The Red River Valley and Western Railroad (reporting mark RRVW) is a regional railroad operating in the US states of North Dakota and Minnesota, which began operations in 1987. Its 648 miles (1,043 km) of track originally acquired from the Burlington Northern Railroad included:
- Wahpeton, North Dakota to Oakes, North Dakota
- Breckenridge, Minnesota to Brushvale, Minnesota
- Wahpeton, North Dakota to Casselton, North Dakota
- Chaffee Junction, North Dakota to Chaffee, North Dakota
- Casselton, North Dakota to Marion, North Dakota
- Oakes, North Dakota to Jamestown, North Dakota
- Horace, North Dakota to Independence, North Dakota
- La Moure, North Dakota to Edgeley, North Dakota
- Jamestown, North Dakota to Minnewaukan, North Dakota
- Pingree, North Dakota to Regan, North Dakota
- Carrington, North Dakota to Turtle Lake, North Dakota
- Oberon, North Dakota to Esmond, North Dakota
Shortly after operations began, the Red River Valley and Western Railroad acquired a 19-mile (31 km) rail line between Oakes, North Dakota and Hecla, South Dakota from the Dakota, Minnesota, and Eastern Railroad. 18 miles (29 km) of this rail line, beginning just south of Oakes, North Dakota, however, would be abandoned on September 7, 2001.
Currently, the Red River Valley and Western Railroad owns and operates 490 miles (790 km) of trackage which includes:
- Breckenridge, Minnesota to Brushvale, Minnesota
- Wahpeton, North Dakota to Oakes, North Dakota
- Wahpeton, North Dakota to Casselton, North Dakota
- Chaffee Junction, North Dakota to Chaffee, North Dakota
- Oakes, North Dakota to Jamestown, North Dakota
- Horace, North Dakota to Independence, North Dakota
- La Moure, North Dakota to Edgeley, North Dakota
- Jamestown, North Dakota to Maddock, North Dakota
- Pingree, North Dakota to Woodworth, North Dakota
- Additional trackage rights on the BNSF Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railway from Ransom Junction, North Dakota to Lucca, North Dakota, from Casselton, North Dakota to Jamestown, North Dakota, and from Breckenridge, Minnesota to Geneseo Junction, North Dakota
The Red River Valley and Western Railroad is affiliated with the Twin Cities and Western Railroad and the Minnesota Prairie Line. Andrew Thompson is the chief executive officer of all three railroads.
Famous quotes containing the words red, river, valley, western and/or railroad:
“Red lips are not so red As the stained stones kissed by the English dead.”
—Wilfred Owen (1893–1918)
“If a walker is indeed an individualist there is nowhere he can’t go at dawn and not many places he can’t go at noon. But just as it demeans life to live alongside a great river you can no longer swim in or drink from, to be crowded into safer areas and hours takes much of the gloss off walking—one sport you shouldn’t have to reserve a time and a court for.”
—Edward Hoagland (b. 1932)
“Ah! I have penetrated to those meadows on the morning of many a first spring day, jumping from hummock to hummock, from willow root to willow root, when the wild river valley and the woods were bathed in so pure and bright a light as would have waked the dead, if they had been slumbering in their graves, as some suppose. There needs no stronger proof of immortality. All things must live in such a light. O Death, where was thy sting? O Grave, where was thy victory, then?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I wouldn’t say when you’ve seen one Western you’ve seen the lot; but when you’ve seen the lot you get the feeling you’ve seen one.”
—Katharine Whitehorn (b. 1926)
“... no other railroad station in the world manages so mysteriously to cloak with compassion the anguish of departure and the dubious ecstasies of return and arrival. Any waiting room in the world is filled with all this, and I have sat in many of them and accepted it, and I know from deliberate acquaintance that the whole human experience is more bearable at the Gare de Lyon in Paris than anywhere else.”
—M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)