Three Spot. First Duluth & Iron Range locomotive brought to Two Harbors on a scow July 1, 1883. Used in laying first rails between Two Harbors and Tower.
(National Archives and Records Administration, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
DULUTH AND IRON RANGE RAILROAD
The Duluth and Iron Range Railroad (reporting mark D&IR) was founded in 1874 and is a former Class I railroad.
In 1884, it ran the first main line train between Two Harbors and Soudan, Minnesota, a total distance of 68 miles. In July 1938, the railway merged with the Duluth, Missabe and Northern Railway to form the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway.
Duluth and Iron Range Railroad 4-6-0 No. 101, ca. 1900.
(Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons)
This is No. 1218, a coal-burning, K-1 2-8-0 steam locomotive that was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in June 1910. It was used to haul iron ore, passengers, and other freight for the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad (which became part of the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway in the late 1930s) in northern Minnesota. Steam-powered engines were retired from service in the 1950s, after which diesel locomotives were used to haul iron ore. This engine is currently on display at the Tower Train Museum in the town of Tower, Minnesota, USA. The iron ore was derived from the Soudan Iron-Formation, a banded iron-formation unit in the Neoarchean of Minnesota. (James St. John, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
