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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by Murphy Siding I'll do some research on that. Also,consider that DM&E now has the line into Colony. I've never seen anything to suggest that DM&E thought it was an easy way into the PRB [/quote] Actually, I spoke with a guy named Anderson from DM&E a while back in an inquiry as to why DM&E chose to approach the PRB from the south (via a longer line in terms of all new construction) rather than approaching from the Colony area. He stated that indeed DM&E did analyze both routes, but decided on the southern route due to its proximity to higher quality PRB coal. A more northerly entrance (in addition to eventually tapping down into the southern PRB fields) would have also opened up the northern Wyoming and Montana PRB fields for easier development, but the coal there is of lower quality and has a higher sodium content. Since the southern PRB is their goal, the southern line is the most direct. However, don't count out more RR construction into Montana's PRB just yet, as coal demand is exceeding expectations, and if national energy policy maintains it's preference for coal over the long run, even the Montana fields will have enough national value to justify such infrastructure expenditures. So even though DM&E did seriously consider a Belle Fourche (I assume a northern DM&E route would have followed the Belle Fourche), that doesn't answer the question of whether CNW or a joint CNW/CM&StP line west of the South Dakota - Wyoming border would have gone that way or headed northwest toward Miles City.
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