Eastern Railway of Minnesota

Locomotive #105 of the Eastern Railway of Minnesota

Locomotive #2 of the Eastern Minnesota Railroad at the Superior, WI railyard

Eastern Railway of Minnesota #204 on the turntable at Hinckley, MN

Eastern Minnesota locomotives under steam at a brick roundhouse (likely Superior, WI)

Engineer Ed Best at the throttle of an Eastern Minnesota steam locomotive in an unknown location

The Eastern Railway of Minnesota (commonly known as the "Eastern Minnesota Railroad" or simply "The Eastern") was a railway company that operated in the US states of Minnesota and Wisconsin between 1887 and 1907. Its main line ran between Superior, Wisconsin and Hinckley, Minnesota, roughly parallel with the St Paul & Duluth Railroad's line between Hinckley and Duluth. It appears that both railroads used each other's equipment and facilities on a frequent basis. It also had a short logging branch line at Sandstone, Minnesota. During its later years, it was controlled by the Great Northern Railway, which ultimately purchased and absorbed the railway entirely in 1907. It existed as a private entity with no physical equipment or property until 1959, when it was dissolved. Today, the Eastern's line is in service as part of BNSF's Hinckley Subdivision.

Traffic and competition

Lumber and agricultural products were the two big moneymakers for the Eastern Minnesota.

The Great Hinckley Fire

At the time of the 1894 Hinckley Fire, the town was served by three railroads: The Minneapolis & St. Cloud (Great Northern), the St. Paul & Duluth, and the Eastern Minnesota. At 2:35 PM on that fateful day, just over an hour before the fire hit Hinckley, the Eastern's southbound local freight from Superior to Hinckley, pulled in from the north with engineer Ed Barry at the throttle. It was a short train of three empty boxcars and a caboose pulled by Engine #105. The freight train's progress had been slowed by poor visibility as a result of the haze, and by the time it reached town, the seven-car-long afternoon passenger train run by engineer Ed Best, was following close behind. The freight train was switched onto a sidetrack to wait for the passenger train to arrive. [1]

"A (Passenger) train came steaming in on the Eastern Minnesota's rail line, and on this [train] about 500 people were saved, who otherwise certainly would have died. The train itself was not sufficient in order to be able to carry all of the refugees, but one knew what to do. A number of freight cars and a caboose stood coupled together with a freight locomotive on an adjoining track a little ways in the woods, was coupled on the other end of the passenger train. Now equipped with two locomotives, the train steamed away in the direction of Superior again, loaded with as many people as the cars could accommodate."[2]

The exact number of people who died in the fire remains unknown, but if not for the actions of Ed Best it would surely have been higher: When Ed Barry blasted his whistle and began to back up, Ed Best applied the brakes and held the train so that more people could get on. In the face of the raging forest fire, he nearly got into a fight with Ed Barry who wanted to leave as quickly as possible.