Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad: Roster, Map, History

Last revised: October 21, 2026

The Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corporation was the regional railroad that took over the Chicago & North Western’s secondary main line across southern Minnesota and South Dakota. Reporting mark DME. On the herald and the system map it was the DM&E. The company was a Delaware corporation, and its base in the last year of its own operation was Sioux Falls. The sale agreement described by the Eighth Circuit is dated July 2, 1986: 826 miles of rail line, and an assignment of 139 miles of North Western trackage rights in South Dakota. The property was the secondary main line from Winona, Minnesota, to Rapid City. In 1996 the company applied for the Colony Line, about 203 miles from Colony, Wyoming, to Crawford, Nebraska. At 12:01 a.m. on July 30, 2002, its subsidiary the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern began operating. Canadian Pacific took control on October 30, 2008.

The roster below accounts for 122 diesel locomotives, each road number once. The photographed engine is GP38-3 No. 3830, City of Meriden, built in February 1967 as Illinois Central GP40 3045. The Powder River extension approved in 2002 remained unbuilt. On May 30, 2014, the west end, 670 miles from Tracy, Minnesota, to Colony and Dakota Junction, passed to the Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern, which began freight service on June 1, 2014.

Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern GP38-3 No. 3830, City of Meriden, near Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in July 2002

Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern GP38-3 No. 3830, City of Meriden, near Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in July 2002. Built in February 1967 as Illinois Central GP40 3045, serial 32865, order 5723. American-Rails.com collection.

On this page: The 1986 line · The Colony Line · Iowa, Chicago & Eastern · Powder River · At a glance · System map · Diesels · Canadian Pacific · The west end

The 1986 line

On the North Western this was the secondary main from Winona to Rapid City, the Alco Line, also called the Huron main: grain elevators, light rail, and a long haul that no longer paid the parent railroad the way a Chicago main line did. A Rochester historian, Ben Pennington, told the Post Bulletin in 1998 that the railroad had begun as the Winona and St. Peter, working west from Winona in 1863, reaching St. Peter, New Ulm, and Watertown by 1873, and that the line through Brookings was the extension begun at Tracy in 1879. Tracy to Watertown was later abandoned. The 1879 line is the one the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern ran.

On April 24, 1986, the Chicago & North Western announced an agreement in principle to sell the property. The Chicago Tribune reported it the next day. The buyer named in that announcement was L.B. Foster Co., the price was $28.5 million, the mileage was 824, from Winona to Rapid City, and the package included operating rights over an additional 156 miles, together with related equipment and facilities. Completion was expected on July 1. About 165 North Western employees were affected. Chairman James R. Wolfe said the sale would net about $20 million after taxes. Those are the figures of the announcement.

The agreement the Eighth Circuit later described is the one dated July 2, 1986. After the Interstate Commerce Commission’s class exemption in Ex Parte 392, decided in January 1986, the North Western agreed to sell 826 miles of rail line to the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern, a newly formed railroad, and to assign 139 miles of its trackage rights in South Dakota. A stockholders’ agreement dated September 3, 1986, is the one defined in the later Canadian Pacific merger papers. The railroad that emerged from that sale is the company on this page. Kevin V. Schieffer, who had a consulting agreement with the company from September 13, 1994, became president and chief executive in 1996.

The Colony Line

The 1986 sale was the Winona–Rapid City property. The railroad beyond the Black Hills, out to the bentonite at Colony and down to Crawford, was still a Union Pacific line when the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern asked to buy it. Union Pacific’s common control of the North Western dates from April 6, 1995. On February 22, 1996, in Surface Transportation Board Finance Docket No. 32864, the company applied to acquire and operate about 203 miles, from Colony, Wyoming, to Crawford, Nebraska, mostly in South Dakota. The notice counts 41 full-time Union Pacific employees on the line, and says the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern anticipated 50.

Iowa, Chicago & Eastern

The Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Railroad began operations at 12:01 a.m. on July 30, 2002, as a Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern subsidiary. The lines were the former Milwaukee Road across Iowa, and they put Chicago and Kansas City on the far end of a South Dakota railroad. Control was a separate step. In Finance Docket No. 34178 the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern and Cedar American Rail Holdings, Inc., asked the Board to approve control of the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Railroad Corporation by dissolving a voting trust. The application was filed about August 29, 2002. The Board found that the control would not substantially lessen competition, create a monopoly, or restrain trade. That decision is effective March 5, 2003.

