The volunteer-run Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad earned a reprieve for its upcoming season when an environmental cleanup project was delayed, the railroad said in a news release Wednesday.
The LS&M first came to Duluth in 1870; it was the first rail line between Duluth and St. Paul. The railway carried passengers to Duluth into the 1930s.
The modern LS&M formed in 1980 after a local group of rail enthusiasts came together to save the last five remaining miles of the original right-of-way from abandonment. It now takes weekend tourists and visitors along the St. Louis River.
The railroad has staked a claim to having some of the best views in Minnesota.
The railroad has been in limbo for the past two seasons, as a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency cleanup project looms at the former U.S. Steel Duluth Works site in Morgan Park.
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The pending cleanup will disrupt the train tracks for two to three years. A subsequent revival of the LS&M is in question, too, as decisions about its future will be based on input from the community, the Duluth City Council and the Duluth Parks & Recreation Commission.
