Inn on the North Shore Known for Uniqueness

Northern Rail TrainCar Inn

Sorry, this video is no longer available

Whether you’re a travel enthusiast or just looking for something a bit different than staying at your run of the mill hotel, the Northern Rail Traincar Inn might be a perfect fit.

The box car getaway is just north of Two Harbors.

It is nestled in the quiet woods just off County Highway 3; it’s a quick drive to Betty’s Pies and all the attractions the North Shore has to offer.

The Inn has been coined as one of the world’s 10 most unusual hotels.

“The romantic idea, if you will of being a hobo. We get so many people that say I stayed in a box car and you didn’t even have to sneak in,” said Owner of the Northern Rail Traincar Inn Cyndi Ryder.

The Inn was built in 2002 and is constructed out of 10 box cars.

“The box cars are all 50 –feet long and they are about 11-feet wide. Interior they are about 10–feet wide,” explained Ryder.

Five cars line each side of a hallway.

“It is called the platform, like a train station where you would have trains coming and going on both sides like a central area,” said Ryder describing the hallway between the box cars.

As if the venue needs more personality each of its cars has its own theme.

“We have several Victorian rooms, light house rooms, golf, fishing, beer, safari and some oriental rooms,” said Rdyer.

If you take a look up at the wooden ceilings in the box cars you will notice they are the originals, some even contain graffiti and messages from hobos.

The box cars even spur discussion about the non-fictional series known as The Box Car Children.

Whether it’s the look and feel of the rusty graffiti stricken box cars or the memorabilia that lines the walls, the allure of sleeping in a box car may make you dream of the hay days of the train era.

“Who doesn’t want to have said that they slept in a box car – it is cool,” said Ryder.

The Inn, which offers a continental breakfast, is more information: http://www.northernrail.net/html/about_us.html