Brushing The LS&M

On Sunday, June 8, 2014, a group of hard-working individuals took up the task of brushing the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad in Duluth in preparation for the 2014 operating season.  We picked a perfect day with lots of sun, temperatures in the high 60s, and NO MOSQUITOES!!  I invited a bunch of rail fans and speeder guys and along with some LS&M personnel, we really did a job on the foliage that was causing problems!  The only downside is that instead of trying to carry my camera, I put it in a speeder and it was not accessible most of the time and I missed some pix I should have got!

Here are the 2 speeders we had.

Don Schoeb drove all the way from Eagle Lake, Minnesota to help us out and run his speeder.  Don is very active in NARCOA and leads speeder trips all over the Midwest.

The other speeder belongs to Paul Johnson of Eau Claire who brought his brother Kyle along to help us (I don't think Kyle knew what he was getting himself into!!!)

I didn't get many "work" pictures but here is what we faced for much of the line.  When we got done, this foliage won't interfere with any trains for a long time!!!

Joe Lewis of Bloomer and Kevin Trandum of Amery, both very active members of the Barron County Model Railroad Club, came up with me and were a BIG HELP!!

We also had two LS&M hy-rail trucks.  This really helped as they carried our tools, water, lunch, and sometimes us!!

Here are LS&M President Brad Massengill and Treasurer John Pilegaard who led us on this expedition!!

Unfortunately, I missed getting pictures of Bob Johannessen and Jon Peters who were super workers.  (I promise to get them next time!!!)

It was a beautiful day in Duluth and what better way to enjoy it than on a speeder ride!!

And, if you time it right, you get to watch a train go overhead!

After we were finished, some of us stopped at the Anchor Bar & Grill for one of their super hamburgers.  This is a can't miss highlight of the Twin Ports.


It was a fun day to be outside.  We were very tired when finished, but we couldn't have picked a better day to enjoy the great outdoors (and get a little work done!!)