North Country Ribbons
Explosive Trackage
The Mineral Range railroad heads south to service Pepin-Ireco’s Dyno Nobel (dynamite) distribution facility which supplies the mines in the area with blasting explosives.
The trackage history around Ishpeming is about as confusing as it gets, once littered with rails from multiple mines and carriers. The MP 172 marker represents the DSS&A's distance from Sault Ste. Marie, though it became consolidated trackage with the former C&NW "Loop Line" from Cascade Junction to Ishpeming, with the changes driven by Cliffs. This section specifically, from Winthrop Junction to Pluto, was brought back to life in 2002 to serve Dyno Nobel and since then (2013) the Mineral Range has acquired the 12 miles of track to handle copper and nickel concentrate from the Humboldt Mine in connection with CN and the LS&I.
The Mineral Range Railroad is the second railroad of the same name, the original a narrow gauge mining outfit which went bankrupt and was folded into the DSS&A in 1949.
Explosive Trackage
The Mineral Range railroad heads south to service Pepin-Ireco’s Dyno Nobel (dynamite) distribution facility which supplies the mines in the area with blasting explosives.
The trackage history around Ishpeming is about as confusing as it gets, once littered with rails from multiple mines and carriers. The MP 172 marker represents the DSS&A's distance from Sault Ste. Marie, though it became consolidated trackage with the former C&NW "Loop Line" from Cascade Junction to Ishpeming, with the changes driven by Cliffs. This section specifically, from Winthrop Junction to Pluto, was brought back to life in 2002 to serve Dyno Nobel and since then (2013) the Mineral Range has acquired the 12 miles of track to handle copper and nickel concentrate from the Humboldt Mine in connection with CN and the LS&I.
The Mineral Range Railroad is the second railroad of the same name, the original a narrow gauge mining outfit which went bankrupt and was folded into the DSS&A in 1949.