Most people know that ski trains were a critical part of growing the sport of skiing, but did you know that Trollhaugen once had a ski/snow train that ran during most of the 1950s?
Troll's snow train visits came courtesy of the Minneapolis Junior Chamber of Commerce annual Snow Train, which ran annually since the late 1930s.
The first-ever Troll Snow Train left Milwaukee depot in downtown Minneapolis on February 1st, 1953 at 8:00 am. The train was sponsored and run as part of the Soo Line Railroad. Using the nearby railroad junction along with sidetracks, trains were able to get within 100 yards of Trolls Chalet. Tickets would set skiers back anywhere from $3.98 to $4.95, but this price also included their lift tickets and a variety of other activities.
Troll's Snow Train visit proved to be a success and continued to run annually at this location for several years, bringing over one thousand skiers up to Troll each year. However, this trend wouldn't last for long as a couple of low snow years coupled with the general decline in passenger train travel would bring snow & ski trains around the country to a halt.
Have you ever ridden or would like to ride on a ski train?
If you want to check out the video when we visited Troll back in November of 2020, click the link below.