt for the lunch break. During the return trip, we paused briefly in the yard at Eagle Mills to wait for a loaded train to depart for Marquette. However, the Eagle Mills Tower Operator decided to send us out before the train, so down the hill we went, slowing down to 2mph over the scales. Running 11 miles downhill was probably the most pleasurable experience of the day for me, especially over such a heavily traveled piece of track – around 12 million tons of iron pellets were carried down this hill in 1998.
In summary, great weather, great railroad, great day! A big thanks to Jim Lindholm and Al Freeman for their efforts, also thanks to Jim Jameson for letting me ride on his ex-NKP M-19.
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Last Edited 28 January, 2018