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End of the Line Railroad Park to Mason City, Iowa 6/4/2017

After a fantastic Milwaukee Road 261 chase from Breckenridge to Wilmar we next headed to Currie to a place I had wanted to come to from years.

End O Line started as a 4-H Community Pride Project in 1972 and Murray County took over management of the park in 1975. What started as a little community pride project by a couple of young 4-H students has become a wonderful tourist attraction in Southwest Minnesota.

Currie marked the end of the line for this particular branch of the Chicago Northwestern Railroad. This line was originally supposed to go through to South Dakota but with lines going through Tracy on the north and Slayton on the south, the railroad didn't see a need to continue the tracks past Currie. The turntable was built in 1901 and was used to turn the steam engines around to head back to Bingham Lake. The turntable is on the National Register of Historic Places and is the only one left in the state of Minnesota, on the original site, still operable, and always turned by man power - it was never hooked up to steam or horses.

This museum is a GEM full of railroad history as well as early American frontier history.

The End of the Line Railroad Park sign.

Georgia Northern 4-6-0 102.

The CStPM&O train station in Currie.

Track speeders.

Grand Trunk Western caboose 77046.

Brookville locomotive 1148 built in 1942.

Museum scene.

Armstrong turntable.

Hilfers RR Yard Lake Wilson Currie train station.

The kid's play railroad.

The End of the Line.

Museum view.

Minneapolis and St Louis railroasd baywindow caboose 1133.

The water tower. I went inside the office and handed the young lady my business card and asked if she could open up the engine house for me and she said yes! So we walked over and she opened it and I took pictures.

Minnesota Southern Railroad is really former DSP&P Ferro-carril de Salvery A Trujillo 13 from Peru.

One last view of Georgia Northern 4-6-0 102. I thanked the young lady for having us come to the End of the Line Railroad Park today.

We left Currie and headed next to Worthington.

Wothington Milwaukee Road station. Next we drove east to Albert Lea.

Albert Lea Great Western Railroad station.

Albert Lea Milwaukee Road station.

The crossing tower still survivies in Albert Lea.

Albert Lea Rock Island station. Next we went south into Iowa to Manly.

Iowa Northern GP-20 2000

Rock Island caboose 17054. From here we drove south to Mason City.

Great Western Mason City station.

Milwaukee Road Mason City station.

Minneapolis & St Louis 2-8-0 457 in East Park in Mason City. From here we stopped at Hardees so I could get dinner then checked into the Days Inn for the night. I got my boarding pass printed and I am Prescreen TSA so I am a happy camper.

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