Live Steam Rides

Every Canton, St. Paul & Pacific Railway operating session brings a different assortment of locomotives and rolling stock to the line for operation. MiniAcres Railroad #1, featured below, was one of several operating during our May 2025 visit and one of dozens to operate over the railroad in a season. Even so, HawkinsRails fell in love with her almost immediately. My dad used to say that certain steam locomotives just look like a steam locomotive is supposed to look. I'd say Number One checks that box. Clean lines, trim drivers, good proportions ... and dressed up like a class act. When her builder and engineer invited Ella and me to take the only two seats in his riding car for the next run out and back, we jumped at the welcome. With a hundred pounds of steam in her boiler, brightly painted #1 tackled the CStP&P mainline like a champ — despite some wet rails from a little morning rain. You'll not hear a crisper stack talk than Mike's little Prairie, and the smell of a wood burner making steam is hard to beat. Not every day you ride behind a machine of which you actually want to be downwind. Think: campfire on wheels. It was a fine ride up and over the mountain. And guess what? It was also my Ella's first transportation behind a scale-riding live steamer. Countless electrics and gasolines; first steam. I suppose that's just about perfect, seeing as she's Number One.