The Huron Subdivision or Huron Sub is a railway line owned and operated by the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad

Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad

The Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad is a Class II railroad subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway operating across South Dakota and southern Minnesota in the northern plains of the United States...

 (DME) subsidiary of Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

. The line stretches for 136 miles (218.9 km) across southwestern Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

 and southeastern South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

, forming the major artery of DME's freight traffic. Originally the line was a part of the Chicago and North Western Railway

Chicago and North Western Railway

The Chicago and North Western Transportation Company was a Class I railroad in the Midwest United States. It was also known as the North Western. The railroad operated more than of track as of the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states before retrenchment in the late 1970s...

.

The line is dark territory

Dark territory

Dark territory is a term used in the North American railroad industry to describe a section of track not controlled by signals. Train movements in dark territory are controlled by track warrants or train order operation, with train dispatchers issuing orders by radio communication with train...

, meaning that it is not signalled and not equipped with centralized traffic control

Centralized traffic control

Centralized traffic control is a form of railway signalling that originated in North America and centralizes train routing decisions that were previously carried out by local signal operators or the train crews themselves. The system consists of a centralized train dispatcher's office that...

 or automatic block signalling systems. The line is dispatched via radio using track warrant control

Track warrant

Track warrants are systematized permissions used on some railroad lines to authorize a train's use of the main line. Dispatchers issue these permissions to train crews instead of using signals. The crews receive track warrants by radio, phone, or electronic transmission from a...

.

Huron Subdivision connects with Tracy Subdivision

Tracy Subdivision

The Tracy Subdivision or Tracy Sub is a railway line in southern Minnesota owned and operated by the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad subsidiary of Canadian Pacific....

 at Tracy

Tracy, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 2,268 people, 922 households, and 533 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,045.2 people per square mile . There were 1,013 housing units at an average density of 466.8 per square mile...

, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

, as well as Pierre Subdivision and Yale Spur Subdivision at Huron

Huron, South Dakota

Huron is a city in Beadle County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 12,592 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Beadle County. Huron was the home of now-defunct Huron University since 1897. Huron is also the home of the South Dakota State Fair...

, South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

.

History

The Huron Subdivision is a direct descendant of the railroad line featured in the four De Smet

De Smet, South Dakota

-External links:* * * * *...

 novels within the overall series of children's novels written by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder was an American author who wrote the Little House series of books based on her childhood in a pioneer family...

 known as the Little House on the Prairie

Little House on the Prairie

Little House is a series of children's books by Laura Ingalls Wilder that was published originally between 1932 and 1943, with four additional books published posthumously, in 1962, 1971, 1974 and 2006.-History:...

series. The line was built in 1879-1880 and first operated in the 1880's, and the new railroad line's construction and operation are repeatedly described and featured in the novels.

External links

• Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railfan Timetables: Huron Subdivision