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- The Hinckley Subdivision is a railway line that connects The Twin Cities to the Twin Ports in Minnesota and Wisconsin This line was previously owned by Great Northern before the Burlington Northern Merger in 1970. The line branches north of the Staples Subdivision At Coon Creek Junction in Coon Rapids, Minnesota, and ends where it meets the Lakes Subdivision at Boylston Junction, where the tracks run to Superior, Wisconsin & Duluth, Minnesota (The Twin Ports). The BNSF Railroad Currently owns the tracks, and Union Pacific & Canadian Pacific have Trackage Rights, since it is the only direct route from the Twin Cities to the Twin Ports. CN Also had trackage rights in the past until the Canadian National bought Wisconsin Central Railway. The Hinckley Sub mostly sees Manifest, Grain, Coke & Taconite trains. It also occasionally sees Potash, Coal, Crude Oil, and under very rare circumstances, Autorack trains. There are no intermodal or stack trains on the Hinckley Subdivision due to low-clearance highway underpasses. There are no intermodal facilities on the subdivision either so there is no purpose. As of February 2022, the line sees around 5-8 trains per day, anything else is usually extra. There is a daily local that runs back in fourth between Northtown Yard in Fridley, Minnesota and Hinckley, Minnesota. The local used to interchange sand cars with the Class III short-line St. Croix Valley Railroad until the sand plant on the St Croix Valley RR shut down in 2019. The Hinckley Local Hauls Lumber, Grain, and Oil Tank Cars. It heads up north to Hinckley, Minnesota collecting everything from the various industries along the line between Hinckley and Northtown, brings the cars to the Hinckley Yard for unloading and brings the cars back south to Northtown Yard. There are nine sidings on the Hinckley Subdivisions to allow trains to pass each other. The Sidings are located in Andover, Minnesota, Cambridge, Minnesota, Grasston, Minnesota, Brook Park, Minnesota, Hinckley, Minnesota, Askov, Minnesota, Bruno, Minnesota, Nickerson, MN & Foxboro, Wisconsin. There are many industrial spurs, few of them are used. There are 3 junctions on the Hinckley Sub. The southern-most junction is Coon Creek Junction in Coon Rapids, Minnesota located at Milepost 139.9, the second is the St. Croix Valley Railroad Switch in Hinckley, Minnesota & the Boylston Junction in Boylston, Wisconsin. There used to be another junction in Brook Park, Minnesota which went eleven miles into Mora, Minnesota but the tracks were torn out in the late 1990s due to unsafe track conditions. These tracks were owned by Great Northern Railroad, then were acquired by the St Croix Valley Railroad, who were the last owners of the tracks. There are a few bridges on the subdivision. The highest one is over the Kettle River in Sandstone, Minnesota. The line also crosses the Snake River in Grasston, Minnesota & the Nemadji River south of Boylston, Wisconsin. There are some more small bridges that will not be listed here. Steam Excursions have been hosted on this line. The Milwaukee Road 261 hosted 2 steam excursions in 2013 & 2014. The Union Pacific Big Boy #4014 also hosted a steam excursion in 2019 that ran up the Hinckley Subdivision up to the Union Depot in Duluth, Minnesota. There are no passenger services on the line, the Northern Lights Express is in planning stages but it is not for certain. The train would travel around 60 MPH and have stops in Coon Rapids, Cambridge, Hinckley, Superior & Duluth. (en)
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