I’ve heard that Soo Line was the merger of Wisconsin Central, Duluth South Shore & Atlantic, Minneapolis St. Paul & Sault Ste Marie which is Soo (??) and the Chicago Great Western who CNW absorbed. Can somebody tell me the truth and where Soo really did come from? I’d appreciate it. Thanks
Richard
I can’t say exactly where they started, but they took over what was left of Milwaukee road and nowadays have all but vanished as part of CP. They also spun off a bunch of seemingly unprofitable lines which Wisconsin Central turned into a formidable railroad, before they too were taken over and merged out of existence.
The WC went bankrup in the 30’s (or maybe early 60’s) and then the “new SOO was born”. Then in 1982 the SOO line bought the MN&S, in 85’ MILW Road, and in 1986 started the “Lake States” , a shortline that used old SOO power. Then Mr. Burkhardt was going to form the WCL, and bought the Lake States. Thats how it happend, and in 1993 the SOO was officially part of the Canadian Pacific.
Alec
The SOO LINE RR was born on Dec 30 1960. It was the merger of the Wisconsin Central RR Co., the Duluth South Shore & Atlantic RR Co. and the Minneapolis St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie RR Co… The Railroad got it’s name from the MStP&SStM as the word “Sault” is pronouced “SOO”.
The SOO Line and the Chicago Great Western did look into merging in 1962-63, but it appears that the Chicago & North Western made the CGW a better deal.
If you want to learn more about the formation of the SOO LINE RR read Wallace Abbey’s book “The Little Jewel”.
Dan
CP had a 56% interest in SOO, who in turn had a majority interest in the old Wisconsin Central, which was operated as part of SOO, not unlike CNO&TP and AGS as part of Southern. I believe that CP also had an interest in DSS&A, so the 1960 merger was more of a corporate tidying up than anything else.
What makes this all interesting is that the new Wisconsin Central, after operating trackage that was part of the CP family, is now part of CN.