Pine City, Minnesota Northern Pacific Depot
Pine City, Minnesota Northern Pacific Depot
The Northern Pacific Depot in Pine City, Minnesota (pictured here) was built circa 1941 to replace the 1894 wooden depot that was destroyed by fire in 1940 (see below).
The depot was on NP's Skally Line which ran from St. Paul to Duluth. After the merger of four major railroads in 1970, the resulting Burlington Northern railway abandoned much of the NP trackage in favor of keeping Great Northern's route between St. Paul and Duluth.
The section of the Skally Line between North Branch and Hinckley that goes through Pine City, however, is still intact and being used by the St. Croix Valley Railroad.
What was probably Pine City's original Northern Pacific Depot was built in 1894. It was a wooden structure and saw many years of service before it was destroyed by fire in September 1940. A freight train hauling gasoline and oil tanker cars derailed as it approached the station. A roaring fire that could be seen from up to 50 miles away ensued after some of the tankers exploded and ignited the old wooden depot. Spilled oil and gasoline fueled the flames. The stationmaster stayed inside on the phone to turn in an alarm until the fire forced him to leave. Amazingly, nobody was killed and there were only 15 minor injuries.
