Minnesota Transfer Railway

The Minnesota Transfer Railway (reporting mark MTFR) was a short line railroad in the United States.

[1] It was owned by nine major railroads serving the Twin Cities:[1] It consisted of a junction from Merriam Park from the Milwaukee road, to the Great Northern Railway, where it ran along until it cut north to cross the Northern Pacific tracks.

[2] The belt line ran 14 miles from the Northern Pacific and Great Northern tracks in Fridley, called Belt Line Junction, to the Minneapolis stock yards in New Brighton.

It served to funnel up to 3,500 cars a day through the St. Paul freight yards as well as originating and delivering up to 400 carloads of freight from industries located on its lines.

Through a series of mergers over the years, by the 1960s it was owned by Great Northern, Northern Pacific, the Burlington Route, the Rock Island, the Milwaukee Road, the Soo Line Railroad, and the Chicago & Northwestern Railway.