North Shore Scenic Railroad — Attraction in Duluth

Booked our 10 year anniversary trip to Duluth 6+ months in advance and one of the things we wanted to do was take a train ride. Paid for 2 lake side seats in the dome car and we were excited that this was how we'd begin our anniversary together with views of Duluth.

3 weeks before our trip, NSRR calls and says, "we have a cruise coming in and are needing to make room so we want to offer a free upgrade to you to change your train schedule". They wanted us to change from our 70 minute 11am ride to a 2.5 hour 2:30pm ride. I declined the offer as that would take a majority of the prime part of our day on our anniversary and we had other plans for the day. I also checked that train before I called and the only seats available were scattered seats on the non-lake side of the train. This was not a desirable option. The rude guy on the phone says, "Well alright, if we can't make enough room for the group you'll hear back from my boss". What is that supposed to mean? Also, this "upgrade" had a value of about $5 more than what I already paid for. Let's not call that an upgrade.

Fast forward 2 weeks. A week before we travel to Duluth for our anniversary. I get a phone call. They sold our seats and our options are either take the option I already declined, move down to coach seating, or be refunded. Are you kidding me? I called back and the first person was unable to help me and handed the phone off to the rude person I talked to weeks prior and the one who left me the voicemail, "Josh". Said I was calling about my Sept 12th 11am reservation that I am told I no longer have. I said I booked this 6 months ago how could I possibly not have it? He says, "ooh, that sounds like a question for my boss". To which i replied I'd love to talk to your boss once you finish processing my refund.

Transfered me to his boss, can't remember his name but it's unimportant because I'm sure that's who will reply to this review to do damage control with some kind of excuse. I asked him why my tickets were available for sale to someone else if they were purchased by me 6 months ago? He said "unfortunately this happens from time to time and we needed to make room for a group". Excuse me? It doesnt need to happen at all, YOU are in charge of the business and sold tickets, those spots were unavailable. Do people sell tickets to football games after they've been sold already? Do people continue to constantly sell airplane tickets months after the plane is full? How come this group wasnt sold the coach seats I was being forced into? I didnt pay for coach seats, I paid for an experience for my wife and I to celebrate an exciting milestone in our marriage.

The entire staff I talked to on the phone did not care at all that this was our anniversary plan or that we were upset. The manager said, "can i offer you spots on our dinner train?" No, I dont want to treat my wife to pepperoni pizza on your train for our 10 year anniversary dinner. I clearly couldn't rely on you to keep that reservation anyhow and I'm not trusting you with another anniversary plan. How about offering me the seats I bought when there was still snow outside that you sold to someone in September?

I couldn't possibly recommend this business less. I'll be telling anyone I know going to Duluth to not waste their time with this business and I genuinely hope karma comes back to the people who likely had a good laugh with each other after they got off the phone about how upset I was about this. Glad it was funny to you, I could tell by your passive aggressive sarcastic tone on the phone that you couldn't have cared less about how the situation impacted us.

Bad business practices. Steer clear and find something else to do while you're in Duluth.

If you are on the September 12th 2025 cruise in Duluth and in the 11am train in the dome car, enjoy your seats, North Shore Scenic Railroad ruined our 10 year wedding anniversary plans so you...

We decided to visit because we have two kids who love trains, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover how much I enjoyed it as well. The facility features lovingly restored train cars and engines, many of which are open for guests to walk through. Their restored interiors give you a real feel for what they were like in their heyday. They even have one car dedicated to showcasing the unique China service that was used by various train lines. There are also mock storefronts throughout the main building, giving you an insight into period accurate merchants and mercantiles. Exhibits continue outside allowing guests to see even more engines and train cars. Many cars display QR codes on placards nearby, allowing you to listen to narrations about the cars. The Eastern wall of the main building features maps of many different rail lines that run or ran through Minnesota and Northern Wisconsin, and also has a gallery of retired rail line symbology (the Forgotten Flags exhibit) representing real lines that either went out of business or were acquired and absorbed into another carrier.

My wife and daughter really enjoyed the hobo signs displays throughout the building. For those unfamiliar with hobo signs, they were pictorial representations to share information amongst the hobo population. Some signs would indicate where there were safe places to sleep, whether work was available, or whether kind or mean people lived at a residence.

For parents with very young children, they even have an area at the southern end of the main building that features multiple wooden train tables with wooden train sets, so even the youngest "engineers" have a place to play.

There are also many functioning model railroad sets near the center of the main building, allowing people to see representations of trains operating in the area. I particularly enjoyed the portion of the display that showed an area where freight cars would dump their cargo onto large chutes that extended down to where cargo ships would take on the load.

As an added benefit, your admission also gets you into the local historical society museum, which shares the same building.

In my opinion, it's a worthwhile stop for anyone who loves trains and/or history. The admission price was less than $15 per adult (our kids were too old for the child rate), and we spent a little over two hours in the facility. We will likely visit...

KUDOS TO NORTH SHORE RAILROAD, WE LOVED OUR TRIP UP THE COAST! As part of our family vacation, we took the Two Harbors Turn train on Saturday July 22nd. Our family of 5 had purchased tickets online, which included a pass to the Historic Union Depot Museum. Both the trip and the museum surpassed our expectations. The depot had a great little gift shop, the museum set up like a "step back in time" where you walk the streets of true to era faux business's right along the tracks, which have plenty of retired engines, caboose and cars. Our favorite was the miniature town, with working rail cars! Our train departed on time and was a beautiful trip up the coast of Lake Superior. Right before entering the town of Two Harbors, the train rolls to a stop and normal procedure is they have to call in to receive permission to cross into town, normally takes only 15 minutes. Thirty minutes later, the conductor came to offers his apology and tells us that there was a train across the tracks in town that they could not move. They had local transit already in route to retrieve everyone on the train. The buses arrived promptly and dropped everyone where they wanted to go in the town of Two Harbors. We had enough time to eat at a local diner and walk over to the Lighthouse and breakwater or a few pictures before taking a bus back to the station for the 2:30 departure. Unclear as to why, something to do with the original train that was across the tracks and not being able to get our train turned at normal time, our train was delayed in leaving Two Harbors until almost 4:00pm. Just as we were pulling into the depot in Duluth, the attendant came in to announce that they were refunding our money and offering a voucher for another trip. I loved how they handled the whole unexpected occurrence, which was beyond their control. The refund was not expected, by our party anyway. Our day centered on the excursion and being from another part of the country, we still enjoyed the whole experience. It was an honorable gesture, not seen often and allowed us opportunity to grab t-shirts as souvenir’s, instead of magnets. Highly recommend and would love to go...