A companion notice, Finance Docket No. 34178 (Sub-No. 2), covered contingent overhead trackage rights: about 72.4 miles on the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern between Owatonna, Minnesota, and Mason City, Iowa, and about 8.8 miles on the Iowa Northern between Plymouth Junction and Nora Springs, Iowa. Vice Chairman Burkes voted for the control and said he was concerned that the issues at Owatonna could delay the benefits.

Powder River

Coal in the Powder River Basin was the bet that made the regional famous. The company gave notice of its intent on May 29, 1997, and filed the application on February 20, 1998. On January 28, 2002, in Finance Docket No. 33407, the Surface Transportation Board gave final approval to construct and operate about 280 miles of new railroad, plus the associated facilities. The new work was a 262.03-mile line from a point on the existing railroad near Wasta, South Dakota, generally southwesterly to Edgemont and then west into Wyoming, to connect with 11 coal mines south of Gillette, and a 13.31-mile line in the Mankato area. The same authority covered rebuilding and upgrading 598 miles of the existing railroad. The public announcement of the project also described that rebuild as approximately 600 miles. The construction cost in the decision was about $1.4 billion: $532 million for the new line and $876 million to rebuild the line already in the ground.

The Eighth Circuit, in Mid States Coalition for Progress v. Surface Transportation Board, 345 F.3d 520 (2003), upheld the transportation findings and remanded four environmental issues. The Board reapproved the project on February 15, 2006, and reimposed 147 environmental conditions, one of them expanded. Rochester, Minnesota, and the Mayo Clinic fought the prospect of coal trains on the existing line through the city. On February 26, 2007, Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph H. Boardman denied a $2.3 billion Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing loan. The application was to finance the new 280-mile line and the reconstruction of approximately 600 miles in South Dakota and Minnesota. Schieffer said the company expected to go on. The authority stood. No new Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern coal line opened into the basin.

Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad herald, blue DM&E letters between yellow bars

The Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern herald. Blue letters, two yellow bars, and the railroad’s name underneath.

At a glance

Item	Detail
Legal name	Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corporation, a Delaware corporation
Reporting mark	DME. The herald reads DM&E
Headquarters	Sioux Falls, in 2008, while the shares were still in trust
President	Kevin V. Schieffer, president and chief executive from 1996 until October 2008. Consulting agreement of September 13, 1994
Announcement	April 24, 1986. L.B. Foster Co. 824 miles, Winona to Rapid City, $28.5 million, and operating rights over 156 miles more. About 165 North Western employees. Expected net about $20 million after taxes
Sale agreement	July 2, 1986. 826 miles of rail line, and 139 miles of Chicago & North Western trackage rights in South Dakota. A stockholders’ agreement is dated September 3, 1986
Colony Line	Application filed February 22, 1996, Finance Docket 32864. About 203 miles, Colony, Wyoming, to Crawford, Nebraska. 41 Union Pacific employees on the line. The company anticipated 50
Iowa, Chicago & Eastern	Operations began at 12:01 a.m. on July 30, 2002. Control, with Cedar American Rail Holdings, Finance Docket 34178, effective March 5, 2003
Powder River	Approved January 28, 2002, Finance Docket 33407. About 280 miles of new line: 262.03 miles from near Wasta to 11 mines south of Gillette, and 13.31 miles at Mankato. Rebuild of 598 miles. About $1.4 billion. Reapproved February 15, 2006. RRIF loan of $2.3 billion denied February 26, 2007. Canadian Pacific deferred the 260-mile option on December 3, 2012
Canadian Pacific	Announced September 4, 2007. Shares acquired in trust on October 4, 2007. Approved September 30, 2008, Finance Docket 35081. Control effective October 30, 2008
Price	$1.48 billion in the 2007 announcement coverage, with a further contingency the Independent put at up to $1 billion. The 2008 financial statements allocate $1.5 billion, including $180 million of goodwill, and contingent payments of up to about $1.05 billion through December 31, 2025
West end	Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern, May 30, 2014. About $210 million, plus about $7.5 million. 670 miles. Freight service from June 1, 2014. Reporting mark RCPE
Diesels	122 locomotives on the roster below

System map

System map of the two railroads. Black is the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern, from Minnesota City through Mankato, Huron, Pierre, and Rapid City to Colony, with the line down to Crawford and Chadron. The dotted spur toward Aberdeen is marked as BNSF trackage rights. The arrow west of Crawford is marked Powder River Basin Project, never built. Blue is the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern, to Chicago and Kansas City. © American-Rails.com.

