Brandon resident Jarrod Johnson purchased a home at 601 S. Main Ave. less than a year ago and voiced frustration because his house is less than 50 feet from the center line of the tracks, and he said his realtor told him the City of Brandon planned to make a bicycle path where the tracks are located, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reported.
Resident Corey Sitzmann, who owns a house in Brandon, reinforced Johnson’s bicycle path claim.
“When we purchased the lot and built the home there, that’s exactly what we were told — just as he was — that Brandon was putting a bike trail through there, that the rail line would be torn out,” Sitzmann said. “I just think it’s really sad that we’ve been lied to for 10 years on this whole deal.”
After a meeting with representatives from Ellis & Eastern and Concrete Materials, Brandon City Administrator Bryan Read updated the city council on plans to repair and use the railroad, the Argus Leader reported. Read said the tracks between Manley and Brandon will be repaired over the next two to three years. When repairs are completed, the Ellis & Eastern plans to store some cars in town, Read said.
One Alderwoman complained about car storage but Alderman Blaine Jones but acknowledged that the railroad existed before the city.
Read said trains that operate from Concrete Materials in Corson, S.D., to Sioux Falls are slated to double from 20 to 30 cars to 40 to 60 with the operation of a new quartzite mine north of Corson that will be opened in the next five to seven years. Production at the current sand mine could increase in the next few years as well.
Before the Minnesota Southern acquisition, Ellis & Eastern operated mainly in the Sioux Falls area. The ex-Chicago & North Western (Omaha Road) lines were purchased by Sweetman in the late 1980s and reopened in 1989. The railroad operates from Brandon through downtown Sioux Falls to Ellis, S.D. It also has trackage rights on BNSF from Sioux Falls to Corson to serve the Concrete Materials plant there.
