April 2nd, 2014 – Blast from The Past – Looking though my archives I stumbled across this image of Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern 6071 (City of Ft. Pierre) and 6030 leading a mixed freight hauling truck frames behind the power just south of Mortons Gap, Kentucky headed north on the CSX Henderson Subdivision. These frames are hauled by M512 today, so I’m guessing perhaps back then it would have been Q512.
According to eh Global Energy Monitor Wiki website: The Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad reporting mark is a Class II railroad subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway operating across South Dakota and southern Minnesota in the northern plains of the United States. Portions of the railroad also extend into Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa.
DM&E began operations on September 5, 1986, over tracks that were spun off from the Chicago and Northwestern Transportation Company in South Dakota and Minnesota. Much of the negotiations were handled by the office of Senator Larry Pressler and his legal counsel Kevin V. Schieffer. After a successful decade of growth for DM&E, Schieffer succeeded J. C. McIntyre as president of the railroad on November 7, 1996. In 1997 DM&E announced plans to build into Wyoming’s Powder River Basin to become the third railroad (after BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad) to tap into the region’s rich coal deposits. The Surface Transportation Board (STB) released the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on November 19, 2001; with the final EIS in place and approval from the STB, the railroad has federal authority to construct the project.
DM&E purchased the assets of I&M Rail Link railroad in 2002, renaming it Iowa, Chicago and Eastern Railroad and combining its management and dispatching duties with those of DM&E under the holding company Cedar American Rail Holdings. Schieffer served as president and CEO of Cedar as well as serving as president of DM&E. The combined system directly connects Chicago, Illinois through Iowa to Kansas City, Missouri, Minneapolis-St. Paul and continues as far west as Rapid City, South Dakota. Smaller branches extend into portions of Wisconsin, Wyoming and Nebraska.
In September 2007 it was announced that Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) would acquire the DM&E upon approval by the Surface Transportation Board of the US Department of Transportation. The STB announced its approval of the purchase plan on September 30, 2008, with the official last day of operations for DM&E scheduled for October 30, 2008. The merger is complete as of October 31, 2008
Tech Info: Nikon D100, Nikon 70-300mm @70mm, f/32, 1/400, ISO 800.