The Ringneck & Western Railroad (reporting mark RWRR), a subsidiary of

Watco Watco Companies, L.L.C. (Watco) is a transportation company based in Pittsburg, Kansas, formed in 1983 by Charles R. Webb. Watco was composed of four divisions: transportation, mechanical, terminal and port services, and compliance. Watco is th ...

, is a railroad that began operations in late May 2021 over of former

Dakota Southern Railway The Dakota Southern Railway is a railroad that until late May 2021 ran between Kadoka, South Dakota, and Mitchell, South Dakota, and which continues to service the approximately of remaining active track of the Napa Junction–Platte Line in ...

track between

Mitchell Mitchell may refer to: People *Mitchell (surname) *Mitchell (given name) Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, a light-industrial estate * Mitchell, New South Wales, a suburb of Bathurst * Mitchell, Northern Territo ...

and

Presho, South Dakota Presho is a small city in Lyman County, South Dakota, Lyman County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 472 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. History Presho was laid out in 1905, and named in honor of J. S. Presho, a cat ...

. The railroad was formed after Watco purchased the 189.7 miles (305.3 km) of track between Mitchell and

Kadoka, South Dakota Kadoka is a city in, and the county seat of, Jackson County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 543 at the 2020 census. The town occupies about 2.3 square miles. History Kadoka got its start in 1906 when the Chicago, Milwaukee, S ...

from the state of

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

in 2021. The line beyond Presho is out of service with the US Hwy 83 expressway crossing having been removed in the early 2000s during the years that the line was used only for car storage beyond Mitchell.

History

The line is part of a former

Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1986. The company experience ...

(CMStP&P) secondary built between

Marquette, Iowa Marquette is a city in Clayton County, Iowa, United States. The population was 429 at the time of the 2020 census, up from 421 in 2000. The city, which is located on the Mississippi River, is named after Jesuit missionary Jacques Marquette, who al ...

and

Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western So ...

between 1880 and 1907. The line lost profitability and was embargoed in 1980 and subsequently purchased by the

South Dakota Department of Transportation The South Dakota Department of Transportation (SDDOT) is a state government organization in charge of maintaining public roadways of the U.S. state of South Dakota. South Dakota has 82,447 miles of highways, roads and streets, as well as 5,905 br ...

, which sold the line to Watco in 2021 for $13,000,000. The Dakota Southern Railway, first under the ownership of brothers Alex and Dick Huff and later Mike Williams and Stan Patterson, from the late 1980s to 2021 onward operated and between 2011 and 2016 rehabilitated the line as far as Presho with Federal TIGER Grants plus state funding. Track beyond Kadoka to Rapid City has been removed.

Traffic

According to Watco traffic consists mainly of grain, fertilizer, and paper products to or from the shuttle loading elevators near Presho, Kennebec,

Kimball Kimball may refer to: People *Kimball (surname) * Kimball (given name) Places Canada * Kimball, Alberta United States * Kellogg, Iowa, formerly known as Kimball * Kimball, Kansas * Kimball, Minnesota * Kimball, Nebraska, a city * Kimball, South ...

and a box factory in Mitchell. Between 10,000 and 12,000 cars are handled annually, primarily shuttle trains interchanging with

BNSF BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

in Mitchell.

References

{{Reflist 2021 establishments in South Dakota Railway companies established in 2021 South Dakota railroads