The east end of the black line is lettered at Minnesota City, on the Mississippi. The sale the court describes is the Winona–Rapid City property, and Minnesota City is the map’s name for that Minnesota terminal. West of Huron the railroad splits around the Pierre line and the Black Hills. Colony is the northwest end, in Wyoming. Crawford, Nebraska, is the southwest end of the line the company applied to buy in 1996. The blue railroad is a different company, the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern, drawn from Austin and Mason City to the Mississippi at Marquette and Sabula, then to Chicago by way of Janesville and Rockford, and south through Davenport and Ottumwa to Kansas City.

Diesels

The Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern was a diesel railroad. Its road power was secondhand Electro-Motive and General Motors Diesel hood units: Milwaukee Road SD9s rebuilt as SD10s, Chicago & North Western SD9s, Nickel Plate GP9s, GP38s, GP38-3s rebuilt from GP40s, GP40s, SD40s, SD40-2s, and SD40-3s. The roster compiled for the company lists 122 road numbers. Builder numbers that were written out in full are in the serial column. Abbreviated serial cells are left blank. Orders are the ones read on a production list or on a locked roster: 5723, 7263, 7942, and 7842 for the GP40s, 7912 for the Chicago Great Western SD40, and 786246 for the two Oneida & Western SD40-2s.

Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern GP38-3 No. 3830, City of Meriden, in June 2002

The same locomotive, GP38-3 No. 3830, City of Meriden, in June 2002. One engine, two months apart. American-Rails.com collection.

Model	Numbers	Builder	Serial	Order	Built	Qty	Notes
SD10	544–561	EMD	—	—	1952–54	18	Rebuilt Milwaukee Road SD9s
GP9	1463	EMD	25076	—	January 1959	1	Built as Nickel Plate 533. Later Norfolk & Western 2533 and Norfolk Southern 1463
GP9	1471, 1477, 1483–1484	EMD	—	—	January 1959	4	Built as Nickel Plate 802, 807, 813, and 814
GP38	3800–3803	EMD	—	—	—	4	Ex-Conrail 7667–7668 and 7820–7821. The first pair was built for the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines as 2007–2008. The second pair was built for the Penn Central as 7820–7821
GP38-3	3830	EMD	32865	5723	February 1967	1	Built as Illinois Central GP40 3045. Later Kansas City Southern 781. City of Meriden
GP38-3	3831–3835	EMD	—	—	1967–68	5	Rebuilt from Illinois Central and Penn Central GP40s
GP40	4000–4001	EMD	—	—	August 1966	2	Built as Missouri-Kansas-Texas 180 and 181
GP40	4002	EMD	36398	7263	April 1970	1	Built as Rock Island 4712
GP40	4003	EMD	32240	—	September 1966	1	Built as Rock Island 348
GP40	4004	EMD	32590	7942	December 1966	1	Built as Rock Island 364
GP40	4005	EMD	36386	7263	March 1970	1	Built as Rock Island 4700
GP40	4006	EMD	30996	7842	January 1966	1	Built as Rio Grande 3052
MK50-3	5000	—	—	—	—	1	Recorded as a rebuild of Santa Fe SD45B 5501, with an MK 50-3 cab. The builder number was left blank
SD40-2	5920	GMD	A3813	—	October 1979	1	Built as Canadian Pacific 5920
SD40-3	6050	EMD	31431	—	March 1966	1	Built as Union Pacific 3017
SD40-3	6051, 6053	EMD	—	—	January 1970	2	Missouri Pacific frames
SD40-3	6052	EMD	37648	—	August 1971	1	Built as Union Pacific 3092
SD40-3	6054	EMD	35817	—	April 1970	1	Built as Union Pacific 3100
SD40	6055	EMD	33170	—	May 1967	1	The second use of number 6055. Built as Baltimore & Ohio 7491
SD40	6056–6059	EMD	—	—	1966–71	4	6056 and 6057 are Seaboard Coast Line and Louisville & Nashville frames. 6058 and 6059 were built as Union Pacific 3070 and 3095
SD40	6060	EMD	32097	7912	August 1966	1	Built as Chicago Great Western 406. Later Chicago & North Western 926
SD40	6061	EMD	34968	—	July 1969	1	Built as Western Maryland 7446
SD40	6067	EMD	31291	—	February 1966	1	Built as Pennsylvania 6046
SD40	6068–6095	GMD	—	—	1966–71	28	Built for the Canadian Pacific. Some came by way of the Quebec North Shore and Labrador
SD40	6096	EMD	34778	—	April 1969	1	Built as Baltimore & Ohio 7500. Later Soo Line 6411
SD40-2	6200–6201	EMD	786246-2, 786246-3	786246	September 1979	2	Built as Oneida & Western 9951 and 9952. Later BC Rail 744 and 745
SD40-2	6359–6370, 6384–6388	EMD	—	—	May–June 1974	17	Built as Milwaukee Road SD40-2s. Later Soo Line
SD9	6601–6606, 6609–6621	EMD	—	—	1952–54	19	Chicago & North Western SD9s. 6620 and 6621 were Minneapolis & St. Louis 300 and 301, then Chicago & North Western 300 and 301
Road numbers on this roster						122	Each road number once

