The is the
United States arm of the
Canadian Pacific Railway , serving
Chicago, Illinois and the areas to the east and west. Formerly known as '''Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway''' (and commonly known as the '''Soo Line''' after the phonetic pronunciation of Sault), the present name was adopted as a
Trade Name in
1950 . In late
1960 the company was consolidated with several subsidiaries and reorganized under the current name.
In
1985 the Soo Line purchased the
Milwaukee Road and attempted to operate it as a wholly-owned subsidiary, the
Lake States Transportation Division . This plan didn't work out too well for the Soo; most of the LSTD and most of the original
Wisconsin Central Railway was sold in
1987 to the newly formed
Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation .
The Soo Line is a part of the
Canadian Pacific Railway system. As time passes, more and more Soo Line equipment is being repainted into the Canadian Pacific's current paint scheme, slowly erasing the Soo's identity as a subsidiary railroad.
The Soo Line was never a major carrier of passenger traffic since its route between Chicago and Minneapolis was much longer than the competing
Milwaukee Road ,
Chicago And Northwestern and
Chicago, Burlington And Quincy railroads. The Soo Line also had no direct access to Milwaukee.
The primary train operated by the Soo was the Laker which operated from Chicago's Grand Central Station to Minneapolis until it was discontinued in 1966. During the 1920's and 1930's the Soo line operated the Soo-Pacific, a summer only Chicago-Vancouver service with the
Canadian Pacific Railroad
, pulls a train through
Wisconsin Dells, WI ,
June 20 ,
2004 .]]
in Minneapolis served as company headquarters. It is still used by Canadian Pacific.]]
- form the to build a railroad between its two namesake cities to avoid sending shipments through Chicago .
- acquires control of the Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie and Atlantic Railway, consolidating it with the Minneapolis And Pacific Railway , Minneapolis And St. Croix Railway and Aberdeen, Bismarck And North Western Railway to form the .
- , and obtains a 99-year lease of the property in 1909.
- and Duluth, South Shore And Atlantic Railway .
- and renames it Milwaukee Road, Inc.
- January 1 , 1986 : The Milwaukee Road is merged into the Soo Line Railroad.
- to private investors, forming the new Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation .
- , which had owned a controlling interest in the Soo Line Railroad for many years, finishes buying up all remaining stock.
A number of the railroad's rolling stock has been preserved in museums across
America , some in operational condition. Some of the more notable equipment is:
