The Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad is a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Before its purchase, it was the largest Class II railroad in the United States, operating across South Dakota and southern Minnesota in the Northern Plains of the United States. Portions of the railroad also extended into Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois. It interchanged with all seven U.S. Class I railroads. The DM&E began operations on September 5, 1986, over trackage spun off from the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company in South Dakota and Minnesota. The DM&E purchased the assets of I&M Rail Link railroad in 2002, renaming it Iowa, Chicago and Eastern Railroad. DM&E combined its management and dispatching duties with those of ICE under the holding company Cedar American Rail Holdings. The combined system connected Chicago through Iowa to Kansas City, Minneapolis-St. Paul and continued west to Rapid City, South Dakota. Smaller branches extended into Wisconsin, Wyoming and Nebraska. In September 2007 it was announced that Canadian Pacific Railway would acquire the DM&E upon approval by the Surface Transportation Board of the US Department of Transportation. The STB announced its approval of the purchase plan on September 30, 2008. Lines west of Tracy, Minnesota were sold to Genesee & Wyoming in 2014 to form the Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern Railroad. 1986–1996: Startup and initial expansion In 1983, the Chicago and North Western Railway (CNW) announced plans to abandon a section of railroad between Pierre, South Dakota and Rapid City. Due to pressure from customers and Senator Larry Pressler from South Dakota, a deal was reached and announced on April 24, 1986, to purchase divisions of the CNW from Winona, Minnesota, to Rapid City, creating the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad. This deal also included buildings, rolling stock and locomotives, mostly rebuilt EMD SD9s, from the CNW. Many of the negotiations were handled by the office of Senator Larry Pressler and his legal counsel Kevin V. Schieffer. After DM&E's successful first decade, Schieffer succeeded J. C. McIntyre as president of the railroad on November 7, 1996. DM&E began operations on this track on September 5, 1986. The railroad was expanded in 1995 when it acquired additional former CNW branch lines from Rapid City, to Colony, Wyoming, and Crawford, Nebraska. That same year, the CNW ceased to exist after being merged into Union Pacific. From startup to the railroad's ten-year anniversary in