Prairie Land Barge: A blog about DM&E Railroad (and related entities)

Prairie Land Barge covers current events, operations and history of Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad and its affiliates.

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Book Announcement: Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern: A Modern Granger Railroad

From the announcement by the authors:
Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern

A Modern Granger Railroad

Andy Cummings & Jerry Huddleston

This is the inside story of how a routine abandonment in western South Dakota led to the nations longest regional railroad. The story begins along the west bank of the Mississippi River in the mid-1850s and ends with the Powder River Basin project in 2005. It’s told by the businessmen, politicians, shippers and employees who were there. In the end, this is about railroads and provides evidence of the hubris and hard work of its backers.

136 pages, more than 100 color photos, 10 ¼” x 8 ½”, soft cover

$30 includes shipping through 10/31/05.

Mail check or money order to:

Jerry Huddleston

4854 Birch Street

Hampton, MN 55031-8749

Ph. (651) 437-4208

Email jhuddlestonatvisidotcom (replace "at" and "dot" with @ and .)

A limited number of hard covers with dust jackets will available in mid October. $60 includes shipping. Please email to reserve a copy.

From the back cover of the book:

Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern tells of a success story in the modern railroad era. Created in 1986 from former Chicago & North Western Railway lines in South Dakota and Minnesota, DM&E had struggled and prevailed to become part of the largest regional railroad system in the United States. The DM&E, extending from the Mississippi River to the Black Hills, has long been an agriculture-based or “granger” railroad.

Now, DM&E is again making history as it strives to become the newest railroad to haul coal from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming in order to fuel power plants of the Upper Midwest. How DM&E has reached this milepost is told in the words of those responsible for its creation, and of those who have kept the trains of the DM&E moving despite natural disasters and equipment failures. This 136-page book includes more than 100 photos in color and a current DM&E locomotive roster