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Genesee & Wyoming to acquire west end of former Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern
Will these be going through Sleepy Eye, Springfield, and New Ulm?
These are former Chicago and North Western lines that CP acquired when they purchased Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern.
Question, are these former Milwaukee Rd tracks?
And the story of the DM&E goes on…
Interesting that CP would give up the potential access the DM&E would have given them into the Powder River Basin.
If my old memory serves me correctly, CP acquired DM&E with the intent of gaining access to the Powder River Basin. They then found that the potential gain from such access was not worth the costs involved. Thus the property fits in very well with the type of operation that G&W successfully runs in many different parts of the country.
CP found that they didn’t want the powder river basin access.
doubt that G & W will go thru the towns in MN listed, since they bought the line from Tracy, MN west.
We’ll have to wait and see what happens now, if they can make it work or not and how much money they are going to have to spend to upgrade trackage, etc.
I just want to note based on the comments that many people seem to forget the other HUGE key interest that CP had in their purchase of the DM&E is access to Kansas City, enabling them to connect with the Kansas City Southern as a direct partner for NAFTA traffic (CanaMex, or Canada-US-Mexico), as well as several other key class I mainline connections including the BNSF transcon and major UP lines, with the additional benefit of avoiding Chicago. The KCS connection is probably the most important aspect of the KC connection.
Additionally, the CP purchased the DM&E showing from the start that the likelihood of building to the Powder River Basin was really low. However, I believe given the amount of traffic on the line (56,000 carloads isn’t a small number, adds to anywhere between 2-4 daily trains) it is a foolish decision on CP’s part. That being said, I am glad to hear that this line is going into the hands of a company known for good service and high safety standards. I believe they will be able to greatly increase the revenue generated on the line. I am also glad to know that it is finally in the hands of a company that is not only interested in financially investing in the improvement of the line, but also has the money to do so.
And what part of the CP/Soo/D&H/DM&E/IC&E will be on the auction block next?
This is according to a friend, so I don’t have that much validity, but he tells me that E.H.H. wants to sell off the IC&E for some odd reason…I will believe it when I see it…
CP never did want Powder River Basin access. CP purchased Cedar American Rail Holdings, which was both the DM&E and IC&E. The IC&E was the prize with its route to Kansas City and interchange to KCS.
I believe that CP not stating this when they bought the DM&E was an agreement to save face for Kevin Schieffer, president of the DM&E who never could find any outside investors for his pet project.
Truly, Schieffer’s legacy (as evidenced in some of the posts in this forum) will be that he persuaded many (and some still believe) that his expansion proposal had merit, when all the time it did not.
They are installing welded rail from Huron, S. D. east. No plans to go west. Now I understand why. All that is left of the D M &E is a granger route west to nowhere.
And this is a line C&NW talked about abandoning in the middle 80s before it was turned into the DM&E. Wouldn’t BNSF and UP have considered buying this line to funnel more PRB coal out of Wyoming? I think with time, a coal friendly administration and a revived economy there is a chance BNSF or UP will want the line. When that happens watch the spoiled Mayo doctors and administration have a meltdown seeing coal trains block intersections once an hour.
The DM&E and ICE were owned by Cedar American Holdings, a privately held British company, and therefore no public shares were ever offered. The only investment money for the Powder River expansion came through the efforts of Congressman James Oberstar from Minnesota. Former president Kevin Schieffer (sp) replaced thousands of ties, put down tons of ballast, upgraded bridges and crossings, and replaced the crooked 90 lb rail with 136 lb rail welded rail going East from Tracy to handle ethanol unit trains using mostly tax payer dollars. The former CNW track had suffered from years of deferred maintenance, and 10 mph was warp speed before he took over. Initial motive power was a bunch of old GP’s, and a few SD-40’s. The traffic West of Tracy would probably be grain, gravel, lumber, ethanol, and bentonite from Belle Fouche to Eastern foundrys. The worst section of track still exists between Pierre and Wall as they can’t seem to put down enough ballast to reach bottom. My hats off to the G&W. I wish them success in their new venture. Enough track has been pulled up by Class 1 railroads when they no longer see a use for it only later to question why it was removed in the first place! Can you remember the 80’s when RR management was rewarded for the amount of track they took up???
Wait until G&W starts doing maintenance on the ROW between Wall and Pierre. Then we will see how much “love” they have for the route.
Powder River was not a pipe dream for the DM&E, it made sense when the process started years ago, coal prices were rising. Cheap oil and gas through fracking killed it when coal prices dropped off.
Interestingly, the map with the CP press release also shows trackage rights east of Tracy to Mankato (presumably to interchange with the UP), but the text makes no mention of that.
I have heard that west of Pierre, SD there are over 100 bridges that criss cross the Bad River to Rapid City ensuring slow speeds and high maintenance costs forever. The much better engineered route to Rapid City was the Milwaukee Road for topography, grades, towns/online traffic base and far fewer bridges. Wiser money would rebuild and reopen the MR from Mitchell to Rapid City. Build a why around the west side of Mitchell and run thru traffic from Huron-Wolsey-Mitchell-Rapid City. Any big thinkers here.
I various times from 1944 (infancy) onward rode the C&NW from Chicago to Volga or Brookings, SD and back (and PRR on to Pittsburgh). Aug 6, 1958 I rode in a duplex roomette across SD from Rapid City to Brookings (16 dup rmt-3 bedrm-1 compmt car named Northern Wildlife). Another time in MILW obs car Montana from Volga to Arlington on a campaign train, and once on a flat car from Vola to Hetland, and once on GN in a caboose from Arlington to Sioux Falls. I love these lines.
I have found the above comments very interesting. This rail has had specific impacts for me. I appreciate reading what others can add.