line in
Bloomington, Minnesota. The railroad was purchased in 1982 by the
Soo Line, and merged into the Soo Line in 1986. For decades prior to the sale to the Soo Line, the MN&S had a lucrative business interchanging with several Class I railroads. Rock Island and Milwaukee Road at Northfield, C&NW at Savage, Soo Line at Crystal, M&StL at St Louis Park, Great Northern at Cedar Lake Yard in Minneapolis, and CGW over trackage rights between Randolph and Northfield. By the time of the sale to Soo Line in 1982, MN&S's interchange business was in shambles with the Rock Island and Milwaukee Road fading in bankruptcy and the sale of CGW and M&StL to C&NW in the 1960s leaving only the Soo Line and Burlington Northern as viable interchange partners. The loss of interchange traffic at Randolph when CGW merged with C&NW in 1968 was a significant setback as C&NW already had its own routes to the Twin Cities and kept most of the ex-CGW inbound freight on its own rails. By 1982, the Soo Line was ready to make several moves and had sufficient funds to counter competing offers. Soo Line's grand plan was to secure MN&S to Northfield, then purchase the Spine Line to Kansas City from Rock Island in its liquidation. However, C&NW purchased the Spine Line for $93 million in 1983. The Soo Line saved face in 1985 by purchasing the bankrupt Milwaukee Road. The Soo Line's loss of the Spine Line and the transfer of southbound freight to the former Milwaukee Road route to Northfield reduced service on the entire MN&S for the next 25 years. By 1997, six years after the Soo Line was purchased by Canadian Pacific, the last train had gone between Lakeville and Savage, and the tracks have remained out-of-service since then. In 1999 the
I&M Rail Link gained trackage rights on the former MN&S to Minneapolis but never utilized them. In 2004, during which Burnsville proposed reopening an at-grade crossing on the MN&S, Canadian Pacific stated that by the next five years Progressive Rail would be utilizing the MN&S route that is currently out-of-service, but this didn't happen. The Glenwood shops were closed and demolished, and the tracks removed in the mid-1980s. Despite that, of the MN&S mainline extending south to Northfield, the Soo's owner,
Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), still owns the tracks from Savage to Lakeville and from the
Minnesota River north to MNS Junction. The
Twin Cities and Western Railroad owns the
Dan Patch Line Bridge over the Minnesota River. TC&W has trackage rights over the MN&S Spur and purchased the bridge to protect what they feel may become a valuable shipping route in the future. In 2016, TC&W undertook a major rehabilitation of the Dan Patch Line Bridge in anticipation of an upsurge in grain traffic. By September of 2022, TC&W was seeking Minnesota state funding to rehabilitate a three-quarter mile stretch of the old MN&S main in Savage, a section of track that would enable direct service to resume.
Progressive Rail, Inc. owns the track between Lakeville and Northfield, operating it as their Jesse James Line. Progressive Rail owns and occasionally operates two MN&S cabooses as well as a former MN&S
EMD SD39. Some of Progressive Rail's rolling stock is painted in an MN&S-inspired livery. The Minnesota Department of Transportation has performed studies on operating
commuter rail over the Dan Patch Line. This service would be known as the
Dan Patch Corridor. Although the
Minnesota Legislature imposed a ban on state money going to further studies of the proposed service in 2002, in 2023, this ban was lifted. In late summer 2024, the
Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) Railway began running late-night trains on the route, disturbing nearby residents. Despite the complaints, the CPKC is not considering reducing the night trains. The city of
St. Louis Park is looking into establishing whistle quiet zones along the route, but notes that any such process would take years and significant investments from the city. == References ==