Take a ride on the Osceola & St. Croix Valley Railway

The St. Croix River Valley bisecting the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin is one of the best-kept secrets in the nation, tourism-wise. North of Stillwater, MN and Hudson, WI, the towns on or near its water have a delightful small-town charm to them. It's a miracle, given how close the ever-sprawling Twin Cities are to the east. Way back before the rise of urban sprawl, day trips to the valley were common by citizens out for (literally) a change of scenery.  They mostly came by rail to towns such as Taylor's Falls, Minnesota and Osceola, Wisconsin. While the railway line to Taylor's Falls bit in the dust in the 1950s, rails still grace the front of the former Soo Line depot in Osceola. From its platform, you can board the trains of the Osceola & St. Croix Valley Railway.

The Osceola & St. Croix Valley had its beginnings in the 1980s when the Minnesota Transportation Museum began operations 20 miles south of Osceola at Stillwater.    A former Northern Pacific line of about six miles in length was donated to the MTM by NP successor Burlington Northern. A rugged, scenic route, the museum soon found great success with their Stillwater & St. Paul Railroad. Alas, by 1990 the museum was in an unsavory quagmire brought about by local politics and hyper-active "Not in My Backyard" folks who lived along the route.  

NIMBY pressure on local officials ultimately resulted in a county ordinance being passed which (incredibly) labeled the railroad a "non-conforming land use" because the Stillwater & St. Paul was not a "common carrier" railroad as per federal rules. This meant now both the museum and a dinner train that shared the tracks had to apply for a permit to operate the line! The dinner train applied for and got one; the MTM chose to take their train operations elsewhere. Today the dinner train (known as the Minnesota Zephyr) no longer runs, and the line out of Stillwater is becoming yet another recreational trail.   

Luck was with the MTM when a delegation from Osceola approached with a proposal to jointly-operate an excursion railroad out of the town. Having previously operated a special excursion on the Osceola line in 1985, MTM officials knew the line was a sure-fire winner. By September of 1992 trains were running, with over six-thousand riders in the short September-October operating season. The following year saw over 20,000 riders. The ridership has increased ever since, ensuring that the Osceola & St. Croix Valley is a going concern to this day.   

Route and location has been the key to the railway's success. The line trains run on is a former Soo Line route later operated by the Wisconsin Central; today the Canadian National owns it, but Canadian Pacific trains traverse it via trackage rights to service a trap rock quarry in Dresser, WI. This commodity is the life-blood of a line that once split in two at Dresser with one line east to Sault St. Marie and one north to Superior/Duluth. The connection of the line to the outside rail world is made via a junction at Withrow, MN.

Freight rail operations aside, the scenery from Osceola on south is nothing short of magnificent. Rugged river cliffs all but dwarf trains as they roll from west from Osceola and across the river on a scenic old drawbridge at Cedar Bend that is operable but no longer needs to be swung. The river traffic is all small boats now. The scenery turns lush with trees and other foilage when trains cross into Minnesota and enter William O' Brien State Park.   This hardly is NIMBY country! Ditto the stretch of track between Osceola and Dresser, which also hosts Osceola & St. Croix Valley trains. The landscape is nothing but farmland. No McMansions full of grumpy train-haters here.     

Westbound trains run a total of ten miles into Minnesota, stopping at Marine on St. Croix where the engine decouples and runs around the train on a siding to couple onto the other end for the trip back to Osceola.   Such "wide spots on the (rail)road" are common turn-around points along tourist-oriented museum railways. Once a depot stood at Marine; today nothing but a station sign remains. Not so at the turn-around stop in Dresser! Here a fine old wooden Soo Line depot has been turned into a museum that is a virtual cornucopia of railroad memorabilia ranging from old pictures to HO-scale model train cars. As you can see, the Dresser depot makes a very photogenic destination. And the depot in Osceola is chock full of books, T-shirts, engineer caps, ball caps and other souvenirs. It also provides the now-rare experience of buying a train ticket in a small-town depot. 

Regular train operations out of Osceola consist of two 90-minute trips to Marine and one 60-minute trip to Dresser. Special trains are run at certain times of the year, some of which go all the way to Withrow and return. These consist of dinner trains of their own honoring the likes of Mother's and Father's day or just for fun like their "Pizza Trains" and other special runs such as "reverse commute"-type moves from Marine to Osceola for visitors to William O'Brien State Park. This year there will be special events held at Osceola on July 21st to mark the 50th anniversary of the MTM. Operations are on weekends and holidays from Memorial Day to Labor Day.  Charter runs are also available.  

If you and your family are ever in the St. Croix River Valley, the Osceola & St. Croix Valley Railway is a trip not to be missed! It also is a dream ride for train buffs like me.

Photos of trains at Osceola and Dresser, WI, depots by Richard H.