Chugga Chugga Trains

Chugga Chugga Train Museum

Ever since I was a young child, I have always been fascinated with trains. I do not know what it is about them, but I found them interesting. As a child I always wanted to be a train engineer when I grew up. Although my career goals no longer include driving a train (although doing it at a museum or tourist trap type place would be cool), I still enjoy riding on trains and looking at them (especially the old time ones). I was not one of those crazy train spotters though that can tell you every single detail about any model. So with my rail fascination, I looked into some of the rail exhibits around the Twin Cities.

The amount of rail that once ran through the Twin Cities was quite amazing. Of course, the rail level in the city was quite a bit lower than its peak. All around the area though there were abandoned rail lines along the ground, especially in the factory areas. Right by the University of Minnesota, there were two trestles that used to serve trains that have been converted to pedestrian use. The downtown used to be littered with street cars. (Interestingly though, Minneapolis is building a new light rail system).

With such a history of rail, there were quite a few places around the city to view train-like things: