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The Soo Line Railroad reached Enderlin in the fall of 1891 and the first roundhouse facilities constructed consisted of a four-stall engine house, sand house, fueling station for wood and coal and the “cinder pit,” where fires were cleaned out as the engines came in. In 1897 four stalls were added, four more in 1903 and twelve in 1907. Eventually, facilities included a locomotive overhaul shop and car repair shop where entire engines were torn down and overhauled from boiler to whistle. By World War I, more than 200 men were employed in the Enderlin shops and 30 or more crews worked on the freight and three regular passenger runs out of Enderlin.

Enderlin water was so hard that the road built a water tank at Anselm into which water was pumped from the river and engines filled there arriving and leaving Enderlin until a large treating plant was built in 1913. The Soo Line would recommend to all enginemen coming to work out of Enderlin that they take a “student trip” or ride with another engineer to learn how to handle Enderlin water which foamed so badly in the engines that boiler compound had to be added with the water to keep it under control. It was said that you weren’t an engineer until you had worked out of Enderlin.

(Source: 1966 Enderlin Jubilee Book)