Dakota bound

 

I've made no secret of my interest in all-things from the high prairie of the central Dakotas and western Minnesota, especially those former Milwaukee Road granger mainline and branches between Ortonville, MN and where the former MILW alignment now ends east of Terry, MT. I've also been captured by the erstwhile regional Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern railroad, as they inherited quite a bit of former Milwaukee locomotives and rolling stock over the years. Case in point, the MILW SD40-2 EMD road-switchers.

While the former Milwaukee lines that radiate out from the Hub City terminal in Aberdeen, S. Dak. are now operated by BNSF Railway the DM&E does have trackage rights up from its former C&NW mainline at Wolsey, SD into Aberdeen. I do like the BN and was exposed to it quite a bit after the Burlington Northern took over the northern mainline from the Milwaukee Road in 1982 - the latter retrenching further east from Miles City, MT all the way to Ortonville, MN. However, the DM&E became a bastion of former MILW power at its inception in 1986.

Besides a bunch of rebuilt former Milwaukee SD10 diesels a good number of the Road's fleet of SD40-2 units migrated to the DM&E. Easily identified by the Milwaukee's short fuel tanks leaving a gap between the front truck and the tank, these units roamed all over the DM&E, IC&E and later - after merger - the CP all over again. To me, there is nothing like the sound of a brace of these turbocharged EMDs reverberating over the prairie when throttled up on a long train. So much, I have five of them on my HO scale roster.

All of them are from Scale Trains - pictured in the top photo - with three in DM&E's SDSU blue and yellow colors, and two as EMDX "bandits" still showing the harvest orange and black of their alma mater, albeit a bit faded, worn and weathered. While I'm still thinning the herd as far as locomotives (keep an eye out for the various HO sale groups for the DM&M "estate sale") and rolling stock I may keep a few CP Rail GMD SD40-2 Bowser models and perhaps a small group of custom GE ES44AC road units on the roster, the latter now owned by my present employer.

Fleet rationalization work continues as I've scaled-down significantly the complexity of the in-progress layout, and likewise am in the process of backdating the collection to something more appropriate for the 1990s through the early 2000s - the era before graffiti really took over. I've never been a fan of this type of "art" (more like criminal vandalism in my mind) so the early aughts are a good bookend to set a boundary against when establishing the DM&M in a particular time and place.

The DM&M? Wait, I thought you said you were modeling the DM&E? Yes, the DM&M initials and SCAC code will live on, just a bit west of the old locale. This will be the Dakota, Minnesota and Michigan Railroad Company - AAR reporting mark DMM - and will be operating a secondary mainline that was former Milwaukee Road before the early '80s retrenchment. A bit of protofreelancing will allow this, while honoring family roots in all three locations - the latter my present domicile.

I'm headed back "home" to visit family coming up in June, and looking forward to soaking up the high plains, watch a few trains and do some field research and shoot photos along the right of way. Meanwhile, the DM&M continues to take shape in the basement. I hope to post more on the layout in the near future on this blog and elsewhere, so please continue to watch this space. Highball, and clear signals!