One can argue that, if it wasn't for the railroads, there wouldn't have been a North Dakota - and Mandan's State Railroad Museum is keeping that history alive.

Sunday was Mandan Railroad Days, and the North Dakota State Railroad Museum provided an afternoon of activities in celebration. Several hundred spectators toured the museum grounds, getting a flavor for what the railroads did to build this state.

The museum is located in northwest Mandan, just north of Interstate 94, where you can hear traffic whizzing by. Boxcars, flatcars and the now-extinct cabooses dot the five-acre area that was donated by Ken Porsberg, and there are buildings that house memorabilia from North Dakota's rich railroad history.

Bill Engelter is president of the 15-member board that guides the museum, which is an all-volunteer facility. He said this is the fifth Railroad Days, and the fourth consecutive - the first was in 1998. The museum has been in place for seven years, open primarily afternoons during the summer, attracting a couple of thousand visitors annually.

"We've still got a lot of room for stuff," Engelter said. "My immediate objective is to get a grant from the State Historical Society for more fencing."

The grounds have a deep natural cut running through it, over which the National Guard built a trestle. On Sunday, Ed Duke had his coal-fired, steam-powered locomotive giving rides across the trestle on a 200-yard short-line.

Duke's railroad is a 1/12 working model capable of pulling more than 1,000 pounds, much to the delight of the many riders he was pulling on the "passenger cars."

"The tank engine was built in 1974 by Ron Fields," Duke said. "I first displayed it for Railroad Days in 2004, and the year after we actually started running it."

Duke's interest in the engine, and railroading in general, stems from his work as a diesel locomotive mechanic for Dakota Missouri Valley & Western Railroad.

John Beck displayed his velocipede car, a one-man-powered rail vehicle that was manufactured from 1885 to 1965. Beck said that the bright red contraption, which he had restored, could reach speeds of 15 miles per hour and was one means that railroad employees used to get around.

The velocipede is the only one owned by Beck, who for the past 15 years has been displaying them at the Rollag, Minn., big mechanical show held each Labor Day.

Also found with Beck was the museum's bright yellow motor carrier, fondly referred to by railroaders as putt-putts or speeders. These small two-man vehicles made their way around the tracks at speeds of up to 40 mph.

This year, Railroad Days featured the Railroad Photo Contest. Among those photos were snapshots of the 1943 Falkirk train wreck, in which a train driven by Soo Line engineer H.L. "Tubby" DeForest hit a washout, plunging the engine down a 19-foot embankment.

DeForest, who died in 1952 as a result of the wreck, was inducted into the Railroad Museum's Hall of Fame along with Doc Kenneth Johnson.

DeForest's account of the accident said that he saw the washout too late. Knowing that he couldn't stop in time, he sped up, trying to jump the ravine where the tracks were still suspended.

"He almost made it, too," Engleter said. "But the weight was just too much, and they went down the embankment."

Matt Kronberger was a conductor for the now-defunct Soo Line for 39 years. He makes occasional trips to the museum to relive those bygone days. He worked the Bismarck-to-Wishek line from 1946 to 1949 before moving to Thief River Falls, Minn. He retired in 1986 and moved "home" to Bismarck.

"It brings back a lot of memories," Kronberger said.

"We saw a lot of things go on back then. I think we could've written a book."

The day's events included "The Great Train Robbery" as performed by the Cowboy Action Performers of Mandan, skill displays, question-and-answer sessions with railroad modelers and railroad old-timers, and concluded with the Hall of Fame inductions.

(Reach reporter Gordon Weixel at 250-8255 or gordon.weixel@;bismarcktribune.com.)