The Galloping Goose
Picture from Ed Mathews

Ed Mathews of Huron remembers the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad Co.'s train that was called "The Galloping Goose."

Mathews, a realroad buff who heads the local Huron Railroad Adventures, says the train was used to provide service to small towns where traffic and freight wasn't as heavy.  "This unit could pull a box car which could be filled with freight or cattle," he said.

Mathews said the "Galloping Goose" came into the area in the late 1930s wand was abandoned in the 1950s.  He said one of the routes out of Huron was to Iroquois, south to Parker to Hawarden, Iowa and ending in Sioux City, Iowa.

The passenger service on the "Galloping Goose" was much different than on steam trains, he said.  "There was no air conditioning and you rode with the windows open in the summertime."

Another route for the train was from Huron to Redfield to Aberdeen and to Oakes, N.D.

The train had a two-man crew consisting of the conductor and engineer, he said.  Mathews said he remembers riding the train from Sioux City to Huron and from Huron to Aberdeen.  In 1940, he took the train from Huron to Aberdeen to attend a ham radio convention.

The train had a diesel electric locomotive with built mail express and baggage compartment and a compartment for 32 passengers.