Canadian Pacific

On September 4, 2007, Canadian Pacific announced that it would buy the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern, including the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern. The coverage put the cash price at $1.48 billion. The Independent, on September 5, described a further payment of up to $1 billion: $350 million if construction of the Powder River line began before 2026, and $700 million if coal-volume goals tied to the basin were reached by 2025. The shares went into a voting trust. Canadian Pacific’s 2008 financial statements date that acquisition October 4, 2007, and keep the investment on the equity method until control. Those statements allocate a purchase price of $1.5 billion, including goodwill of $180 million, and say contingent payments of up to about $1.05 billion, plus interest and inflationary adjustments, could become payable through December 31, 2025.

The Surface Transportation Board approved the control on September 30, 2008, in Finance Docket No. 35081, Canadian Pacific Railway Company et al.—Control—Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corp. et al. The applicants were Canadian Pacific Railway Corporation and Soo Line Holding Company. The railroads were the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern and its wholly owned subsidiary, the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern. The Board found minimal operational overlap, found that the transaction would not substantially lessen competition or restrain trade, and found that shippers would keep the competitive rail service they had. The conditions continued the review of the safety integration plan, imposed the standard labor protection, and provided that if Canadian Pacific built the new line authorized in Finance Docket 33407, it could not haul coal originating on that new line until the Board prepared an environmental impact statement and issued a further decision allowing the operation. Control was effective October 30, 2008. That was the last day the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern and the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern operated as themselves. From the next accounting period, Canadian Pacific consolidated the companies.

Schieffer left the presidency in October 2008, while the shares were still in the trust. The trustee, Richard Hamlin, said the departure was effective at once. Ed Terbell, the chief operating officer, and Kurt Feaster, the chief financial officer, ran the day-to-day property until Canadian Pacific assumed control on October 30. On December 3, 2012, Canadian Pacific deferred indefinitely its option to build the Powder River extension, which it described as 260 miles into northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana. The pre-tax non-cash charge was about C$180 million, about US$181 million, covering the option, engineering, land, and capitalized interest. The reason given was the market for domestic thermal coal.

The west end

The next day, December 4, 2012, Canadian Pacific invited expressions of interest in the western section. Reuters described a 660-mile portion from Tracy, Minnesota, west into South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wyoming. What left the system was the old North Western stem and the Colony Line. What stayed was the east end, from Tracy toward Minnesota, and the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern lines through Iowa toward Chicago and Kansas City.

On May 30, 2014, the Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern Railroad, Inc., a Genesee & Wyoming company, completed the purchase from Canadian Pacific for about $210 million, plus about $7.5 million for inventory, equipment, and vehicles. The 670-mile line shut down that evening. Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern freight service began on June 1, 2014. The new railroad counted 177 employees, put its headquarters at Rapid City, and kept shops at Rapid City and Huron. The line runs northwest to Colony, Wyoming, southwest to Dakota Junction, Nebraska, and east to Tracy. Crews changed at Rapid City, Belle Fourche, Pierre, Huron, Brookings, and Tracy. Interchange was with BNSF, Canadian Pacific, Union Pacific, and the Nebraska Northwestern. The release put the traffic at about 52,000 carloads a year: grain, bentonite clay, ethanol, fertilizer, and other freight. Brad Ovitt was president. The reporting mark is RCPE. That railroad’s own page is the Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern.

