Wisconsin Central Diesel Roster (Soo Line Years)
Published: November 1, 2026
By: Adam Burns
These are the diesels built new for the Wisconsin Central while it was still a separate company under the Soo Line lease. The count is 97: Alco 24, Electro-Motive 73. The numbers are the Soo-system numbers, in the 2100s and above. On the flank the locomotives were lettered Soo Line, with small W.C. initials to show which company owned the frame. The same 97 are already inside the Soo Line’s all-time diesel roster of 786. This page is that Wisconsin Central block, set out by itself. Nothing from Wisconsin Central Ltd., the 1987 regional, is added here.
Soo Line GP9 #2556 - sublettered for the Wisconsin Central - is seen here with the nameless overnight local between Chicago and Minneapolis in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 3, 1964. Marty Bernard photo
At a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Railroad | Wisconsin Central, Soo Line years. Company history |
| This table | Built new for the Wisconsin Central. Each frame once |
| Quantity | 97. Alco 24, Electro-Motive 73 |
| First diesel | NW1s 2100–2102, December 1938 |
| Cab units | Three F3A, twenty-six F7A, eight FA-1, two FP7. An A, B, or C suffix is a cab |
| Also on | Soo Line diesel roster, inside the 786 |
Sublettered for the Wisconsin Central
The Soo liked a cab unit that could lead from either end of a pair, and it said so in the numbers. An F3, an F7, or an FA-1 with a B or a C after the road number is still a cab. The letter kept a set together. Wisconsin Central 2200A, 2200B, and 2200C are three F3A cabs of September 1948. The FA-1s 2220A–2223A and 2220B–2223B are eight cabs from the summer of 1949.
The F7A list is longer: 2201A through 2203C, a single 2204C, 2224A–2230A, 2224B–2230B, and 2500B–2501B. That is twenty-six cabs, nine plus one plus seven plus seven plus two, delivered from May 1949 through August 1953. There is no 2204A and no 2204B on the list. The two FP7s, 2500A and 2501A, are the passenger cabs, delivered across December 1954 and May 1957. The units numbered 2500B and 2501B are F7A cabs, a separate pair of frames, not the boosters of those FP7s.
Switchers came first. NW1s 2100–2102 arrived in December 1938, the first diesels on the property. Alco S-2s 2103–2107 followed from August 1942 through November 1946, and a single S-4, 2116, in May 1952. Around them Electro-Motive filled in the end-cab fleet: NW2 2108 in August 1948, SW9s 2111–2115 and 2117–2119 from November 1952 to September 1953, and SW1200s 2120–2127 in January 1955. The number 2116 belongs to the Alco, which is why the SW9 series skips it.
Road switchers matched a railroad of branches as much as a railroad of main lines. Nine RS-1s, 2360–2368, came from March 1950 to March 1952. One RSC-3, 2380, arrived in July 1951 on A1A trucks. The Geeps then carried the road. GP9s 2400–2413 and 2550–2556, twenty-one locomotives, were delivered from December 1954 through May 1957, with a single SD9, 2381, in December 1954. GP9 2556 was used in passenger service. GP9 2411 was one of the chop-nose rebuilds of 1963.
The Date column is the delivery date. Builder numbers and order numbers are blank on the Soo roster this list is taken from, and they stay blank here. The full Soo system, Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie engines included, is on the Soo diesel roster.
American Locomotive
| Model | Road Number | Qty | Date | Builder Number | Order | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S-2 | 2103–2107 | 5 | 8/1942–11/1946 | — | — | |
| FA-1 | 2220A–2223A, 2220B–2223B | 8 | 6/1949–7/1949 | — | — | Cab units |
| RS-1 | 2360–2368 | 9 | 3/1950–3/1952 | — | — | |
| RSC-3 | 2380 | 1 | 7/1951 | — | — | A1A-A1A |
| S-4 | 2116 | 1 | 5/1952 | — | — |
Electro-Motive
| Model | Road Number | Qty | Date | Builder Number | Order | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NW1 | 2100–2102 | 3 | 12/1938 | — | — | |
| NW2 | 2108 | 1 | 8/1948 | — | — | |
| F3A | 2200A, 2200B, 2200C | 3 | 9/1948 | — | — | Three cabs |
| F7A | 2201A/B/C–2203A/B/C, 2204C, 2224A–2230A, 2224B–2230B, 2500B–2501B | 26 | 5/1949–8/1953 | — | — | Cab units. 9 + 1 + 7 + 7 + 2 |
| SW9 | 2111–2115, 2117–2119 | 8 | 11/1952–9/1953 | — | — | 2116 is the S-4 |
| SD9 | 2381 | 1 | 12/1954 | — | — | |
| FP7 | 2500A–2501A | 2 | 12/1954–5/1957 | — | — | Passenger cabs |
| SW1200 | 2120–2127 | 8 | 1/1955 | — | — | |
| GP9 | 2400–2413, 2550–2556 | 21 | 12/1954–5/1957 | — | — | 2411 later chop-nosed. 2556 used in passenger service |
Related Reading
- Wisconsin Central
- Wisconsin Central steam roster
- Wisconsin Central Ltd. diesel roster
- Soo Line diesel roster
- Soo Line
Sources
- Soo Line Historical & Technical Society, Soo Line Railroad Company: Locomotive Roster No. 2, effective 12:01 a.m. Central Standard Time, Sunday, April 10, 1990. Road numbers, models, and dates. The same source used for the Soo Line diesel roster.
- Wallace W. Abbey, The Little Jewel: Soo Line Railroad and the Locomotives That Make It Go.
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