From Coon Creek (MP 136.9), which has crossovers as the Staples sub. turns northwest and the ex-GN Duluth line heads away north with a road bridge overhead, the ex-GN Hinckley subdivision, single track, Track Warrant Control, Automatic Block Signals, speed limit 50 mph, line, passes a street alongside to the west, a grade crossing, a road bridge overhead, a spur heading away to industry to the west at MP 134, and trailing back in, three grade crossings, a bridge over a cycle path, a grade crossing, a bridge over a stream and cycle path, the 9,000 ft. east side siding at Andover (MP 131.0), with extra track on the east side, a grade crossing, a dirt track grade crossing, through fields and trees, and then housing development, within the siding, three grade crossings, a dirt road grade crossing, a detector at MP 126.5, a dirt track grade crossing, a grade crossing, a spur from industry to the west trailing in, corn fields, a grade crossing, Intermediate Signals at Cedar (MP 125.2), and a grade crossing.
The line edges just east of due north past the 4,958 ft. east side siding at Bethel (MP 119.0), with two grade crossings, the spur to the Independent Locomotive Service facility on the east side of the line, with extra tracks facing in each direction for that facility, within the siding, a road alongside to the east, turning across one of three grade crossings, a wooded area, two grade crossings, two grade crossings in town, Intermediate Signals in Isanti (MP 113.0), a grade crossing, extra track on the east side, a detector at MP 112.3, a dirt road grade crossing, MP 111, a grade crossing and Intermediate Signals at MP 110.3, an angled road bridge overhead, a road alongside to the west, the 8,800 ft. east side siding at Cambridge (MP 107.4), with a grade crossing in town, extra track on the east side, and another grade crossing, all within the siding.
There is a grade crossing, dual road bridges overhead, the Cambridge Packing Plant on the east side, a grade crossing, a road to the west turning to cross at a grade crossing, a divided highway to the west, narrowing to a single highway, two dirt road grade crossings, Intermediate Signals at MP 101.4, Grandy, two grade crossings, a road bridge overhead, a grade crossing in town, Stanchfield, a road to the west, a grade crossing, a dirt road grade crossing, a grade crossing, SR 107 to the west, two grade crossings in town, extra track to the east at Braham (MP 96.7), a detector at MP 96.3), a dirt road grade crossing, a dirt road to the east, a grade crossing, a dirt road to the east, two dirt road grade crossings, a bridge over a river, the 9,000 ft. east side siding at Grasston (MP 91.3), with a dirt track grade crossing within the siding, a dirt track grade crossing, a dirt road grade crossing, Intermediate Signals at MP 87.4, Henrietta, a dirt road grade crossing, Intermediate Signals at MP 83.8, woods and fields, and a road bridge overhead.
A former Great Northern line latterly run by the St. Croix Valley once trailed in from the west-southwest at Mora Junction (MP 80.5), where the line turns northeast, past a road alongside to the southeast, an angled grade crossing at the south end of the 8,553 ft. southeast side siding at Brook Park (MP 80.1), with a dirt road grade crossing and a dirt track grade crossing (a driveway for a house to the north), within the siding, an angled dirt road grade crossing with an east-west road, an angled dirt road grade crossing with a north-south road, a dirt road grade crossing, and an angled dirt road grade crossing with a north-south road, to the 7,417 ft. east side siding at Hinckley (MP 72.3), where the speed limit is 40 mph (MP 72.3 to MP 72.0).
Today's line turns north-northeast, past a grade crossing at an intersection, including 3rd Street SE, the former NP line from the Twin Cities, now run by the St. Croix Valley, trails in from the south (and once continued across to the north, with a spur still remaining there), a grade crossing in Hinckley with a north-south street, a grade crossing with an east-west street, a bridge over a stream, a dirt road grade crossing, dual road bridges overhead, Intermediate Signals, a detector at MP 66.5, and extra track on the east side and a dirt road grade crossing in Sandstone (MP 63.1), with a grade crossing in town, turning east-northeast past a high bridge over a river, and Intermediate Signals at MP 60.4, and then northeast past a grade crossing with a north-south road.
There is a detector at MP 58.9, the 6,957 ft. east side siding from MP 58 at Askov (MP 57.2), with two grade crossings in town and extra track on the east side, within the siding, a grade crossing at MP 56, a dirt road grade crossing, Intermediate Signals at MP 54.2, a grade crossing, SR 73 to the west, MP 53, a dirt road grade crossing, Intermediate Signals at MP 51.8, a dirt track grade crossing, MP 51, Intermediate Signals at MP 49.6, the 5,690 ft. east side siding at Bruno (MP 48.9), a dirt track grade crossing, a bridge over a river, woods, a dirt road grade crossing, a grade crossing with SR 46, Intermediate Signals, Kerrick, two dirt track grade crossings, a bridge over a river, a dirt road grade crossing, Duquette, a dirt road grade crossing, a detector at MP 39.3, the watershed between the Mississippi and the Great Lakes, a dirt road grade crossing, and a bridge over a stream.
There is a 7,129 ft. siding at Nickerson (MP 36.6), with extra track to the east and a grade crossing within the siding, two dirt road grade crossings, Intermediate Signals, a dirt track grade crossing, a grade crossing, Intermediate Signals, a bridge over a stream far below, a turn curvily east-northeast, a dirt road grade crossing, two dirt track grade crossings, Holyoke, the Minnesota-Wisconsin state line, a dirt road grade crossing with an east-west road, a dirt track grade crossing, the 6,118 ft. east side siding at Foxboro (MP 24.5), with a dirt road grade crossing within the siding, where the speed limit drops to 40 mph, a turn just south of due east, past two north-south dirt road grade crossings and a road alongside to the east/south, and then just east of due north.
The line turns northeast, past Intermediate Signals at MP 20.8, north-northeast where the erstwhile St. Croix & Duluth once trailed in from the south, past a detector at MP 18.8, then east at Dedham (where the ex-GN once continued northeast) to join the former Soo's erstwhile alignment at Black River, turning north-northeast along the former Soo, past an overbridge at MP 15.5, where the speed limit drops to 35 mph, a dirt road grade crossing, Intermediate Signals, a dirt road grade crossing, MP 13, Intermediate Signals, a trestle high above a rive below, and a dirt road grade crossing, and then north past a connector curving west to the former Northern Pacific Lakes sub., a grade crossing, the junction with the Lakes sub., coming from the south-southwest, at Boylston (MP 11.8/12.6), with a road alongside to the east, a dirt road grade crossing, and two yard tracks on the east side, and the signals and junctions with connectors east and west to the CN (former Duluth, Missabe & Northern) at Saunders (MP 10.3), where there is a flyover over the CN, a former GN line turning away east to Ore Dock Yard and the erstwhile Allouez Ore Docks, MP 10, and a northwest quadrant connector from the former DMN.