Sources

Chicago Tribune, April 25, 1986. Agreement in principle announced April 24: L.B. Foster Co., 824 miles from Winona to Rapid City, $28.5 million, operating rights over an additional 156 miles, about 165 employees, expected completion July 1. James R. Wolfe on a net of about $20 million after taxes. These are the announcement figures.
Railway Labor Executives’ Association v. Chicago and North Western Transportation Co., 848 F.2d 102 (8th Cir. 1988). Ex Parte 392 class exemption, January 1986, 1 I.C.C.2d 810. Agreement of July 2, 1986, to sell 826 miles of rail line and assign 139 miles of South Dakota trackage rights. Complaint filed August 19, 1986.
Canadian Pacific merger agreement, Securities and Exchange Commission exhibit. A stockholders’ agreement dated September 3, 1986.
Post Bulletin (Rochester), October 8, 1998. Ben Pennington on the Winona and St. Peter, construction west from Winona in 1863, the line to Watertown by 1873, and the 1879 extension from Tracy through Brookings.
Federal Register, March 8 and March 22, 1996. Surface Transportation Board Finance Docket No. 32864. Application filed February 22, 1996, for about 203 miles, Colony, Wyoming, to Crawford, Nebraska. Forty-one full-time Union Pacific employees. The applicant anticipated fifty.
Surface Transportation Board, Finance Docket No. 34178, reported at 6 S.T.B. Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corporation and Cedar American Rail Holdings, Inc., control of Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Railroad Corporation, by dissolution of a voting trust. Application filed about August 29, 2002. Decision effective March 5, 2003. Sub-No. 2: overhead trackage rights of about 72.4 miles, Owatonna to Mason City, and about 8.8 miles, Plymouth Junction to Nora Springs. Iowa, Chicago & Eastern operations began at 12:01 a.m. on July 30, 2002.
Surface Transportation Board, Finance Docket No. 33407, decided January 28, 2002. About 280 miles of new line: 262.03 miles from near Wasta to 11 mines south of Gillette, and 13.31 miles at Mankato. Rebuild of 598 miles. About $1.4 billion, of which $532 million was the new line and $876 million the rebuild. Notice of intent, May 29, 1997. Application filed February 20, 1998. Mid States Coalition for Progress v. Surface Transportation Board, 345 F.3d 520 (8th Cir. 2003). Reapproval February 15, 2006, with 147 environmental conditions.
Federal Railroad Administration, Joseph H. Boardman, February 26, 2007. Denial of a $2.3 billion Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing loan for the 280-mile line and the reconstruction of approximately 600 miles.
The Independent, September 5, 2007. Announced price $1.48 billion, and a contingency of up to $1 billion, described as $350 million if construction began before 2026 and $700 million if the coal-volume goals were reached by 2025. Canadian Pacific announcement, September 4, 2007.
Canadian Pacific 2008 financial statements. Acquisition of the shares on October 4, 2007. Equity-method accounting until control. Surface Transportation Board approval September 30, 2008, effective October 30, 2008. Purchase-price allocation of $1.5 billion, including goodwill of $180 million. Contingent payments of up to about $1.05 billion, plus interest and inflationary adjustments, through December 31, 2025.
Surface Transportation Board press release No. 08-30, September 30, 2008. Finance Docket No. 35081, Canadian Pacific Railway Company et al.—Control—Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corp. et al. Applicants Canadian Pacific Railway Corporation and Soo Line Holding Company. Control of the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern and the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern. Effective October 30, 2008.
Twin Cities Pioneer Press, October 8, 2008. Sioux Falls-based. Kevin Schieffer’s departure, effective immediately, while the property remained in trust. Ed Terbell and Kurt Feaster. Canadian Pacific expected to assume control on October 30. Price stated as $1.48 billion, with future payments of up to $1 billion.
Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad v. Schieffer, 648 F.3d 935 (8th Cir. 2011), and Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corp. v. Schieffer, 742 F. Supp. 2d 1055 (D.S.D. 2010). Delaware corporation. Schieffer became president and chief executive in 1996. Consulting agreement of September 13, 1994. He left the office in October 2008.
Canadian Pacific, December 3, 2012. Indefinite deferral of the option to build a 260-mile Powder River extension. Charge of about C$180 million, about US$181 million. Reuters, December 4, 2012. Invitation for expressions of interest in a 660-mile portion from Tracy west.
Genesee & Wyoming, May 30, 2014. Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern Railroad completed the acquisition of the 670-mile west end for about $210 million plus about $7.5 million. Freight service began June 1, 2014. One hundred seventy-seven employees. Headquarters Rapid City. Brad Ovitt, president. About 52,000 carloads a year.
The Diesel Shop, Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern diesel roster, updated January 21, 2025, http://www.thedieselshop.us/DME.HTML. Reporting mark DME. Roster by Ben Johnson and Bob Van Derveer. The 122 road numbers, the fully written serials, and the heritage notes in the table. Abbreviated builder-number cells are left blank. This site’s GP40 production roster supplies orders 5723, 7263, 7942, and 7842, and confirms serial 32865 for Illinois Central 3045, serials 36386 and 36398 for Rock Island 4700 and 4712, serial 32590 for Rock Island 364, and serial 30996 for Rio Grande 3052. Chicago Great Western SD40s 401–409 are serials 32092–32100, order 7912, so 406 is 32097, later Chicago & North Western 926. Oneida & Western 9951 and 9952 are order 786246, serials 786246-2 and 786246-3, September 1979, later BC Rail 744 and 745.

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