St. Paul and Duluth Railroad

An 1891 route map

Share of the Saint Paul & Duluth Railroad Company, issued 14. November 1888

The Seventh Street Improvement Arches span the former right-of-way of the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad in Saint Paul

The St. Paul and Duluth Railroad was reorganized from the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad in 1877. It was bought by the Northern Pacific in 1900. Known as the "Skally Line", it operated from Saint Paul to Duluth, Minnesota, with branches to Minneapolis, Taylors Falls, Kettle River, and Cloquet, in Minnesota, and Grantsburg and Superior in Wisconsin.

Disposition

The line was purchased by the Northern Pacific Railway (NP) which was succeeded by the Burlington Northern and then the Burlington Northern Santa Fe. Most of the line became redundant after the Burlington Northern merger, as it paralleled another line of the Great Northern Railway which also became part of the Burlington Northern. Most of the NP line was abandoned and many segments were turned into rail trails.

The disposition of segments, all within Minnesota, is as follows:

• St. Paul to Maplewood: abandoned; now part of the Bruce Vento Regional Trail
• Maplewood to Hugo: now operated by the Minnesota Commercial Railway
• Hugo to North Branch: abandoned; now the Hardwood Creek Regional Trail and Sunrise Prairie Trail
• North Branch to Hinckley: now operated by the St. Croix Valley Railroad
• Hinckley to Duluth: abandoned; now the Willard Munger State Trail