Timetable: Soo Line - Main Line - Sault Ste. Marie to Gladstone

This is the Soo Line's subdivision from Gladstone to Sault Ste. Marie. It was single track.

Key: BB=Bascule Bridge | C=Coal | CS=Car Shop | D=Open > Day | DN=Open Day and night | DS=Dispatcher | DT=Double Main Track | EH=Engine house | F=Diesel Fuel | HI=Half Interlocked Crossing | I=Interlocked Crossing | J=Junction | LB=Lift bridge | N=Open at night | P=Passing Track w/40' car capacity | Q=Quarry | RH=Roundhouse # stalls | RT=Railroad Resort | S=Scales | SB=Swing bridge | T=Turntable | TC=Telegraph call | W=Water | X=Crossing | Y=Wye | Yard=Yard

References: [MRL] + Other sources

Notes

Time Line

1887. December. The MStP&SSM road reached Sault Ste. Marie Friday evening. The gap west of Trout Lake is practically completed, except ballasting. Regular train service will begin January 1. [PHTH-1887-1212]

1888. This Soo Line main track through the Upper Peninsula was built and opened in 1888. Originally known as the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie railroad, it became the Soo Line railroad in 1961. The railroad also builds the international bridge over the Sault straits to Canada in 1888. It is called the Sault Ste. Marie Bridge Company and owned jointly by the Canadian Pacific, DSS&A and the MStP&SSM. [MRL]

1895. August 1. Heavy fires are reported between Sault Ste. Marie and Trout Lake. [LDP-1895-0807]

1902. The MStP&SSM, in conjunction with the DSS&A, established the Sault Ste. Marie Depot Company and a Union Depot and track 1/2 mile long.

1929. Free Lime for Schoolcraft County Farms. Through the cooperation of the Union Carbide Company of Sault Ste. Marie and the Soo Line railroad there will be available at Gulliver, Marblehead, Manistique and Cooks, Carbide Lime in any amount you may order without charge. Carbide lime is more concentrated than ground limestone and more quickly available as a soil corrective and as plant food, and has no toxic effect upon the soil. [EDP-1929-0224]

1929. New equipment on passenger trains 7 and 8 through the upper peninsula is the finest ever seen on a combination day-and-night train. The time has been shortened and it is now possible to leave Sault Ste. Marie at 4:30 p.m. and arrive in St. Paul or Chicago the next morning. New rolling stock is second to none. The sleeper cars are of the latest type fabricated by the Angus shops, with electric fans, larger berths and every possible convenience. The day coaches have triple windows, Pullman-style washrooms, towels, drinking cups and smoking compartments.

Combination parlor and dining cars are used between Gladstone and Sault Ste. Marie, utilizing the most modern ideas in kitchen and other equipment. Five complete trains are required for continuous operation. 25 train crews and 25 locomotives. Motor power, coaches, diners and sleepers have cost the railroad $160,000 per train. [UVC-1929-0329]

1939. Soo Line local trains No. 86 and 87 are scheduled to make their last run through Manistique today. Train 87 westbound leaves Manistique at 2:11 EST and train 86, eastbound, leave about 3:50 pm. The trains have been abandoned by the Soo Line railroad effective today. Trains 7 and 8 have been slightly changed in schedule to compensate for the removal of the locals. A hearing on the abandonment is scheduled for Gladstone later in the month. [EDP-1939-0715]

1941. Passenger trains No. 86 and 87, running between Gladstone and Sault Ste. Marie, MI will be resumed August 4th it was announced yesterday by the superintendent of the Gladstone division of the Soo Line railroad, following his return from the main offices of the road at Minneapolis yesterday. According to plans, both trains will be composed of an engine, passenger coach and combination baggage and mail car. The gas car used before the runs were cancelled will not be used again. Train No. 87, westbound, will leave the Soo at 8:20 a.m. and arrive t Gladstone at 1:15 p.m. Train No. 86 eastbound, will leave Gladstone at 2:15 o'clock and arrive at the Soo at 6:55 o'clock. The trains will again handle the mail contract. The runs will be almost identical with those cancelled and connections with the DSS&A at Trout Lake will be made as before.

Trains 86 and 87 were cancelled over a year ago, the railroad contending they were being operated at a great loss. The action was protested locally, public hearings held before the MPSC which after held the railroad's action unjustified and ordered the service resumed. The railroad sued in Ingham circuit court to have the order set aside but it was upheld with the result that the two runs will be made daily except Sunday. [EDP-1941o-0723]

