When we think about current railroads in North Dakota only two come to mind in Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Canadian Pacific, now called Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC).
But did you know there are five regional railroads across the state, one private freight carrier and on passenger train?
BNSF and CPKC have main lines and run frequent trains which is why we are so familiar with those two railroads. A lot of grain, coal, oil and other commerce moves on those two rail lines. The others deal mostly with small-town and regional grain elevators and get their cargo to either of the big guys to be shipped to their final destinations.
As a routine, BNSF runs along the southern tier of the state and CPKC runs along the northern tier.
The Dakota, Missouri Valley and Western Railroad uses former Soo Line track in North Dakota and Montana. It operates 523 miles of track and leases an additional 435 miles of track from CPKC. With headquarters in Bismarck, DMVW serves McKenzie and Moffit, Genesco and Aberdeen, S.D. It also has field offices in Crosby, Wishek and Oakes.
Dakota Northern is a short line railroad operating 72 miles of track in northeastern North Dakota with its headquarters located in Crookston, Minn. It connects to BNSF in Grafton and hauls grain, coal, potatoes, fertilizers and ethanol.
Dakota Northern serves 12 communities with all roads leading to Grafton. They include Auburn, Backoo, Cavalier, Crystal, Glasston, Grafton, Hensel, Hoople, Leyden, Nash, St. Thomas and Walhalla.
The railroad doesn’t directly own or lease any freight cars. Instead, all of the freight cars it uses are provided by BNSF.
The Northern Plains Railroad is also located in the northeast and operates 344 miles of track in North Dakota and Minnesota with its headquarters located in Fordville where it also operates its largest yard facility. It has a field office in Lansford where it operates a yard and engine terminal.
The primary commodities hauled include cereal grains and soybeans.
This railroad interchanges with CPKC rail near Kenmare in the west and Thief River Falls, Minn., in the east with a BNSF interchange in Ardoch.
Northern Plains has several subdivisions; Bisbee, Devils Lake, Gilby, Mohall and Sarles, serving 54 communities in North Dakota and Minnesota. Some of the more well known communities in the Bisbee subdivision include Lankin, Kramer, Lansford and Tolley.
The Devils Lake subdivision serves stations that include Forest River, Fordville and Devils Lake. The Gilby subdivision also serves Forest River and Johnstown, Gilby and Honeyford.
The Mohall subdivision serves Lansford and Mohall and the Sarles Subdivision serves Munich, Clyde, Calvin and Sarles.
Red River Valley and Western is probably the best known North Dakota Railway outside of BNSF and CPKC. It has 648 miles of track in eastern North Dakota and a 19-mile stretch of track from Oakes to Hecla, S.D. It also has 490 miles of track in the southeast.
Wahpeton to Oakes, LaMoure to Edgeley, Jamestown to Minneawaukan, Carrington to Turtle Lake, Wahpeton to Casselton, Oakes to Jamestown and Pingree to Woodworth are some of the stations serves by RRVW. It also serves Breckenridge and Brushvale in Minnesota.
To round out the list, Cenex Harvest States Cooperatives in the lone private freight carrier and Amtrak is the lone passenger service that runs mostly on BSNF track in North Dakota and serves a wide swath of the nation from Boston to Seattle.
So when we think of the “olden days” with the Great Northern and Northern Pacific, nothing is lost. North Dakota still has adequate rail service.
