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Dakota Minnesota & Eastern a Modern Granger Railroad by Cummings & Huddleston
Dakota Minnesota & Eastern a Modern Granger Railroad by Andy Cummings and Jerry Huddleston
Soft Cover NOTICE page 11 has a crease and you can see/ feel it on a few pages before and after.
Copyright 2005 FIRST PRINTING
136 pages
CONTENTS
Introduction 7
Acknowledgements 9
Chapter I - A Granger Legacy 11
Chapter II - Business, Politics and Survival23
Chapter III - Making Tracks of Their Own 47
Chapter IV - A Leap of Faith81
Subdivisions
Waseca 99
Tracy 103
Huron 107
Huron Terminal 111
Pierre 113
Pierre - Rapid City 117
Black Hills 121
Branch Lines 125
Motive Power Roster 129
Bibliography 135
About the Authors 136
The CEO of any organization is its public face, a role Pete McIntyre and I have been privileged to share over the course of DM&E's history. But I think it is safe for me to speak for both of us in admitting how little we have had to do with its success. The same can be said of the IC&E's relatively short, but equally colorful and successful history. It is the employees of the combined system (DM&E and IC&E), and its faithful customers and committed owners, who have come through time and time again to force success in the face of overwhelming odds that dictated failure a dozen times over. DM&E and IC&E are sister railroads, jointly served by Cedar American Rail Holdings. Combined, they are a single system that has grown remarkably over the years, and yet has been able to retain its small family feel.
The story of this railroad system is a powerful one. It's about more than beating the odds. It's about the positive influence of politics on public policy. It's about true entrepreneurial risk and the vision to see it through. But mostly it is about family. Hundreds of people came together to first save an important service that would have been lost, and then turn it into a success no one imagined.
When the authors originally called for an interview, my first reaction to a book about the history of the DM&E was to encourage them to expand it to include the IC&E, and to the Powder River Basin project that is so important to both railroads. Each would be a compelling story in itself. I hope the contribution of this book encourages further development of the overall story, and how all those pieces come together. The IC&E acquisition and start-up was one of the longest, most difficult and ultimately rewarding challenges in which I've ever been involved. By focusing on the DM&E, the authors have established a solid base in our history that I hope will be built upon by others in future years. In the course of the authors' questioning, I learned things about our company that even I did not know. I think this project will be well served by the authors' detailed knowledge of and genuine interest in railroads generally, and this company in particular.
This is the early story of a railroad that - by all logical accounts shouldn't be here today. The former Class I owner (C&NW) would have been given permission to abandon what is now part of the DM&E in 1983 but for a series of fairly accidental political twists of fate, and the commitment of a former boss and enduring friend, Senator Larry Pressler. From my vantage point on his staff during those years, it is also obvious to me that we were extremely fortunate that C&NW's desire to abandon this line coincided with the apparent determination of the Interstate Commerce Commission (today's Surface Transportation Board) to be something other than a rubber stamp for rail line abandonments in this country. The former chairman of that agency, Reese Taylor, and its government affairs director, Bruce Hatton, were particularly instrumental in reshaping the federal government's role in dealing with the human impact of abandonments. Jerry Conlon, one of the smartest adversaries-turned-friends I've ever known, was a critical transitional figure who helped sort through the vague realities of politics and translate them into the specific realities of the business world.
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