Missabe Road steam returns NEWSWIRE

DULUTH, Minn. – For the first time since 1962, a Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range steam locomotive is under steam with proper Missabe Road lettering. On June 17 and 26, the Lake Superior Railroad Museum fired up DM&IR 2-8-0 No. 332, better known as Duluth & Northeastern No. 28. The locomotive was last under steam in 2017 with D&NE lettering. This winter the museum repainted the engine to its original DM&IR lettering and road number. It was the first time the engine had been lettered this way since the Missabe sold it to the short line in 1955.

The final DM&IR steam operation took place on Sept. 29, 1962, with an excursion from Proctor to Iron Mountain and Virginia operated for the St. Louis County Historical Society with 2-10-2 No. 514. The locomotive was scrapped shortly after the trip, although two other Missabe 2-10-2s survive.

No. 332 is owned by the Lake Superior Railroad Museum and operates on the museum’s North Shore Scenic Railroad. According to North Shore Scenic Operations Manager Nick Turinetti, the locomotive was first fired up June 17 for inspections and to wye it for operations this summer on the railroad. On June 25 it was fired up for an FRA inspection, then made a test run from the museum to Lester River in Duluth’s east end. The locomotive will now be idle until steam operations on July 12-14, and again on July 20-21 in conjunction with the visit of Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 to Duluth. Other operations with No. 332 are scheduled for weekends from Aug. 9 to Sept. 15.

American Locomotive Co.’s Pittsburgh Works built the locomotive in 1906 for the Duluth, Missabe & Northern as No. 332. It was operated by successor Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range until 1955, when it was sold to Duluth & Northeastern based in Cloquet, which renumbered it 28. The locomotive remained in service on D&NE until 1964. It was donated to the museum in 1974.