The D&I Railroad (DAIR) (also nicknamed the Dakota and Iowa Railroad) is a Class III

shortline railroad :''Short Line is also one of the four railroads in the American version of the popular board game Monopoly, named after the Shore Fast Line, an interurban streetcar line.'' A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that opera ...

which is a wholly owned subsidiary of L. G. Everist, Inc. The line hauls

ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a ...

, dried distillers grains (DDG), corn oil, plastic pellets, cement, sand, gravel, and Sioux Quartzite, which is mined from two large quarries in Dell Rapids. The D&I has a

trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may ...

agreement with

BNSF BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

that allows it to travel on three BNSF subdivisions to deliver and sell products, as they must use

’s system to reach their southern half of their trackage. The D&I operates on both former Chicago, Milwakuee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad and Chicago and Northwestern Railroad trackage, which were handed over to the state of

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...

in 1980-1981 after the Milwaukee Road’s bankruptcy and subsequent abandonment of unprofitable lines.

Name

The D&I is sometimes also referred to as the Dakota and Iowa Railroad or the Dale and Irene Railroad. However, the official name is only the D&I Railroad, with the Dakota and Iowa or Dale and Irene being only nicknames.

Trackage

The D&I operates from Dell Rapids, SD to Sioux City, IA via company-owned trackage and via trackage rights with BNSF Railway. The D&I operates company-owned trackage from Dell Rapids to

Sioux Falls Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up t ...

, where it connects with the

Madison Subdivision. Heading south via trackage rights on

’s Madison Subdivision and Canton Subdivision, It connects to trackage from

Canton, South Dakota Canton is a city in and the county seat of Lincoln County, South Dakota, United States. Canton is located 20 minutes south of Sioux Falls in southeastern South Dakota. Canton is nestled in the rolling hills of the Sioux Valley, providing an a ...

Elk Point, South Dakota Elk Point is a city in and county seat of Union County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 2,149 as of the 2020 census. History The British established a Hudson's Bay Company trading post in 1755 near present-day Elk Point. Elk Poi ...

that is owned by the State of South Dakota and operated by D&I. Along this trackage is a siding servicing a

POET A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

biorefinery near Hudson, SD that produces ethanol, DDG, and corn oil. Otherwise, D&I uses this trackage primarily to haul products down to

Sioux City, Iowa Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County ...

via a connection with BNSF's Aberdeen Subdivision in Elk Point. Most of these products are loaded onto barges alongside the Missouri River (typically at or near Big Soo Terminal). At Sioux City, The D&I is able to connect to the BNSF Railway, the Canadian National Railway, and the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

due to a trackage agreement for BNSF's Aberdeen Subdivision. The D&I also operates a former Chicago and Northwestern branch line from

Hawarden, Iowa Hawarden is a city in Sioux County, Iowa, Sioux County, Iowa, United States. The population was 2,700 at the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is located on the Big Sioux River. History Hawarden was platted in 1882. It was na ...

Beresford, South Dakota Beresford (; ) is a city in Lincoln and Union counties in the U.S. state of South Dakota. The population was 2,180 as of the 2020 census. The southern two-thirds is part of the Sioux City, IA- NE-SD Metropolitan Statistical Area, while the no ...

, which is also owned by the State of South Dakota.

Roster

: * Gondola cars (170) * Control Flow Ballast cars (60+) * Pneumatic Open-Top Hopper cars (390+) * Locomotives (18)

References

External links

Official Website

South Dakota railroads {{US-rail-company-stub