Hutchinson is the largest city in McLeod County, Minnesota, United States. It lies along the South Fork of the Crow River. The population was 14,599 at the 2020 census.
The Chicago Great Western Railway was a Class I railroad that linked Chicago, Minneapolis, Omaha, and Kansas City. It was founded by Alpheus Beede Stickney in 1885 as a regional line between St. Paul and the Iowa state line called the Minnesota and Northwestern Railroad. Through mergers and new construction, the railroad, named Chicago Great Western after 1892, quickly became a multi-state carrier. One of the last Class I railroads to be built, it competed against several other more well-established railroads in the same territory, and developed a corporate culture of innovation and efficiency to survive.
The Soo Line Railroad is one of the primary United States railroad subsidiaries for the CPKC Railway, one of six U.S. Class I railroads, controlled through the Soo Line Corporation. Although it is named for the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad (MStP&SSM), which was commonly known as the Soo Line after the phonetic spelling of Sault, it was formed in 1961 by the consolidation of that company with two other CPKC subsidiaries: The Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway, and the Wisconsin Central Railway. It is also the successor to other Class I railroads, including the Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway and the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. On the other hand, a large amount of mileage was spun off in 1987 to Wisconsin Central Ltd., now part of the Canadian National Railway. The Soo Line Railroad and the Delaware and Hudson Railway, CPKC's other major subsidiary, presently do business as the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). Most equipment has been repainted into the CP scheme, but the U.S. Surface Transportation Board groups all of the company's U.S. subsidiaries under the Soo Line name for reporting purposes. The Minneapolis headquarters are in the Canadian Pacific Plaza building, having moved from the nearby Soo Line Building.
The Chicago and North Western was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the "North Western". The railroad operated more than 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over 12,000 miles (19,000 km) of track in seven states before retrenchment in the late 1970s. Until 1972, when the employees purchased the company, it was named the Chicago and North Western Railway.
The Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway was an 87-mile (140 km) long American shortline railroad connecting Minneapolis and Northfield, Minnesota. It was incorporated in 1918 to take over the trackage of the former Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester and Dubuque Electric Traction Company, also known as the Dan Patch Lines. On June 2, 1982, it was acquired by the Soo Line Railroad, which operated it as a separate railroad until merging it on January 1, 1986, along with the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad.
Progressive Rail Inc. is a shortline railroad and owner of several other shortlines. PGR is directly operating several separate branches in Minnesota including the Airlake Terminal Railway. Progressive Rail also acquired the Wisconsin Northern Division in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin and operates as a separately-named division. They also own the Chicago Junction Railroad, Clackamas Valley Railway, the Iowa Traction Railway and Iowa Southern Railway in Iowa, the Crab Orchard and Egyptian Railroad in Illinois, the St. Paul & Pacific Northwest Railroad, and the Wisconsin Northern Railroad.
Cedar Lake Trail is a 4.3-mile (6.9 km), shared-use path in the U.S. state of Minnesota, from downtown Minneapolis to the neighboring suburb of St. Louis Park. The trail begins at its eastern trailhead in downtown Minneapolis (44°59′11″N93°16′01″W) and continues west to Minnesota State Highway 100 in St. Louis Park (44°57′43″N93°20′36″W). At the trail's west end, a paved path continues for another 4.2 miles (6.8 km) through St. Louis Park to Hopkins under the former name of Hutchinson Spur Trail, but known as North Cedar Lake Regional Trail since 2009. In 2019, large portions of the Cedar Lake Trail were closed due to construction of the Southwest LRT extension with expected reopening in 2021 or 2022.
The Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway or Omaha Road was a railroad in the U.S. states of Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota. It was incorporated in 1880 as a consolidation of the Chicago, St. Paul and Minneapolis Railway and the North Wisconsin Railway. The Chicago and North Western Railway (C&NW) gained control in 1882. The C&NW leased the Omaha Road in 1957 and merged the company into itself in 1972. Portions of the C. St. P. M. and O. are part of the Union Pacific Railroad network. This includes main lines from Wyeville, Wisconsin, to St. Paul, Minnesota, and St. Paul to Sioux City, Iowa.
The Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway (M&StL) was an American Class I railroad that built and operated lines radiating south and west from Minneapolis, Minnesota for 90 years from 1870 to 1960. The railway never reached St. Louis but its North Star Limited passenger train ran to that city via the Wabash Railroad.
The Twin Cities and Western Railroad is a railroad operating in the U.S. state of Minnesota which started operations on July 27, 1991. Trackage includes the former Soo Line Railroad "Ortonville Line", originally built as the first part of the Pacific extension of the Milwaukee Road. This main line extends from Hopkins, Minnesota ,to Appleton, Minnesota. The line was originally built between Hopkins and Cologne, Minnesota, in 1876 by Hastings and Dakota Railroad. In 1913, the Milwaukee Road rerouted it, reducing the curves. The line was eventually extended to the Pacific.
