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Soo Line Railroad
Map of the Soo Line Railroad. Red lines are former Soo trackage operated by CP Rail; dark blue lines are former Milwaukee Road trackage now operated by CP Rail; green lines are former Soo trackage spun off to the Wisconsin Central Railway and now part of Canadian National. Dotted light blue lines are abandoned.
Reporting marks	SOO
Locale	North Dakota to Michigan via Chicago
Dates of operation	1883–present
Track gauge	4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge)
Headquarters	Minneapolis, Minnesota

The Soo Line Railroad (AAR reporting marks SOO) is the United States arm of the Canadian Pacific Railway, serving Chicago 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 the pre-1985 Soo Line and selected Milwaukee Road branchlines as a wholly owned subsidiary, the Lake States Transportation Division. Because of lackluster traffic levels and the need to pay off debt resulting from the purchase of the Milwaukee Road, most of the LSTD (including 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 North Western and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad railroads. The Soo Line also had no direct access to Milwaukee.

The primary trains operated by the Soo were:

• The Laker which operated an overnight service from Chicago's Grand Central Station to Duluth-Superior with a portion to Minneapolis-St. Paul. An additional portion served Ashland, Wisconsin until January 1959. The Laker was discontinued completely on January 15, 1965.
• The Winnipeger which operted an overnight Minneapolis-St. Paul to Winnipeg, Manitoba service. It was discontinued in May 1967.
• A Minneapolis-St. Paul to western Canada service. During the 1920s and 1930s the Soo Line operated the Soo-Pacific, a summer only Chicago-Vancouver service with the Canadian Pacific Railway. This later became The Mountaineer, which was then reduced to Minneapolis-St. Paul to Vancouver, before being discontinued in the early 1960s. During the non-summer months, the train ran as the Soo-Dominion from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, where it was combined into Canadian Pacific Railway's Dominion transcontinental passenger train.
• A Minneapolis-St. Paul to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan overnight train. Discontinued March 1959.

Additionally, local trains served Chicago to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Duluth-Superior to Minneapolis St. Paul, Duluth to Thief River Falls, Minnesota, and some summer-only services which relieved The Mountaineer of the local work along its route. The Soo Line's last passenger train was the Copper Country Limited, a joint service with the Milwaukee Road, which the Soo Line inherited when they merged the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway in December 1960. The Chicago-Champion-Calumet train was discontinued May 8, 1968.

Soo Line 6022, an EMD SD60, pulls a train through Wisconsin Dells, WI, June 20, 2004.

The Soo Line Building in Minneapolis served as company headquarters. It is still used by Canadian Pacific.

• September 29, 1883: A consortium of flour mill owners in Minneapolis form the Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie and Atlantic Railway to build a railroad between its two namesake cities to avoid sending shipments through Chicago.
• June 11, 1888: The Canadian Pacific Railway 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 Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway.
• 1908: The Soo Line acquires a majority interest in the Wisconsin Central Railway, and obtains a 99-year lease of the property in 1909.
• December 30, 1960: The Soo Line Railroad is formed through a merger of the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway, Wisconsin Central Railway and Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway.
• June 2, 1982 The Soo Line buys the Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway AAR Mark MNS
• February 21, 1985: The Soo Line Railroad obtains a controlling interest in the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad and renames it Milwaukee Road, Inc.
• January 1, 1986: The Milwaukee Road is merged into the Soo Line Railroad.
• April 4, 1987: The Soo Line Railroad announces the sale of its Lake States Transportation Division to private investors, forming the new Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation.
• 1992: The Canadian Pacific Railway, 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:

• Soo Line 1003 - A restored 2-8-2 built in 1913 by ALCO.
• Soo Line 2719 - A restored 4-6-2 built in 1923 by ALCO. This locomotive hauled the Soo Line's last steam-powered train in revenue service in 1959.^[1]
• Soo 500-A EMD F-7 Ladysmith WI
• Soo 2500-A, Soo 700 Minnesota Transportation Museum - Duluth MN
• Soo 703 Colfax RR Museum Colfax, WI
• Soo 700, GP-30 restored for use on the North Shore Scenic Railroad - Duluth, MN

1. ^  Gilchinski, Steve (February 1997). "Soo Line 2-8-2 back in steam". Trains magazine 57 (2): 24-25. 

• Soo Line Historical and Technical Society
• Soo Line Online
  • Soo Line Online: preserved Soo steam locomotives
• A 100-year Timeline History of The Soo Line Railroad and its Predecessors