The St. Croix Valley Railroad was created in September 1997 when the railroad's former owner,
RailAmerica Incorporated, purchased two segments of track in eastern
Minnesota from the
BNSF Railway. Also included in the sale were of
trackage rights on the BNSF Hinckley Subdivision between
Hinckley, Minnesota and
Brook Park, Minnesota. The two segments of track initially acquired by the St. Croix Valley Railroad included the Amber Subdivision between
Hinckley, Minnesota and
North Branch, Minnesota and an spur of the Hinckley Subdivision between
Brook Park, Minnesota and
Mora, Minnesota. Before the
BNSF Railway gained ownership of the portion of the Amber Subdivision subsequently sold to the St. Croix Valley Railroad, the line was owned by the
Burlington Northern Railroad. Before that, it was owned by the
Northern Pacific Railway and formed that railroad's so-called "Skally Line" from
St. Paul, Minnesota to
Duluth, Minnesota. This line was originally built as the
Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad, later the
St. Paul and Duluth Railroad. The
Great Northern Railway, however, also had tracks that followed roughly the same route. When both the
Great Northern Railway and the
Northern Pacific Railway merged to form the
Burlington Northern Railroad in 1970, the "Skally Line" became redundant and portions of it slowly became abandoned. Along with the segment operated by the St. Croix Valley Railroad, the only other portions that remain today are small pieces near
St. Paul, Minnesota (currently operated by the
Minnesota Commercial Railway) and
Duluth, Minnesota (currently operated by the
BNSF Railway). The abandoned portions of the route have been converted to
rail trails: the
Willard Munger State Trail (also known as
Hinckley Fire Trail) between Hinckley and
Duluth, and the
Hardwood Creek Trail and
Sunrise Prairie Trail between North Branch and
Hugo. The spur sold by the BNSF Railway to the St. Croix Valley Railroad was also formerly owned by the
Burlington Northern Railroad. Before that, it was owned by the
Great Northern Railway and formed a line that went from
Brook Park, Minnesota to
St. Cloud, Minnesota. In March 2003, unsafe track conditions that led to an embargo on all traffic caused the St. Croix Valley Railroad to abandon its line from Brook Park to Mora. The St. Croix Valley still retains its trackage rights to Brook Park MN. Ownership of the St. Croix Valley Railroad was turned over from
Railamerica Incorporated to
KBN Incorporated named for Tom Kotnour, Norman (Pete) Bierwerth of
Midwest Locomotive Inc. and Frank Nesbit of
Independent Locomotive Service, jointly owning KBN, in 2001. Both companies are based in
Minnesota with KBN owning two other short line railroads: the
Minnesota Northern Railroad (
reporting mark MNN) in northwestern Minnesota and the
Dakota Northern Railroad (
reporting mark DN) in eastern
North Dakota. Deterioration of the Snake River bridge crossing in
Pine City caused a disruption to the line in 2009 but it was reconstructed. ==Locomotive and Freight Car Fleet==