Minnesota Dakota and Western Railway is a

shortline railroad A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance relative to larger, national railroad networks. The term is used primarily in the United States and Canada. In the former, railroads are ...

operating 4 miles of track between

International Falls International Falls (sometimes referred to as I-Falls) is a city in and the county seat of Koochiching County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 5,802 at the time of the 2020 census. International Falls is located on the Rainy R ...

and Ranier,

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

as well as between International Falls and

Fort Frances Fort Frances is a town in, and the seat of, Rainy River District in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. The population as of the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census was 7,466 Fort Frances is a popular fishing destination. It hosts the annual Fort Frances C ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

via the Fort Frances – International Falls International Bridge, which is jointly owned by MDW and

Abitibi Consolidated Abitibi Consolidated Inc. was a Canadian pulp and paper company based in Montreal, Quebec. Abitibi-Consolidated was formed from the merger of Abitibi-Price Inc. and Stone Consolidated Corp. on May 29, 1997; the Company merged with Bowater in 20 ...

. The railroad served the paper mills in both International Falls and Fort Frances until the Fort Frances mill closed in 2014. The railroad interchanges with

Canadian National The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue an ...

at Ranier. In 2005 the railroad handled 11,841 carloads of wood pulp, pulpwood, chemicals, raw materials and finished paper. The railroad has a fleet of more than 3100 railcars. Originally a subsidiary of

Boise Cascade Boise Cascade Company is an American manufacturer of wood products and wholesale distributor of building materials, headquartered in Boise, Idaho. with sales over $7.9 billion in 2021, it is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under th ...

designed to serve its paper mills, the MDW was created in 1910; the company had been incorporated in 1902 as the International Bridge and Terminal Company . The Canadian company, however, retains that name. In August 2006, Boise Cascade announced that MDW would be sold to

Watco Watco Companies, L.L.C. (Watco) Watco is an American transportation and logistics company based in Pittsburg, Kansas. The company’s core services are freight transportation, material handling and storage, logistics, railcar repair and maintena ...

, a company specializing in shortlines; however, the sale was never closed. In February 2008, Boise Cascade spun off its paper, packaging, newsprint and transportation operations, including MDW, to a new company, Boise Inc.

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20070928171557/http://www.minnesotarailroads.com/MNRRs2005A.pdf {{Minnesota railroads Minnesota railroads Ontario railways Railway companies established in 1910 American companies established in 1910