The Soo Line Railroad, Ship Soo To And Through The Upper Midwest

The Soo Line Railroad (“Soo” refers to the word "Sault" in the Canadian city of Sault Ste. Marie, is spoken as "Sue"), officially known for much of its life as the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway, was a medium-sized Class I system that stretched throughout the upper Midwest connecting cities such as Chicago and Minneapolis/St. Paul, with points west in North Dakota and southern Canadian (such as Winnipeg and Sault Ste. Marie). Somewhat of northern granger line the railroad was always a smaller line surrounded by those much larger, such as the Milwaukee Road, Burlington, and Great Northern. However, up until its takeover of the floundering Milwaukee Road in 1985, for most of its life the Soo was a well maintained and managed company, earning healthy profits in a territory blanketed with competitors. Perhaps what makes this railroad so interesting is that its system crossed the U.S./Canadian border and along with serving the northern plains of America also served the southern Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba.

Among other reasons, grain is not a highly profitable product to ship and all three railroads soon ran into financial trouble eventually being assisted by the CP, which required them to merge in the summer of 1888, to form the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway, the original Soo Line. After this the Soo was for the most part a successful independent carrier and expanded throughout the rest of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its first major takeover was that of the original Wisconsin Central, which operated between Ashland and West Menasha, Wisconsin in the early 1900s. At its peak, but before the takeover of the Milwaukee Road in 1985, the Soo Line Railroad stretched from Chicago and Sault Ste. Marie in the east to Winnipeg, the Twin Cities, and eastern Montana in the west; a carrier of just over 3,000 miles.

The “new” Soo as we know it today was formed in 1960 from the merger of the original Soo Line (the MStP&SStM); Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railroad (another Canadian Pacific subsidiary); and the Wisconsin Central, forming the Soo Line Railroad. From this time forward until the 1985 purchase of the Milwaukee, the Soo was quite successful, mostly because of its frugal spending by president Leonard Murray, while also working to boost traffic and profits. During Murray’s tenure the railroad also became a lean operation, upgrading its physical plant (such as increasing CTC coverage) and buying new equipment.

Around this time one of the competing Pacific Northwestern lines, the Milwaukee Road, made a bizarre decision to abandon almost all of its [profitable] western main lines and unprofitable Midwestern branches to shrink down to a system of just over a 3,000 miles. While this plan worked to cut the railroad’s expenses it also made the Milwaukee a very sought after merger partner. Bidding again with the C&NW the Soo line this time won approval and took over the Milwaukee in 1985.

Unfortunately for the Soo the Milwaukee came at an extremely high cost and it took even more money to upgrade poorly maintained Milwaukee trackage, which put the Soo in serious debt. In another stroke of bad luck the Milwaukee’s remaining lines turned out to be not as profitable as was hoped and the Soo’s profits sank to only marginal status (also during this time the Soo sold off unprofitable trackage of its former WC system, which ironically became Wisconsin Central Ltd., now part of the Canadian National system).

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For an all-time diesel locomotive roster of the Soo Line please click here. Also, for an excellent listing of EMD-built diesel locomotives, including those owned by the Soo please click here. Lastly, please click here to locate preserved Soo diesel locomotives.

The American Locomotive Company

The Baldwin Locomotive Works

Electro-Motive Division

Fairbanks Morse

General Electric

For a more complete roster of Soo Line steam locomotives please click here (that link also provides steam locomotive roster information for Soo predecessor's Wisconsin Central and Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic). Also, for information regarding surviving Soo steam locomotives please click here.

Notable Soo Line Passenger Trains

Atlantic Limited: Connected Minneapolis to Boston in conjunction with Canadian Pacific and Boston & Maine.

Copper Country Limited: Connected Chicago to Calumet, Michigan in conjunction with the Milwaukee Road.

Duluth-Superior Limited: (Minneapolis - Duluth)

Laker: (Chicago - Minneapolis/Duluth/Ashland)

Mountaineer: Connected St. Paul to Vancouver, British Columbia in conjunction with Canadian Pacific.

Soo Dominion: Connected St. Paul to Vancouver in conjunction with Canadian Pacific.

Winnipeger: Connected St. Paul to Winnipeg, Manitoba in conjunction with Canadian Pacific.

(A deep thanks to the Museum of the Rockies at Montana State University for allowing Ron Nixon's historic collection of the Soo Line to be featured here. Please note that the photos featured on this page feature their corresponding image number so that you may quickly and easily find more information about it from their website. To view Ron Nixon's entire collection please click here.)

Today the Soo Line Railroad is technically still an operating railroad, albeit on paper only as CP has nearly entirely integrated the Soo into its system. For a pictorial history of the Soo during its last three decades of operation consider Soo Line: 1975-1992 Photo Archive from author Frank Jordan. If you have any kind of an interest in the Soo you will likely find the book very enjoyable. If you're interested in perhaps purchasing this book please visit the link below which will take you to ordering information through Amazon.com, the trusted online shopping network.

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