History As Chicago and North Western Railway
The dominant railroad in southern Minnesota was the Chicago and North Western, and by 1875 had all of its mainlines complete in Minnesota. For the next 35 years, it would develop its branch lines, especially in Southwestern Minnesota. Like all other major railroads, the CNW overbuilt; meaning every town in extreme Southwest Minnesota had a railroad by 1900. Many of these branch lines had a temporary boom of business but soon were operating at a loss. The main business was based on agriculture products and the railroads were often a victim of poor crop years, which was often.
The mainline in Worthington runs from St. Paul to Sioux City Iowa. It was built by the CNW but was called The St. Paul & Sioux City R.R. Being the mainline, it had control of all railroads shipping west into Dakota Territory.
In 1876, the Southern Minnesota Railroad planned to build a Mainline along the Minnesota and Iowa border from Wisconsin to Dakota Territory, running through Worthington, Minnesota and ending in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The St. Paul & Sioux City Railroad did not want a competing railroad in this area and began surveying and laying rail out of Worthington to the west. Their goal was to reach Luverne, Minnesota in the same year. The name of this line was the Worthington & Sioux Falls RR later changed to the Worthington & Dakota Railroad. The first name was so that the Southern Minnesota Railroad knew exactly where the new line was running to try and discourage them from building their own. The Worthington & Dakota Railroad began laying track in July 1876 and in mid-August had reached Adrian and started running trains immediately.
The first train to Luverne was on October 2, 1876, but since the Rock River Bridge was not yet complete, the train had to stop 1/2 mile from town. Passengers had to either walk to town or take the stagecoach. A few weeks later, the bridge was complete and rails were laid into Luverne. The Southern Minnesota Railroad gave up on its plan to build the mainline due to the swift progress of the Worthington & Dakota. The rail from Luverne to Sioux Falls was then completed in the spring Of 1878.
The building of the railroad to Luverne brought a flood of immigrants to the area and the railroad had to run extra trains to handle all the passengers. With this increased service to the area, the construction crews returned in 1880 and built a branch line to Doon, Iowa. It was the only railroad in the area until a few years later when the Great Northern built a branch line in the area. The Doon line was abandoned in 1933.
The rail size here was 45 pound; today, it ranges from 80 to 135 pound. In 1901, a turntable was built here for turning locomotives. It was removed in 1964 when the diesels replaced the steam engines.
In 1913, the present passenger depot was built in Luverne along with a freight depot. The freight depot was removed in 1991. About 1986 or 1987, Chicago NorthWestern (CNW) closed down a rail line that ran from Agate Junction, just west of Worthington, MN, to Sioux Falls, SD.
Read more about this topic: Minnesota Southern Railway
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