Railroad: Soo Line Railroad Company

Duluth South Shore & Atlantic railway + WC+ MStP&SSM → Soo Line Railroad → Wisconsin Central Railroad

Consolidated In 1961 - from the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic, Wisconsin Central (old) and Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie. Named Soo Line Railroad Co.

Operated: 26 Years. (Unofficial name of the MStP&SSM for many years.

Control by Canadian Pacific at incorporation.

Sold: 1987 - Part to Wisconsin Central Limited.

Reference: [MRRC][SSS]

Notes

When the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie was merged with the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic to become the Soo Line in 1961. Even though the MStP&SSM was nicknamed the "Soo Line", the MStP&SSM was actually merged into the DSS&A and then renamed the "Soo Line".

Time Line

1960. March 16. A merger of the Soo Line Railway (MStP&SSM) with the Wisconsin Central and the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic railroad has been approved by directors of all three systems. A vote by the stockholders was set for May 17. If approved, the merger will be submitted to the ICC for its OK. The three railways would be combined into one company to be known as the Soo Line Railroad Company. It would have about 4,800 miles of trackage and assets in excess of $220,000,000. The three lines operate in Illinois, Wisconsin, Upper Michigan, Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana. A majority of its stock will be owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway which now has voted control of all three lines. No reduction in service is planed. [EDP-1960-0316]

1962. May. A new color and design scheme for the Soo Line railroad rolling stock is being put into use. The company's officers believe it will portray the New Soo as a progressive company and will be safer for employees working near moving equipment. Locomotives traditionally painted dark maroon with gold striping and lettering will be light gray and bright red. Freight cars painted traditional "freight car red" will be light gray and will carry a panel of bright color - red, green or blue - which will signify the general type of service for which the car is designed. [EDP-1962-0512]

1962. October. The Soo Line railroad is looking into the possibility of a merger with the Chicago Great Western railway company. If completed it would be the second merger with other firms inside of two years. The CGW offices are in Kansas City, MO. The CDW operates 1,500 miles of line in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. [HPAL-1962-1018] Update: The talks have ended by mutual agreement in November, 1963. [EDP-1963-1113]

1963. The Mackinac Transportation company has asked the ICC for permission to abandon its railroad car ferry service at the Straits because it cannot afford to repair its ferry. John Benson, of the Soo Line railroad which owns the company, said that the Coast Guard has condemned the boiler of the Chief and that repairs would cost more than a half million dollars. "It would take us a long time to recover that much money on our present revenues," said Benson. The Chief is an icebreaker and has maintained daily service across the Straits, serving the Soo Line terminal at St. Ignace and the Pennsylvania and New York Central railroad terminals at Mackinaw City. Benson added that the loss was inevitable with the building of the Mackinaw Bridge. "We have ben hurt real bad by bridge trucking", said Benson. [EDP-1963-1126]

1964. March. The Soo Line presents to an ICC panel to approve an agreement with the LS&I to give the Soo Line the right to operate on the LS&I line from Marquette to Eben. In exchange, the LS&I would receive entry rights on former DSS&A trackage serving the Empire Mine near Palmer. Protesting the agreement were representatives of the C&NW, M&LS, Milwaukee Road, City of Marquette, South Shore employee association, Marquette County, Brotherhood of Maintenance Employees, Order of Railroad Telegraphers, Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the MPSC and the City of Ishpeming.

The Soo Line explained as for joint use of the LS&I's 30-mile track from Marquette to Eben, that it intersects with the Soo's 30-mile Rapid River branch. They noted that a separate application asks for the right to construct connecting tracks. The Marquette-Eben trackage would be used by the Soo Line only as a bridge, complementing its two mainlines across Northern Wisconsin and the upper peninsula.  The new route would take the place of sending Marquette to Chicago traffic via Trout Lake allowing better competition with the C&NW which is more direct.

Soo's Rapid River branch to Eben is adequate to handle the present traffic and they expect to spend initially $20,000 to upgrade the line and $6,500 per year for maintenance. Cross-examiners noted that the M&LS has a north-south route connecting the Soo Line's two main tracks between Shingleton and Manistique, east of the Soo Line's proposed Eben-Rapid River "bridge". They also raised the effect that the approval would have on the North Western's ore haul. Soo representatives said the trackage rights would add 8 additional cars a day over the "bridge" and commodities would not be iron ore but wood products. [EDP-1964-0318]

Robert W. Jenner, President of the Cliffs Dow Chemical Co. testified that his company (on the north edge of Marquette on the lake) is served by the LS&I with switching connection to the Soo Line and they are not satisfied with present rail service. In 1963, Cliffs-Dow shipped more than 900 carloads of freight. Because charcoal briquets, manufactured at their plant, must be shipped at more than twice the rate of production during the period from April to July, fast rail service and the availability of cars are important. "Business is being lost to competitors in major markets because some competitors have faster delivery", he said. Benefits of the proposed trackage rights include at least one-day faster service to Chicago area markets, daily freight service south from Marquette rather than three times a week, and faster availability of inbound empty cars, he said. "Cliffs Dow may retain as much as 25 cars of present business per year that is in danger of loss by giving customers better service and its possible that as much as 50 cars per year of new business may be generated by better service if the Soo Line is granted the trackage rights from Marquette to Eben," he said. It may be possible to switch as much as 25 cars per year from truck to rail, he added.

Testimony noted that in exchange for giving the LS&I and C&NW access to the Empire Mine in Palmer, the Soo asked for and secured from the LS&I the right to operate over the Marquette-Eben line. The Soo noted that with the LS&I serving the plant with its dock in Marquette, the Soo Line is almost precluded from moving pellets from the Empire. The Cleveland-Cliffs company owns 75 percent of the LS&I and is manager and a stockholder in the Empire mine and beneficiation plant. Other stockholders in the Empire Mine are Inland Steel, International Harvester and McClouth steel.

1964. The Soo Line gives retired locomotive No. 730 to the City of Gladstone and it is on permanent display, a reminder of the era before diesel power when the iron horse was steam-powered. [EDP-1964-0409]

1965. October 1. ICC hearing Examiner Hyman J. Blond ruled that the lines could not abandon the service. The railroads vowed to appeal the ruling to the ICC's finance division. [TCRE-1965-1201]

1966. June. A locomotive fireman from Mellen, WI saved the life of a boy trapped on a railroad bridge in the path of a moving train. Alec Turney, 36, a fireman on the Soo Line railroad, snatched 7-year-old Scott Stephenson of Ashland from a bridge in Ashland last January 4th. He left his station on the freight train, ran to the front of the locomotive and held on with one hand while grabbing the boy with a free hand. He pulled young Stephenson from the track and up on the front steps of the locomotive as the train continued across the narrow trestle. He received an award from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen at the union's meeting at Lake Delton, WI. [IDG-1966-0602]

1967. March. The Soo Line is ending its last passenger train on March 24th it was announced today. The service being discontinued is the Winnipegger, between Minneapolis-St. Paul and Winnipeg. It was the last regularly scheduled passenger train on the Soo Line. [IDG-1967-0318]

1967. July. The Soo Line railroad foresees a loss of some $5 million in revenues if the C&NW and the Milwaukee Road merge, without certain safeguards for the Soo's competitive operations. [SJHP-1967-0711]

1967. October. The Soo Line railroad has ordered $18.7 million worth of new rolling stock for next year. Ten 3,000 hp locomotives were ordered from General Electric Co. and 940 freight cars and 10 cabooses were ordered with the business being divided among Thrall Car Corp., Bethlehem Steel Co. and International Car Corp. In addition, the Soo will rent 500 aluminum covered hopper cars to haul grain from Magor Rail Car Division of Fruehauf Corp. [DFP-1967-1005]

1974. The Soo Line has begun installation of a new computer system, which is part of a $25 million program to improve service to shippers. The new data processing equipment will be used to expedite movement of freight cars and improve accounting. Being installed in the Minneapolis offices, the two new machines will be fully operational by December 1. The $2 million computer system is tied directly into a data network which includes outlying terminals over most of the railroad's 4,700 mile system. [IDG-1974-0916]

1984. The Soo Line has submitted a $290 million bid to purchase the 3,100 mile core rail system of the bankrupt Milwaukee Road. Soo Line is the fourth bidder for the track. Grand Trunk Corp., Chicago & North Western Transportation Co. and Chicago Milwaukee Corporation, parent of the Milwaukee Road, already have filed bids. A court hearing on the proposal will be held January 30, 1984. The Soo Line would pay $40 million in cash for the Milwaukee Road's rail assets, valued at$498 million, and would assume most or all of the bankrupt line's outstanding debt of $250 million. [LSJ-1984-0122]

1984. September. The ICC has recommended that a federal judge approve the Soo Line Railroad's $570.6 million bid for the financially troubled Milwaukee Road. The ICC said the four-member commission panel which considered the matter voted unanimously Monday that the Soo Line's bid be accepted over those of three other railroads. In its bid, the Soo Line said it would pay $168.5 million in cash, which would include $148 million for the Milwaukee Road's assets and $20.5 million to reimburse employees for deferred wages. The bid also calls for the Soo Line to take over certain of the Milwaukee Road's liabilities, raising the total value of the bid to an estimated $570.6 million. The ICC said the bids of the GT and the Chicago Milwaukee Corp. were unacceptable. It was unable to agree on whether to recommend the bid of the fourth suitor, the C&NW Transportation Co. The commission's findings now go to a federal court in Chicago that has been overseeing the Milwaukee Road's reorganization since it filed for bankruptcy in December, 1977. [LSF-1984-0911]

1985. February. A federal judge Friday approved the sale of the bankrupt Milwaukee Road to the Soo Line railroad, whose $570 million bid was the lower of the two offers. U.S. District Judge Thomas McMillan said he based his opinion on what is best for the public interest, indicating that sale to the C&NW Transportation Co. - which bid $210 million more - would have reduced competition of many routes. [LSJ-1985-0209]

1987. The Soo Line is considering selling its Lake States Transportation Division, including lines in Wisconsin and Michigan's upper peninsula, and Soo employees may be the buyers. The 800 Soo employees in the division are considering a purchase through an ESOP. [DFP-1987-0114]

1987. Superior, WI Soo Line employees could lose their jobs to out-of-town workers with seniority if the government permits the sale of 2,000 miles of Soo's Wisconsin and upper Michigan track, company and union officials say. "Somewhere down the line, somebody will have to relocate. Men in Ashland will have to come here (Superior) to work. It's very disruptive," said UTU Local 1343 Chairman Larry Burlaga of Superior. Soo has told its Lake Staters Transportation Division employees in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Illinois they may stay with Soo or apply for jobs with Wisconsin Central Ltd., a Chicago firm that has bid $145 million for the division. But there have been no guarantees Soo employees who stay on with the Soo will maintain their current jobs and WC has not guaranteed work for Soo employees. [PNR-1987-1007]

1987. October 11. Wisconsin Central Railway freight trains have begun rolling through Michigan's upper peninsula on nearly 2,000 miles of routes formerly operated by the Soo Line Railroad Company. Service to the region was restored last week, shortly after Chicago-based Wisconsin Central Ltd. purchased the routes from the Soo Line for $122 million. About 400 former Soo Line employees joined WC as a part of the transaction, completed October 11. More jobs will be added as service is expanded and improved over active routes, Marquette trainmaster Clinton Jones said. [SJHP-1987-1020]