ETT # 140, 11/26/67 .pdf only
ETT # 156, 10/31/82 .pdf also
ETT # 157, 10/30/83 .pdf also
ETT # 158, 04/29/84 .pdf also
ETT # 159, 10/28/84 .pdf also
To use its full corporate name, the Lake Superior Terminal & Transfer
Railway of the State of Wisconsin (big name, small railroad) operated
about two dozen miles of trackage entirely within the City of
Superior from the 1880's to the 1980's. It never went to Duluth.
Through most of its existence and into "modern" post-war times, it
performed three principal functions:
1.) Performed terminal and switching services for its four owners in
Superior: the GN, NP, Omaha, and DSSA. Much of this involved
transferring cars to and from the non-owning railroads in the area,
SOO, DWP, and Milwaukee Road.
2.) Operating as a joint-facility for its owning railroads to serve and
switch many of the customers along Superior's waterfront. These were
principally grain elevators (including Farmer's Union, claimed to be
the world's tallest elevator) along the Tower Bay line; and coal and
other bulk docks in the area where the Ortran Coal Terminal now is
and in Superior's North End. In recent years, LST&T also had the
honor of switching the car ferry dock, loading and unloading the Incan
Superior from Thunder Bay.
3.) Owned and operated the Union Depot in Superior which was used by GN
and NP passenger trains and later Amtrak. The company offices were
here also.
In general terms, the LST&T radiated from its "hub" at the Union
Depot and LST&T Jct. in all four directions:
South - To LST&T's own yard and Belknap St. where the line connected
to the NP main, now the "coal main". GN and NP passenger trains used
this segment of the "Terminal".
North - Alongside the Omaha's Superior Yard to the LST&T's Tower Bay
line which served the Farmers Union elevator then wandered east past
the Fraser-Nelson shipyard, past the south end of Connor's Point,
then southwest to Catlin Ave. At Connor's Point, a branch broke off
the main and went southeast past the gas plant to about Barker's
Island where it connected with the NP Old Town line.
East - Down the famed Winter Street Corridor between the SOO and
Omaha mains to Catlin Ave. connecting with the other end of the Tower
Bay line, forming a large loop.
West - From LST&T Jct. paralleling the NP main to serve the coal
docks and some manufacturers; later also the car ferry.
Operations-wise, the Terminal was mostly a first and second trick
railroad with some third shift during busy times such as the
traditional grain rush. Early in the morning on weekdays, the crews
and thier switchers would gather in front of the depot to figure out
the days work. I don't know all the exact details, but one job could
always be found switching the yard just south of the depot. It would
do transfers over to the GN. Another job would work the Tower Bay
line all day. During the grain rush, more than one shift would see a
job on this line, working clockwise from the yard and depot to
Farmer's Union at the foot of Tower Ave. then past Fraser-Nelson,
down to Catlin Ave. then back west along Winter St. past the SOO and
Omaha passenger depots, then back into the yard. The LST&T transfers
to the GN and Omaha were short hauls, just far enough to delay
traffic on the Winter St. crossings and clatter through LST&T Jct.
The LST&T seemed to make one or two daily transfers to the SOO at
21st St. Yard. I don't think the Terminal ever went as far as SOO's
Stinson Ave. Yard. The SOO transfers and the Tower Bay jobs seemed to
normally rate a pair of switchers. Other assignments got one. All the
activity around the depot, of course, had to steer clear of scheduled
passenger trains such as the GN Badger and Gopher and the NP Budd RDC
cars.
Equipment consisted of six EMD switchers which replaced 0-6-0's and
0-8-0's, a fleet of wooden cabeese cast off by the GN and NP, 2 sand
cars, and a few motor vehicles.