1943. SNAPSHOT. The railroad operated two round trip passenger trains between Sault Ste. Marie west to Gladstone and beyond. These trains left the Sault at 8:31 am (#87) and 3:56 pm (#7) arriving Gladstone at 1:20 pm and 8:20 pm respectively. #7, a limited train, stopped at Rudyard, Trout Lake, Engadine, Manistique, and Gladstone, with no flag stops. #87, a local train, had stops or flag stops at most stations along the route. Coming east, #8 (the limited) left Gladstone at 7:05 am and #86 (the local) at 2:10 pm, arriving at the Sault at 11:33 am and 6:49 pm respectively. The trains had a meet at Trout Lake, as well as meets with way freights at Caffey, Blaney, Cherry Hill, Manistique, Springer, and Rapid River. Two way freights were operated each way, one between Sault yard and Gladstone, and one originating at Trout Lake. This line also had a mixed passenger/freight from Rapid River to Gladstone, from the Rapid River branch. [ETT-1943]

1945. A large business from the Canadian Pacific is being received by the Soo Line railroad. Between 70 and 75 cars per day, six days a week, are being handled for the CPR by the Soo Line at present. The reroute is being made on the Soo Line because of the inability of the CP to handle the volume. The cars are routed from Noys, Canada, to Superior, then to Ladysmith and then eastward to the Soo. "Everyone will be working" Superintendent A.C. Peterson said. [IDG-1945-0123]

1946. September. A hearing is held by the MPSC on the Soo Line's request to again discontinue trains 86 and 87 between Gladstone and the Sault. The railroad claims the runs lose $68,000 annually. Back in 1939 when the trains were first removed, they were ordered back into operation. Then more than a year ago, they were discontinued to conform to an ODT wartime order, and again last spring as there was a miners strike which caused coal shortage. [EDP-1946-0912]

1955. August. One of the steam locomotives which has been "moth-balled" here by the Soo Line was put back into service yesterday hauling Way Freight Trains Nos. 44 and 45 between Gladstone and Sault Ste. Marie. This is the first use made of a steam locomotive since the Gladstone Division was completely dieselized last spring. At that time a number of the steam engines were placed in storage here pending use in emergencies. Need for more locomotives on the west end of the railroad to handle heavy harvests resulted in taking three diesels from the local division. Another steam locomotive may be placed in use switching here and possibly one on the Rapid River branch, but no more will be used than is necessary. The situation will not continue more than a month or two. [EDP-1955-0404]

1960. A man who has clicked off nearly 1.4 million miles between the Sault and Gladstone over the past 31 years has made his last run. The long service ended for Alfred Hart of Gladstone, supervisor in charge of the railway mail car on the Soo Line railroad when the road discontinued passenger trains Nos. 7 and 8 between Minneapolis and the Soo on March 5. The mail service has been succeeded by highway hauling of mail by truck.

Hart had been on the run for 31 years. He noted that a typical run worked 1,800 miles a week and that  he was "standing up all the way". He started on mail cars in the days of Trains 86 and 87 and recalls the days of kerosene lamps, wooden cars and steam engines. It was also the last trip for Matt Dulan of Gladstone, who will receive a new assignment as a relief distributor on the C&NW. [EDP-1960-0308]

1973. The Soo Line is sending nothing across their four gateways into Canada, and getting no Canadian cars due to a strike on Canadian railroads. The way freight between Sault Ste. Marie and Gladstone has been cancelled, leaving only the road train, according to the company. There are normally two trains daily from Sault Ste. Marie - the way freight which picks up and delivers cars at numerous points and the road train which is more or less a through train. The road train now does the work of both. All cars destined into Canada have been stored at various areas to await the end of the strike. Similar schedule changes have been made at border crossings in North Dakota and Minnesota. [EDP-1973-0827]

1977. The Soo Line railroad, once remembered for the famous French toast served on its dining cars, no longer pushes the posh accommodations offered by Amtrak and the airlines. For $9.54, you can purchase a round trip ticket to Gladstone (from Sault Ste. Marie) but you'll have to sit on a bench in the caboose of a freight train and it'll take you 12 hours each way. Who does the railroad sell passenger tickets to? "Mostly to railroad buffs," admitted Soo Line agent Harvey Sodergren, and even they have been few and far between for the past 10 years. 

One reason for the lack of clientele, he admits, is that there "isn't too much room for people to sit." Though the Soo Line no longer offers such proud passenger services as Pullman cars and fancy dining cars, it is one of the most profitable railroad investments on the stock market. But some long-time area residents miss that French toast made from special bread sliced an inch or two thick, halved into triangles marinated in a milk, egg and secret ingredient batter and then fried in butter until it was just right. It was so think, it was served standing upright. Today, on the caboose, the conductor might share a sip of coffee from the stove. [PNR-1977-0207]

1985. The Soo Line will eliminate one of two round trip freight trains between Gladstone and Sault Ste. Marie at the end of next month. The move will result in the elimination of about 25 of 100 jobs at Gladstone. Layoffs would be made on the basis of seniority. No change in service was planned west of Gladstone. The Soo Line reported a net loss of $4.2 million in the second quarter of 1985 compared with net income of $1.6 million last year. [IDG-1985-0727]

1987. The Soo Line was purchased by the Wisconsin Central. It later became the Union Pacific (temporarily) and then Canadian National.