NORTH FREEDOM, Wis. — The Mid-Continent Railway Museum will mark its 60th anniversary with a day-long celebration on Saturday, May 27.
Along with the museum’s regular 55-minute train ride aboard Delaware, Lackawanna & Western steel passenger coaches, the museum will also run a second train consist of its two wooden Copper Range Railroad passenger cars built in 1903. These pristine, restored cars — symbols of the museum’s exceptional skill in restoring wooden cars — are normally display-only; the last time one of the cars was available for rides was nearly a decade ago.
The Copper Range train will make its first trip — a 15-to-25-minute trip for invited guests, press, and key museum personnel — at 10:30 a.m., departing from the North Freedom depot. Public trips will then be offered at 11:30 a.m., 12:35 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:35 p.m., and 3:30 p.m..
The Lackawanna train will also operate, at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m.
The Copper Range train will be powered by Mid-Continent No. 4, a GE 45-ton diesel, while the Lackawanna train will operate behind No. 1256, a Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton RS-4-TC-A1.
Events preceding the first departure of the Copper Range train will be social time beginning at 9:30 a.m.; speeches from Museum President Andy Spinelli and two long-time members, sharing recollection of the museum’s early years, at 10 a.m., and a ribbon-cutting at 10:20 a.m.
Other features of the day include:
— Guided tours of the museum’s First Class car fleet, used for its dining trains. Coffee, lemonade, and cookies will be available in those cars.
— Cab tours of Domtar No. 1001 , an EMD NW2, Mid-Continent’s most recently acquired locomotive.
— An open house held by the museum’s Restoration Department for individuals interested in becoming a Car Shop volunteer.
— A visiting exhibit on the early days of the Copper Range Railroad, provided by Michigan Tech University Archives.
— Commemorative 60th-anniversary tickets and a 60th-anniversary-logo refrigerator magnet.
Tickets are $24 for adults, $22 for seniors (62 and over), and $13 for childen ages 3-15. Children ages 2 and under are free. Ticket purchases determine which Lackawanna train a visitor will ride, but also include access to the Copper Range train; when visitors pick up their Lackawanna train tickets, they will be asked to select which Copper Range train they want to ride.
More information is available at the 60th Anniversary page of the Mid-Continent website.
Will CNW 1385 EVER run again? Seems to be a very low priority for this museum.