Minnesota Northern

Company History: The MNN was launched in 1996 by the RailAmerica shortline group to purchase a bit over 200 miles of former Great Northern and Northern Pacific branches in northwestern Minnesota. They included a trio of lines radiating from Crookston, plus a line from St. Hilaire to Warroad (a town of 1,800 residents with a reputation for turning out world class hockey players including five NHL careers and seven Olympic medals) and a line from Tilden Junction to Red Lake Falls. Portions of these lines would later be abandoned. The deal included trackage rights on BNSF and Canadian Pacific between Crookston and Thief River Falls. In 2001, RailAmerica sold the MNN to KBN Incorporated and Independent Locomotive Service. These two companies also jointly own the St. Croix Valley Railroad and the Dakota Northern. Traffic includes coal, feed, fertilizer, grain, seed and sugar.

Brief History: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.