• Thursday-What'sUP August 6 - 01:25 pm

When today's photos arrived in my Inbox, the following note accompanied them:

"I'm sending three pictures from the Lake Linden & Torch Lake Railroad, at the Houghton County Museum in Lake Linden.

We have about a half mile circle of narrow gauge track and run the train Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 PM (generally the gas engine on Sat. and the steam locomotive on Sun.). The steamer is a genuine Copper Country artifact, having run between Hubbell and Lake Linden in the C&H plant area from 1915 to the early 1950s. The cars and the gas engine came from a military arsenal in southern Wisconsin.

Fares are very reasonable ($4 adults; $3 seniors and big kids; $1 for little kids; babes in arms free), and you get to go around the circle twice for your money. There's a whole generation of kids growing up in the Copper Country who have never seen a train.....so come on down and see ours! The railroad (and the Houghton County Museum) operate 100% with volunteers.

Jim Alain, ticket master and fill-in conductor"

I've have gone by this neat choochoo many times, but have never stopped to try it out!
Thanks so much for the info. For sure will take a ride on it...hopefully this weekend. ;)

Count me in!

I have only ridden the train once, and it was one of the halloween rides. It was a lot of fun and the kids love it. Its also fun to hear the whistle on the weekends when they are doing the rides.

I don't typicall watch the PBS show Tracks Ahead, but a few weeks ago I was cleaning the house and the TV was on when I heard the announcer mention they were going to check out a steam train in the U.P.

I knew exactly which one he was talking about, so of course I had to sit down and watch it. ;)

It was pretty interesting.

Thanks 4 sharing the pics. I enjoy observing railroad trains.

This totally brought back a sketchy memory for me. When I was a kid and we would come up to the UP every summer for vacation, I remember taking a tourist type train trip out of Calumet. As I recall, we boarded this train at a location somewhere behind the Harter's store and it seems like it was a long and scenic trip. Anyone able to fill in the blanks on my memory of this train trip?

correct Joanne, KEWEENAW CENTRAL RAILROAD was operated from Calumet down towards Lake Linden in the valley.
http://www.railroadmichigan.com/keweenawcentral.html

Hi. I actually worked on the design for this trestle during my senior design class at Michigan Tech in the Spring of 2004. It's nice to see that it was actually built. I plan to be back in the area over Labor Day weekend and will try to see it in person. Thanks for posting these pics, brings up some good memories :)

The Little Engine that could.... and does! I hear the whistle on the weekends and know folks young and not so are having a good time at the Houghton
County Museum.

Nice to see the bridge cam back up today.

Don't know why but trains seem to have a lot of fans. My dad was a traveling salesman shortly after the turn of the century so I heard many train storys while I was growing up. About 20 years ago my wife and I took a train trip just for the heck of it. Started in Lansing, to Chicago, to New Oeleans, to LA, to Frisco,toDenver, and back to Lansing. Took 2 weeks because we got off and visited several cities along the way. What a relaxing way to travel. Accomadations comfortable, food good, and fellow travelers friendly. If you are not in a hurry try it sometime. "Try it, you'll like it!

Forgot to mention, we found out, on another trip, that the locomotive that takes tourists from Williams,AZ up to the south rim of Grand Canyon was bought from a mining company in the Ishpeming area. It and the parts of 2 other locomotives were then trained all the way to AZ. Got that from the museum folks in Williams.

my very first ride on the steam engine they had a flatbed behind the engine with a bench on it facing the backside of the engine. I had on a yellow sweatshirt and when the coductor pulled the whistle I got covered in black wet spots from the steam. It was fun. ;O) That was when they were taking donations and the tressel was not built yet.