Has anybody heard of any plans for the CP (milw) line from Owatonna,MN north to comus juction (south of Northfield) and Progressive rails (MNS ) north from Lakeville to Minneapolis? I have wondered that some one like KCS could use or buy these two lines to reach the twin citties. The Milw line ( next to I35 south of faribault) could be used as a second line for the UP ( RI spine line) it connects at comus juction and parallels each other just south of Medford so a crossover could be constucted.
Progressive Rail would use their line further north if there were any customers. As for the line from Owatonna to Comus, with the loss of customers in Faribault there really is no need for the line. The Spine is busy, but not that busy as to need relief, and how would it connect at Owatonna? My second question is why would KCS wish to reach the Twin Cities?
South of owatonna the line is active ( CP) to mason city Iowa, so this line would need to be used. It seems the railroads want to reach new markets and that KCS is a north south line. KCS was just a example.The line from Owatonna north to Faribault was been inactive for years,however the customers are there. There are on the old CGW and in the industrial park on the North end of town all served by progressive rail from the north.
The spine line and the old Milw line come with in 100 feet of each other just south of Medford a crossover could be easyly biuld here.They run next to each other for about a 1/3 mile.
The Rice County board where the line is located established a rail authority to take ownership of the rail for a trail if it was ever sold. The comissioner minutes indicate there was no indication the railroad would like to sell. The county needed to create the authority in case.
With the increase in traffic from the Bakken oil fields and fracing in north east of the area, I would guess the railroad would hold onto the dormant line in case of a big swing in traffic in the future. The railroads are learning from past mistakes of shedding lines.
beaulieu Progressive Rail would use their line further north if there were any customers. As for the line from Owatonna to Comus, with the loss of customers in Faribault there really is no need for the line. The Spine is busy, but not that busy as to need relief, and how would it connect at Owatonna? My second question is why would KCS wish to reach the Twin Cities?
There has been long range (15 years at least) talk about double tracking the Spine and a new yard at Nevada, IA.
Jeff
I agree that shortsightedness has been a failure of railroads. Better to keep that unused line sitting there than to eventually fight NIMBYS, BANANA's, lawyers, politicians and tree huggers for 10 years to get back what they once had. Even though it was to build a new route, the DM&E line into the Powder River Basin comes to mind as it lasted about 6-8 years if I recall correctly.
Modeling the "Fargo Area Rapid Transit" in O scale 3 rail.
I've kept an eye on that line since the mid 80s, and I've never seen any movement on it, other than the aforementioned customers in Faribault & car storage south of Faribault for a time in the recession. Interesting that it has sat idle without any talk of abandonment for as long as it has, though. Just this week, I saw something about a new siding being planned on the Spine somewhere south of the Twin Cities - can't recall exactly where, but it's probably a lot cheaper to do that than to rehab as much as would be needed from Mason City up to Comus or even from Medford on up. A buddy who works for CP told me that south of Owatonna it's 10mph. I remember that line getting a nice upgrade, but that's going on 10-15 years now, and it certainly saw an uptick in use once the exMStL was severed south of Hartland.
I'd say the UP more likely will try to increase Spine capacity & send the occasional train via the Fairmont through Mankato rather than buy this line up. Still, would CP have any interest in resurrecting this route into the Twin Cities? I always thought on the southerly portion that there was more business to be had with some effort - be it Hormel in Austin or some of the growth seen in Faribault & Owatonna given their proximity to the Cities.
Dave
UP has been continally hiring out of St. James for the last year because of the increased traffic diverted off the Spine Line to Mason City/Fairmont/Butterfield line.
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