Sakatah Singing Hills State Trail is a 41-mile-long (66 km) paved multi-use rail trail connecting Faribault and Mankato, Minnesota. It is maintained by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, which converted it from a railroad line. The name derives from the Dakota people who lived in the region; "Sakatah" translates into "singing hills". It began as a snowmobile trail and is now shared by hikers, joggers and cross-country skiers. There are sections of parallel dirt trail for horseback riders but they are not continuous. The landscape is mostly cultivated land with remnant stands of prairie and Big Woods. The trail passes through Sakatah Lake State Park and runs through city streets in Waterville.
Target Field station is a multimodal commuter train and light rail station in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Located in the North Loop area of Downtown Minneapolis, the station is named for Target Field, the Minnesota Twins baseball stadium. METRO Blue Line light rail service started on November 14, 2009; Northstar Line commuter rail service started November 16, 2009; METRO Green Line light rail service started on June 14, 2014.
There are several passenger rail projects being discussed in Minnesota. There is one existing commuter rail service in the state, the Northstar Line, and one existing long-distance intercity rail service, the Empire Builder. Future projects include a mixture of short-distance commuter rail and medium-distance regional rail lines which would run from the Twin Cities outward to neighboring states and perhaps Canada.
The Minneapolis Great Northern Depot, also known as Great Northern Station, was a passenger railroad station which served Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. It was built in 1913 and demolished in 1978. It was located on Hennepin Avenue next to the Hennepin Avenue Bridge and across the street from the main Minneapolis Post Office.
The Dan Patch Corridor is a proposed commuter rail line that would serve a region which runs from Minneapolis to Northfield, Minnesota. The corridor consists of the tracks on the former Minneapolis St. Paul Rochester and Dubuque Electric Traction Company lines, which came to be known as the Dan Patch lines. It was proposed as a passenger rail line in 2000 after being identified as a "Tier One" corridor in the Minnesota Department of Transportation's 2000 Commuter Rail System Plan before being given a study ban during the 2002 Minnesota legislative session. It sat in relative silence until 2008, when bills were introduced in the Minnesota State Legislature to potentially revive discussion. On May 21, 2023, the Minnesota House of Representatives and Minnesota Senate passed an omnibus transit bill that removed the study ban for the Dan Patch line.
The Dan Patch Line Bridge is a railroad swing bridge that carries the Canadian Pacific Railway's MN&S Subdivision across the Minnesota River in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The MN&S Subdivision originated as the Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester and Dubuque Electric Traction Company, more commonly known as the Dan Patch Lines. Today's name for the rail line comes from the Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railroad, which took over the Dan Patch route after the original railroad fell into bankruptcy. Despite being met by Canadian Pacific rails at either end, the bridge itself is owned by the Twin Cities and Western Railroad which has trackage rights on the CP line to the north. The TC&W purchased the bridge in order to protect a route that may become important in the future.
The Wayzata Subdivision or Wayzata Sub is a railway line that runs about 93 miles (150 km) from Willmar to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Currently operated by BNSF Railway, this was part of the Great Northern Railway's transcontinental line from Minneapolis to Seattle, Washington. Today, BNSF's Northern Transcon travels up the Staples Subdivision instead, which is a more direct route to Fargo, North Dakota. West of Target Field station the Wayzata Sub sees about 4-6 trains a day, consisting of manifest, grain, and ethanol traffic. The Wayzata Sub also occasionally sees other commodities such as coal and oil trains, and can sometimes receive intermodal or Amtrak reroutes when needed.
The MN&S Spur is a 18.5-mile (29.8 km) railroad line operated by the Progressive Rail Inc. The route runs through suburbs immediately west of Minneapolis, Minnesota, from MN&S Junction in Crystal south to Auto Club Junction in Bloomington near the Minnesota River. This path is parallel to Minnesota State Highway 100, which is about half a mile east of the rail line.
The Paynesville Subdivision or Paynesville Sub is a railway line that runs about 118 miles (190 km) from Glenwood to Minneapolis, Minnesota. The line is operated by Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) under the Soo Line Railroad, its US subsidiary. Construction on the line began in 1886 by the Minneapolis & Pacific Railway which intended to build a railroad out to the Dakotas to supply grain to flour mills in Minneapolis. The line starts out at CP University and continues westward through the Humboldt Yard and crosses the BNSF Monticello Subdivision just east of the junction with MN&S Spur in Crystal. Then the line continues northwest through many small towns on its way to Glenwood.
Luce Line Trail is a 74.9-mile (120.5 km), shared-use path in Minnesota, United States, that stretches from Cosmos to Minneapolis. The trail system was built after 1995 when the Luce Line Railroad was abandoned west of Interstate 494. The previous line extended 104 miles (167 km) to Gluek. The multi-use trail has varying surface features, though it is primarily made up of crushed limestone or aggregate base, and the section from Cosmos to Cedar Mills is undeveloped, as are the sections from just west of Hutchinson to Winsted and east of Plymouth. The trail is maintained by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources west of Vicksburg Lane, where it is named Luce Line State Trail. East of Vicksburg Lane, it is maintained by the Three Rivers Park District and named Luce Line Regional Trail.
