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Welcome! My name is Mike Bargmann and this website is my attempt at providing an up-to-date source of information for my local shortline, the TC&W. Details on operations, locomotives, news and photos can be found here.
The TC&W (AAR TCWR) operates over 229-miles of track and is classified as a shortline (Class III) railroad. Operating as far east as St. Paul, Minnesota and as far west as Milbank, South Dakota, the TC&W is the largest shortline in Minnesota. While agricultural harvest products (corn, wheat, beans, grains, barely, etc.) are the primary product hauled, large amounts of ethanol, DDGs, coal, sugar, fertilizer, canned foods, limestone and
other products are shipped as well. Annual carloads on TC&W average between 18 and 20,000 plus another 6,000 on sister railroad Minnesota Prairie Line (AAR MPLI). Monday-Friday 5-7 trains run a day throughout the system plus 1-2 on MPL. On Saturday three regular trains run between St. Paul and Ruebel. Sunday operations are rare but do happen when traffic is high.
The TC&W boasts one of the most unique locomotive fleets of any shortline. As of 2010, a total of 13 locomotives are being used on the TC&W system including power for MPLI, a wholly owned subsidiary. A total of nine engines have been repowered with Caterpillar prime movers (four GP20Cs, three GP30Cs and two GP15Cs) while four are EMD powered (one GP10, two GP39-2s and one SW1200) plus one slug in a CF7 body. Two out of service ex-NS slugs and another CF7 slug are also stored at the railroads headquarters in Glencoe, MN.
In a very rare "reverse" move, the Glencoe Turn ran light power from Glencoe to Hopkins to
pick up the train from St. Paul and
bring it to Glencoe. Headed west at
Tower E-14 through the fast growing tree's, the train is about to pass under Co. Road 62.
The C&NW once crossed the MILW here but it's now just the eastern end of TC&W owned track. June 20, 2009 - Minnetonka, MN
Now in it's third and hopefully last reincarnation, this website is once again online. Some areas on this site have been put together rather crudely but bare with me as try to get the kinks smoothed out. The previous host forced banner ads onto each webpage and I have no desire in increasing the amount of advertising on the internet
so I pulled the website. Barring any similar host issues, I plan to leave this website online as long as the host will let me.
It can very time consuming and difficult to gather current information on a shortline and the purpose of this website is to drastically reduce that amount of time. My goal is to make this a comprehensive resource
but it will not cover things as closely as the previous two versions have. Operational and locomotive roster changes will be kept current, but news will be kept to major stories only and photos will be added sparsely except for news photos.
If you have any questions, corrections, comments (good or bad), don't hesitate to e-mail me.
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