Roundhouse of The Lake Superior Terminal and Transfer Railway of the State of Wisconsin 1891

I received an email this morning from Kevin Norbie who was kind enough to advise me of developments in Superior, Wisconsin on this the 24th day of August, 2016. The last remnants of the Terminal's roundhouse, located at the corner of Oakes Avenue and Belknap Street, were being torn down as Kevin drove to work today.

 

(I'd love to see some images of this project if anyone has time to drive over there and shoot a few pictures they can share with me.)

 

I'd like to share an image and some information about this roundhouse and its original "inhabitants". I can do that thanks to the collective input that I received from Kevin Norbie, David Guay, and Wayne C. Olsen who's efforts rounded out my own research on this topic.

 

In my humble estimation the rarest image that I have in my archive is probably the one you're looking at right now. The Terminal was incorporated on June 13, 1884. The line always operated completely within the limits of the City of Superior. It opened for business in June 1887. So the roundhouse we see in this picture (the first roundhouse constructed in Superior and the last remaining one being torn down today) was likely built during 1885 as a 7-stall structure to hold the first 7 of its steam locomotives. That's how we see them here, lined up left to right, numbered 1 through 7.

 

The biggest mystery about this small railroad was the origin of these first locomotives. That's due mostly to the fact that when the first Superior Union Depot burned down in July 1904, it took with it all of the Terminal's paper records and photographs. Superior Union Depot was built, owned and operated by The Lake Superior Terminal & Transfer Railway of the State of Wisconsin (its official name) and all of the Terminal's records were contained inside of this, their headquarters building. Since these locomotives and even the records of this roundhouse predate that fire, most evidence of their origins or very existence are really quite scarce if not impossible to locate.

 

Each of these first engines was built by Schnectady Locomotive Works. They were all of the 0-6-0 wheel arrangement. The first six of them had 17x24 inch cylinders and 52 inch drivers, while the seventh had larger 18x24 cylinders and 52 inch drivers. Number 7 also sported a peculiar polished stainless steel star on its smoke box front, visible in this image.

 

Builders numbers and dates for the LST&T's first seven (7) steam locomotives were as follows:

 

Number One: Construction No. 2956 built November 1889

Number Two: Construction No. 2995 built December 1889

Number Three: Construction No. 3071 built April 1890

Number Four: Construction No. 3227 built August 1890

Number 5: Construction No. 3518 built July 1891

Number 6: Construction No. 3519 built July 1891

Number 7: Construction No. 3520 built July 1891

 

I listed them out as "Number One, Two, etc. for a reason. During this early period of railroading the only actual number on the first four of their locomotives was painted on the side of the tender and emblazoned on the smoke box front. The side numbers in the headlight awnings (front and rear) were actually spelled out on translucent glass that flanked each side of the headlight. So engine 1 had "ONE" spelled out on the glass on either side of the headlight; engine 2 had "TWO" spelled out; and so forth. It seems that they did that up to and including engine number FOUR. Subsequent locomotives had numerical digits all the way around. Special thanks to Kevin for pointing that out to me last year when he showed me his lovely portrait of locomotive FOUR.

 

The Terminal ran with these seven locomotives until 0-8-0s number 8 and 9 arrived from Baldwin in 1907. The roundhouse was enlarged prior to that to make it a total of 10 stalls and the Terminal's steam roster had an eventual total of 23 engines though these earliest 0-6-0s left the roster after 1900 as larger and more powerful 0-8-0s and 0-6-0s came in to replace them between 1907 and 1945. While the line bought most of their steam new from the factories, they did buy several engines second hand during and after the war. The Terminal leased steam too including at minimum Great Northern Railway A9 0-6-0 No. 80, and possibly several others (I'm still researching this topic).

 

So it is the combination of my great admiration for this little railroad and Kevin's message to me this morning that stirs the historian in me to bring these seven locomotives out of the dark at long, long last. I think it's a fitting way to honor them posed inside of their original roundhouse. It is a structure that has stood the test of time and change in Superior, Wisconsin right up until today anyway.

 

This little 10-stall roundhouse has been a cornerstone of railroad history in Superior (albeit forgotten by most passers by) since 1885. Even though it has been living out its last years as a recycling center I'd say that a 130+ life span is a pretty good run for any building made from simple bricks and wooden beams. But this is an especially good run for this structure considering that it hadn't seen a locomotive or even a railroader inside of it since late 1974 when it was permanently closed. This building at 1425 Oakes Avenue in Superior actually remained in railroad hands until it was sold in January 1980 by controlling owner Burlington Northern. It became the Superior Recycling Center later in 1980 which today functions as a part of the larger Waste Management corporation. No doubt, they have plans for a more modern recycling facility on this same site.

 

Once the roundhouse was closed in 1974, all locomotive maintenance on LST&T Railway diesel locomotives was transferred over to Burlington Northern at their Belknap Street roundhouse. That one was located at the opposite end of the Belknap Street viaduct on the west side of the rail yards in Superior. It was the largest and by far the most modern of the five roundhouses built in Superior. It was built by the Eastern Railway of Minnesota in 1900 that became a part of the Great Northern in 1907. It actually replaced an even earlier roundhouse that was located about 200 feet south of Winter Street right where the coal main crosses the road today. This big GN roundhouse was partially leveled in 1952, with an equal amount torn down again in 1982, and then the rest of it came down in its entirety during August/September of 1986. Superior's other railroads, the Omaha and Soo Line, followed suit by tearing down their roundhouses too. Now, none remain.

 

The LST&T Railway went from 23 locomotives and 24 miles of track at its peak to just a few tracks that remain today used by BNSF to move grain cars down to Tower Bay and out onto Connor's Point. A few pieces of their equipment do remain, though not here. Their Jordan spreader snow plow still functions at the museum in North Freedom, Wisconsin. Several of their diesel-electric locomotives are still running on on a tourist line in St. Paul. And one lonely caboose sits on stilts on a farm in Wisconsin. I guess that's something.

 

But who would have ever guessed that the first railroad roundhouse constructed in the City of Superior in 1885 would also end up being the last one standing more than 130 years later?

 

As of this afternoon, I imagine that the only remains in Superior of this long forgotten railroad will be what had to be its proudest achievement—the second Superior Union Depot built in 1905. Constructed of Lake Superior brownstone at 933 Oakes Avenue, I'd like to think that THIS former Terminal building could make a triumphant comeback with some kind of grand re-purposing. But if it doesn't, then all memory of the Terminal line and its buildings and trains will only be found in pictures, and stories, such as this one.

 

I hope to share many more of my pictures and stories about the LST&T Railway with you soon. If I don't, and you have questions in the mean time, feel free to write and ask. I'm happy to dig out the answers. As Otto Dobnick once put it to me, "Jeff, you are the LST&T Railway Historical Society!"

 

Possibly, but that didn't happen without a lot of contributions from other people. Such as the ones who enabled me to write this story over a few cups of coffee this morning. It's been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. I went over a little as this one took 1,474 of them. Sorry if I ran a little long today.

 

Long live the Lake Superior Terminal & Transfer Railway of the State of Wisconsin.

Done