Map of the Soo Line Railroad. Red lines are former SOO trackage operated by CPKC; dark blue lines are former MILW trackage also now operated by CPKC; green lines are former SOO trackage spun off to WC and now part of CN. Grey lines in North Dakota are operated by Short Lines (DMVW and NPR) and dotted light blue lines are abandoned.
SOO 6062, an EMD SD60M, leads a train through Wisconsin
Through trackage rights over the BNSF Railway, the Soo Line also serves Duluth from the Twin Cities.[2]
At the end of 1970, the Soo Line operated 4,693 miles (7,553km) of road on 6,104 miles (9,823km) of track; that year it reported 8,249 million ton-miles of revenue freight and no passengers.
Passenger service was mostly eliminated by the 1961 merger, but several trains remained for a few more years. These were a Saint Paul to Duluth daytime train known only as Trains 62 and 63 (discontinued June 1961),[4] the overnight Chicago to Duluth Laker and its Saint Paul connection (both discontinued January 15, 1965),[5] the Twin Cities to WinnipegWinnipeger (discontinued March 25, 1967),[5] and the Saint Paul to Portal, North DakotaSoo-Dominion that during the summer, ran through to Vancouver via a connection with Canadian Pacific's The Dominion at Moose Jaw. It was discontinued in December 1963,[6] and the western Canada cars were handled on the Winnipeger for two more summers before they too were pulled. The Soo Line's last passenger train was the Copper Country Limited, a joint service with the Milwaukee Road inherited from the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic. This Chicago-Champion-Calumet service was discontinued May 8, 1968.[5] In addition, there were several mixed trains, with additional ones created to enable the discontinuance of the Saint Paul to Portal passenger train. Some mixed train services gained notoriety because passengers were conveyed in one direction only.
In 1984, CP incorporated the Soo Line Corporation in Minnesota as a holding company, exchanging stock in December to give the Soo Line Corporation total control over the railroad. Two months later, on February 19, 1985, the Soo Line purchased the property of the bankruptChicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad and assigned it to a newly created subsidiary, The Milwaukee Road, Inc. This company and the MN&S were both merged into the Soo Line Railroad effective January 1, 1986. To cut costs, the Soo Line created the Lake States Transportation Division (LSTD) on February 10, 1986[7] to operate the less-important lines, including the ex-Wisconsin Central line between Chicago and the Twin Cities. Unable to implement its proposed labor rule changes, the Soo Line sold the approximately 2,000-mile (3,200km) LSTD to a new regional railroad, Wisconsin Central Ltd., in 1987 for $133 million.[8] (The WC folded into the Canadian National Railway in 2001). In 1990, CP gained full control of the Soo Line Corporation, of which it had previously owned about 56% of the common stock.[3] In the 2000s, the Soo line was consolidated into CP. Only a few Soo Line locomotives remain in the old paint scheme; most have been repainted into CP paint or scrapped. Today, the Milwaukee Road and Soo Line's trackage make up the historically logical route of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Named passenger trains
The railroad ran several long distance named trains.
2500, an EMD FP7A, at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in Duluth. Also restored for use on their North Shore Scenic Railroad.
In addition, a number of the railroad's 145 steel cabooses have been preserved.
Rail trails
The Soo Line Trail in Minnesota was created from former pieces of the railroad which has extended down into the Lake Wobegon Trail. The trails are enjoyed by walkers, runners, and bikers in the area, and are prized for how flat they are.
The Copper Country Limited railroad lines in Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula, along with former lines owned by the Copper Range Railroad, have been turned into ATV trails.[11] Some, like the 17-mile-long Jack Stevens Hancock-Calumet Trail, are multi-purpose and are enjoyably used by hikers and bikers year-round.[12]
• The Wolf River State Trail was created on a section of the Soo Line’s Shawano Subdivision. Tracks were removed in 2001 by Wisconsin Central between Shawano and Crandon, and a segment from White Lake to Crandon later became the Wolf River State Trail. It is open to ATV’s, Snowmobiles, Hikers and Horseback Riders.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Soo_Line_Railroad, and is written by contributors.
Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.