Waseca Subdivision

[ ] Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad Waseca Subdivision

east to Union Pacific Railroad Winona Subdivsion 0.0 Tower CKCanadian Pacific River Subdivision 1.5 Goodview, Minnesota 3.1 Minnesota City JunctionCP River Subdivision 4.6 Minnesota City 11.3 18.4 Lewiston 22.7 Utica 28.3 St. Charles 32.2 Dover 36.9 Eyota 37.9 Plainview spur 42.7 Haverhill (Chester) 49.2 Rochester south spur, formerly CGW to Spring Valley and Iowa north spur, formerly to Red Wing Olmsted 58.7 Byron 64.2 Kasson 68.3 Dodge Center 76.4 Claremont 87.6 IC&E/Canadian Pacific Owatonna Subdivision north to Faribault (Comus), south to Mason City, Iowa 88.1 Owatonna Union Pacific Railroad Albert Lea Subdivision 96.3 Meriden 102.5 Waseca south to Hartland Subdivision west to Tracy Subdivision

The Waseca Subdivision or Waseca Sub is a railway line in southern Minnesota owned and operated by the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad (DM&E) subsidiary of Canadian Pacific. It stretches roughly 103 miles (166 km) from Winona, Minnesota in the east to Waseca in the west where the rails continue as the Tracy Subdivision. There's also a connection south to the Hartland Subdivision. U.S. Highway 14 closely follows the railroad line.

Most of the line is dark territory, meaning that it is not signalled and not equipped with centralized traffic control or automatic block signalling systems. The line is dispatched via radio using track warrant control. However, short stretches of track in and near Winona are under control of signaling systems of the Union Pacific Railroad and Canadian Pacific.

The line was originally planned in the 1850s when Minnesota was still Minnesota Territory, though it took the formation and collapse of a handful of different railroad companies before it was completely built. The first was the Transit Railroad Company, which formed in 1854 and included figures such as Henry Hastings Sibley and Alexander Ramsey who soon went on to become the first and second governors of Minnesota, respectively (though Ramsey had already been an appointed governor of Minnesota Territory). However, construction didn't begin until a groundbreaking on June 9, 1858 in Winona. A contract had been awarded the previous day to DeGraff & Co., headed by Colonel Andrew DeGraff (only two weeks after Henry Sibley entered office as governor). The company was able to grade 50 miles of right-of-way and build bridges along the route, but was hit by the 1858–1859 financial crisis. Work stalled and the property eventually went into foreclosure.

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