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Minnesota Prarie
Line
This line started service as MPLI in Oct. 2002 and is owned
by TC&W and RRV&W. This is
the old MNVA line, last operated by Minnesota Central - though it had been
abandoned after years of neglect. Track was so bad when MPL took over they had
to move equipment when the ground was frozen to ensure the stbility in the
spring of 2002. Over the summer they worked to get the speeds to a whopping 10
MPH (in places it was still at around 2 MPH - yes, you could have chased the
train on foot). The goal is to bring that track speed up to 25 MPH system wide
and they continue to keep working on the line to make improvments.
The
MPL was given up for dead and would not have gotten to where it was today had
it not been for the work of TC&W, Minnesota Valley Regional Railroad
Authority, MnDOT, support from the counties they serve, and Senator Mark Dayton
and the late Senator Paul Wellstone. All came together to bring rail serve back
to the prarie.
Initial service was with two GP10s that used to work on
TCW. Units 404 and 406 recieved MPL logos and lettering at that time. In late
2003 the GP10s were transfered to the RRVW and two RRVW GP15C units are working
on the line. Units 4105-6 now work the line in RRVW markings - no plans at this
point to repaint those two units from what it sounds like. And on Oct 28th 2004
they start using Bio-diesel, the first railroad in MN to do this.
Thanks to Jeff Borne for photos and news updates
Minnesota Prarie
Line GP10 404
The first train led by 404 and 406 - note how tough the
track was when they first started. Since then it has been improved and track
speeds are well above the initial crawl that they were in 2002!
The Farifax depot, built by the
Minneapolis and St Louis, sees GP15C 4105 and 4106 pass by the platform...
4105-4106 serving the grain elevators in Gaylord - note the
MPLI reporting marks on the blue hopper on the left. Similar to the ones seen
around the TCW system they have a simple patch job that would be easy for any
model railroader to repeat to make a TCW or MPLI set of cars for their
layout...
GP10 404 and 406 at Arlington. Photo by Chris
Laskowski
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