 | |
 Map of the Soo Line Railroad. Red lines are former SOO trackage operated by CPKC; dark blue lines are formerMILW trackage also now operated by CPKC; green lines are former SOO trackage spun off toWC and now part ofCN. Grey lines in North Dakota are operated by Short Lines (DMVW andNPR) and dotted light blue lines are abandoned. | |
 SOO 6062, anEMD SD60M, leads a train through Wisconsin. | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Minneapolis,Minnesota[1] |
| Reporting mark | SOO |
| Locale | North Dakota,Wisconsin,Minnesota,Michigan,Illinois |
| Dates of operation | 1961; 64 years ago (1961)– 1990; 35 years ago (1990) (as an independent railroad; to present for CP ownership) |
| Successor | Canadian National Railway,Canadian Pacific Railway (nowCanadian Pacific Kansas City) |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge |
TheSoo Line Railroad (reporting markSOO) is one of the primaryUnited Statesrailroadsubsidiaries for theCPKC Railway (reporting markCPKC), one of six U.S.Class I railroads, controlled through theSoo Line Corporation. Although it is named for theMinneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad (MStP&SSM), which was commonly known as the Soo Line after thephonetic spelling ofSault, it was formed in 1961 by the consolidation of that company with two other CPKC subsidiaries: TheDuluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway, and theWisconsin Central Railway. It is also the successor to other Class I railroads, including theMinneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway (acquired 1982) and theChicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road, acquired at bankruptcy in 1985). On the other hand, a large amount of mileage was spun off in 1987 toWisconsin Central Ltd., now part of theCanadian National Railway. The Soo Line Railroad and theDelaware and Hudson Railway, CPKC's other major subsidiary (before the 2008DM&E acquisition), presentlydo business as theCanadian Pacific Railway (CP). Most equipment has been repainted into the CP scheme, but the U.S.Surface Transportation Board groups all of the company's U.S. subsidiaries under the Soo Line name for reporting purposes.[1] TheMinneapolis headquarters are in theCanadian Pacific Plaza building, having moved from the nearbySoo Line Building.
The company's main line begins atPortal, North Dakota, on theCanada–U.S. border, and extends southeast along former MStP&SSM trackage to the Twin Cities (Minneapolis–Saint Paul). Ex-Milwaukee Road trackage takes the Soo Line from the Twin Cities toChicago viaMilwaukee. Between Chicago andDetroit, where the CPKC-ownedDetroit River Tunnel connects back intoCanada, the Soo Line hastrackage rights over theNorfolk Southern Railway andhaulage rights overCSX Transportation.
Major branches include a connection from the border atNoyes, Minnesota, toGlenwood and, until it was sold to theIndiana Rail Road in 1983, a line from Chicago toLouisville, Kentucky.
Through trackage rights over theBNSF Railway, the Soo Line also servesDuluth from the Twin Cities.[2]
At the end of 1970, the Soo Line operated 4,693 miles (7,553 km) of road on 6,104 miles (9,823 km) of track; that year it reported 8,249 million ton-miles of revenue freight and no passengers.
The present Soo Line Railroad was incorporated inMinnesota on October 19, 1949, as the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railroad, as part of the plan for reorganizing theDuluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway (DSA) and subsidiary Mineral Range Railroad. When CP consolidated several subsidiaries on January 1, 1961, it used this company to merge theMinneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad and theWisconsin Central Railway into, and renamed it to the present name, the Soo Line Railroad. The Soo Line gained control of theMinneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway (MNS), a Twin Cities–areashortline railroad, in June 1982.[3]
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 DuluthLaker and its Saint Paul connection (both discontinued January 15, 1965),[5] the Twin Cities toWinnipegWinnipeger (discontinued March 25, 1967),[5] and the Saint Paul to PortalSoo-Dominion that, during the summer, ran through toVancouver via a connection with Canadian Pacific'sThe Dominion atMoose Jaw. It was discontinued in December 1963,[6] and the western Canada cars were handled on theWinnipeger for two more summers before they too were pulled. The Soo Line's last passenger train was theCopper 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 aholding 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 theLake 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 (3,200 km) LSTD to a newregional railroad,Wisconsin Central Ltd., in 1987 for $133 million.[8] (The WC folded into theCanadian National Railway in 2001). In 1990, CP gained full control of the Soo Line Corporation, of which it had previously owned about 56% of thecommon stock.[3] In the 2000s, the Soo Line was consolidated into CP.
The railroad ran several long distance named trains.
The Presidents of the Soo Line Railroad were:[9]
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Some of the railroad'sdiesel locomotives have been preserved:
In addition, a number of the railroad's 145 steelcabooses have been preserved along with Soo Line 4402 which (as of 2025) has returned to active duty.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
