The Blueberry Train

The Blueberry

When I was in grade school, the neighbor girl and I used to get off the school bus in the afternoon, then ride our bikes as fast as we could to the RR bridge, so we wouldn't miss the Blueberry Train. We'd throw our bikes into the ditch, then climb out onto the deck extensions and sit there with our legs dangling over the railroad tracks, waiting to catch a glimpse of the conductor and wave at the guy hanging off the end of the caboose. (Our mothers would have killed us if they had known!)

That was not in 1894. But it was in probably 1957.  I wish I had a picture of the arched bridge to show you too, but after the train stopped running, the bridge was taken out and even the tracks were removed. The old rail bed is now an ATV trail.

I never got to ride on the Blueberry, but I know my grandma did, probably many times. The original was a coal-fired steam-powered train, but a man who made a YouTube video about the Blueberry wrote and told me, 

"The Soo Line Railroad used to run several different locomotives on that line.  If it was a 1957-era locomotive, it was a diesel.  There are a very few Soo Line diesel locomotives preserved.  None are of the type you may have seen."

Hmmm. Even so, the Blueberry Train is one of my fondest childhood memories, so it was such a delight when my friend showed up with a birthday gift for me, this lovely framed picture of the train. Thank you, Deb!

In operation from 1894-1962, The Blueberry Line is now the subject of a paperback book by an author from Barron.

From  'RiceLakeOnline':

"The railway was dubbed the Blueberry Line because of the abundant blueberry bushes that grew along the tracks. After extensive logging operations in northern Wisconsin, blueberries thrived on the land. 

Legend has it that trains on the Blueberry Line would stop so passengers could pick blueberries en route. Colby suspects one train would drop passengers off and another would pick them up.

The Railway, which was purchased by the Soo Line Railroad, spanned from Ridgeland, Dallas, Hillsdale, Barron and Cameron to Rice Lake, Campia, Mikana, Birchwood, Edgewater and Reserve.

It was projected to extend north to Lake Superior and south to Menomonie but was never completed to those destinations.

Over time the lines were abandoned-the branch line from Birchwood to Reserve in 1931, from Rice Lake to Birchwood in 1936, and from Ridgeland to Barron in 1962."

 The Blueberry Train,

Hanging on my Kitchen Wall

(along with my chalk board and dog plaque)

Have you ever been on a steam-powered train? If so, where? when?   

And has my memory of the Blueberry been distorted by the TV show 'Petticoat Junction'??

 

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