St. Croix Railroad

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Saint Croix Railroad patch celebrating 25 years of operation, 1971 to 1996.

The St. Croix Railroad (SCRR) was founded in 1971 and is incorporated as a non-profit organization by the State of Minnesota. The organization is financed by member dues and donations, as well as by public donations. The St. Croix Railroad is located in Hudson, Wisconsin.

These scale track gauges approximate to the following scales for a standard track gauge (4' 8.5") locomotive:

  • 2.5" gauge -1/24 scale, or 0.5 inches to the foot
  • 3.5" gauge -1/16 scale, or 0.75 inches to the foot
  • 4.75" gauge -1/12 scale, or 1 inch to the foot
  • 7.5" gauge - 1/8 scale, or 1.5 inches to the foot

The membership numbers several hundred men and women coming from all walks of life, ranging in age from 8 to 80+. Most of the members live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area and Wisconsin, however the membership ranges throughout the United States including the Dakotas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Pennsylvania, California and outside the USA - Manitoba, Canada and beyond.

The corporation is managed by a board of directors which includes a President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. The board and some other number of members, typically numbering 12 in total, is elected by the membership at the Fall meet Banquet each year on the last full weekend of September.

High Line

INGE wrote on Chaski.org, 31 May 2022:

Here are a few photos furnished by Bill and Lee Nelson taken at Casey O'Neil's highline track in Lake City, Minnesota, which was located on the Mississippi. The mustache guy with the red/green plantation loco is Bob Darr, one of the founders of the St. Croix Railroad. The photos are likely from the 1970's, as evidenced by the Northern loco which seems to be sporting Freedom Train colors. When this highline was dismantled in the 1990's, a couple of St. Croix members procured the track for the St. Croix. The original St. Croix track had wood beams, which were likely rotting, so they replaced them with the steel trusses from Casey's track. The original St. Croix track was fabricated from 1 inch channels with spacing such that it provided rails for 1-1/4 inch, 2-1/2 inch, 3-1/2 inch, and 4-3/4 inch. When the wood beams were removed and the steel trusses put in place, which only had 3-1/2 inch and 4-3/4 inch gauges, the original St. Croix track was laid directly on top of it to keep all the gauges. This is as it exists today. There were excess trusses which were donated to a club in Iowa.

External Links

<img src="http://free.pagepeeker.com/v2/thumbs.php?size=x&url=stcroixrr.org" />