Sidings Weekly Update #22

16 September 2004

Full Cobden Siding put into service today the 16^th of September!!!!

As of September 16^th we have put 4 of the 6 sidings now planned for 2004 into service, Tracy, Sanborn, Elkton and De Smet, however, we expect that number to increase to 5 after today.

1.) The Cobden siding track work is now over 98% complete.

¨ Track construction that was started on June 28^th is now 100% completed!

¨ The siding will be put into “full” service as a 9600’ siding this afternoon at 1700.

¨ Wes Risseeuw and his tie crew, along with Chad Roob, completed the switch installation and final hook ups on Monday, September 13^th.

¨ Ballasting and final surfacing is being completed this morning by Kent Maxon’s surfacing crew and then the siding will be inspected and put into service.

¨ This will be the longest siding on the entire DM&E

2.) The Tracy siding was put into service on Thursday May 6^th and continues to perform up to the transportation department’s expectations.

¨ The cross-over switches will be assembled in late September and installed later in the year when we have a surfacing crew close to the area.

3.) The Florence siding construction is on schedule for completion by the end of October.

¨ Mathiowetz Construction of Sleepy Eye started on their portion of the dirt work on August 2nd and completed the connection portion in late August. The dirt work on the siding area and the auxiliary interchange track was completed earlier this week.

¨ Material is on order and has started to arrive. It will all be on site by the middle of September. Material distribution and track construction was begun earlier this week on the connection.

¨ The connection and siding are expected to be in service by the end of October.

¨ The first 4 switches were inspected last week in Seattle and the first 2 were delivered to the site earlier this week.

¨ The connection switch to the DM&E main line at MP 247.8 was installed on Monday the 13^th and the “wye” switch on the connection track was assembled in place on Friday the 10^th.

4.) The De Smet Siding extension was put into service on the 20^th of August.

¨ The new siding extension as well as the original track will have final surfacing completed within the next couple weeks.

5.) The Elkton Siding has been extended over 4,000 feet to the east and was put into service on the 28^th of July. This has helped with congestion and will enable the meeting of longer trains. Total length of Elkton siding is now 8200’.

¨ Extension is 100% completed!!!

6.) The Sanborn Siding project involved renewing over ½ the ties in the current siding and elevator tracks and changing the rail as well as adding ballast and surfacing. This removed restrictions that allowed only empty cars and four-axle locomotives to use these tracks. The track was put back into service on June 23^rd!!

¨ Project is 100% completed!!!