I will be in North Dakota in about a month. Can anyone point me to any "must see" rail displays or historic sites. I'm not looking for railfan information.

North Dakota is not your hotbed of railroad preservation or RR historic sites. There is an interesting operation in Mandan, ND which is just west of the state Capitol of Bismarck. It's called the Fort Lincoln Trolley http://www.realnd.com/fortlincolntrolleyindex.htm This link is to a ND tourist info site--I couldn't find a website for the trolley iteself altho I'm sure they have something.

The line uses a self-propelled single truck wood car that formerly ran in Bismarck. The line runs from Mandan down on an old NP branch to the Fort Lincoln historic site. Fort Lincoln was the HQ of COL George A. Custer who took his troops from Ft. Lincoln in 1876 west to meet Sitting Bull at the Little Big Horn river.

Other than the "trolley" there are bunch of nice railroad viaducts that cross coulees on the ex-Great Northern ROW, the most famous being the Gassman Coulee bridge just west of Minot and the longest bridge on the BNSF at Luverne, ND. And then there's the Great Northern 4-8-4 stuffed and mounted just west of the MInot, ND station.

I'll be curious to see other responses from local North Dakota folks listing other railroad points of interest.

Happy trails!

Tom -

There are a few steamers preserved in North Dakota. A Great Northern 2-8-2 at Williston (I photographed it during an AMTRAK Empire Builder station stop), Northern Pacific and Soo Line, including "recently discovered" 2-8-0 #2412 up in tiny Columbus in the northwest corner of the state near the Canadian border.

There are probably cabooses, depots and other railroad items too. A few blocks from the AMTRAK Minot stop is what is apparently another old station (Soo Line perhaps?). It looks interesting and is apparently now a museum, but it is just a bit too far to try to get to during the Empire Builders Minot stop. I also saw a neat combine in a garden center just to the east of Minot but have never been able to determine its heritage. I would imagine there are other rail items of interest. North Dakota is certainly "off the beaten track". I envy your getting a chance to go up there.

Les

Jim -

GN 4-8-4 is actually at the AMTRAK Havre, Montana station.

Les

I stand corrected.

Thanks, Les.

It may not be there now, but when visiting my in-laws a few years back, there was the McHenry Loop RR operating on a balloon track in front of a grain elevator in McHenry......they lived in Jamestown, a division and junction point, with a nice depot with a good restaurant in it and remains of a roundhouse left back then. Jamestown: leaving Bismarck, go west on the highway, pass the tree and go around the curve, and watch for a huge concrete buffalo. Takes about 2 hours to make the trip.

dave

Dave -

Your passing mention of Jamestown in your comment made me recall a very recent FLIMSIES posting about the Midland Continental Railroad depot in Jamestown. A small photo in that article showed a caboose (maybe NP?) in addition to the recently dedicated museum located in the station. So something else to possibly check on.

Les

In West Fargo there is a Milwaukee Road Skytop and another vintage passenger coach on a siding. If you get interested, PM or email me and I can get the exact location from my son, who lives in Fargo. I have seen these cars, but he drove and I don't recall precisely where we were.
Mark D.

The North Dakota State Railroad Museum is in Mandan.

http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/North_Da ... useum.html

Soo Line 4-6-2 #735 is in Minot on display.

Northern Pacific 4-6-2 #2164 is in Bismark.

There are Soo Line 2-8-0s in Enderlin, Harvey and New Town as well.

The Gassman Coulee Bridge west of Minot may be the most impressive railroad thing in North Dakota.