MNN Marsh River Bridge

In 1883, the Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company (StPM&M) built a new railroad a distance of 34 miles between Moorhead, Minnesota and Halstad, Minnesota. The StPM&M was a creation of railroad magnate James J. Hill, and operated considerable trackage throughout Minnesota and North Dakota. The StPM&M was leased to the Great Northern Railway (GN) in 1890, and the StPM&M built an additional 32 miles north to Redland (Crookston), Minnesota in 1896. The StPM&M was formally sold to the Great Northern Railway in 1907, and this route recieved upgrades about the same time.

The Great Northern utilized this route as a secondary mainline, known as the "P Line". This was one of a number of parallel lines throughout the Red River Valley, spaced approximately 12 miles apart. The GN operated two parallel routes 12 miles and 24 miles west, as well as a parallel route 12 miles east. The Northern Pacific Railway (NP) also operated a route 24 miles east of this line. In 1970, the GN merged with NP and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy to form Burlington Northern Railroad (BN). During the 1980s, traffic gradually dwindled, and several of the parallel routes would be abandoned, as BN preferred the former Great Northern mainline parallel to US Route 81/Interstate 29. In 1996, BN would merge with Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway to form BNSF Railway. BNSF sold the Crookston to Perley segment to the Minnesota Northern Railroad (MNN) in 1996. BNSF would abandon the line between Georgetown and Perley in 2006, and the MNN would abandon the segment between Shelly and Perley in 2011. The line was further abandoned in 2018, when the Shelly to Nielsville segment was abandoned. Today, BNSF operates the P Line Subdivision between Moorhead and Georgetown, and MNN continues to operate the line between Crookston and Nielsville.