The Soo Line Railroad is the primary United States railroad subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway, one of seven U.S. Class I railroads, controlled through the Soo Line Corporation. Although it is named for the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad (MStP&SSM), which was commonly known as the Soo Line after the phonetic spelling of Sault, it was formed in 1961 by the consolidation of that company with two other CP subsidiaries, the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railroad and Wisconsin Central Railroad. It is also the successor to other Class I railroads, including the Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway and Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. On the other hand, a large amount of mileage was spun off in 1987 to Wisconsin Central Ltd., now part of the Canadian National Railway. The Soo Line and the Delaware and Hudson Railway, the CP's other major subsidiary, presently do business as the Canadian Pacific Railway, and most equipment has been repainted into the CP's scheme, but the U.S. Surface Transportation Board groups all CP's U.S. subsidiaries under the Soo Line name for reporting purposes. The Minneapolis headquarters are located in the Canadian Pacific Plaza building, having moved from the nearby Soo Line Building.
The E8 was a 2,250-horsepower (1,678 kW), A1A-A1A passenger-train locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division (EMD) of La Grange, Illinois. A total of 450 cab versions, or E8As, were built from August 1949 to January 1954, 447 for the U.S. and 3 for Canada. And 46 E8Bs were built from December 1949 to January 1954, all for the U.S. The 2,250 hp came from two 12 cylinder model 567B engines, each driving a generator to power the two traction motors on one truck. The E8 was the ninth model in the line of passenger diesels of similar design known as EMD E-units. Starting in September 1953, a total of 21 E8As were built which used either the 567BC or 567C engines.
Electro-Motive Corporation produced five 1800 hp B-B experimental passenger train-hauling Diesel locomotives in 1935; two company-owned demonstrators, #511 and #512, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's #50, and two units for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, Diesel Locomotive #1. The twin engine power unit layout and multiple unit control systems developed with the B-B locomotives were soon adopted for other locomotives such as the Burlington Route's Zephyr locomotives built by the Budd Company in 1936 and EMC's own EMD E-units introduced in 1937. The B-B locomotives worked as proof-of-concept demonstrators for Diesel power with the service loads of full size trains, breaking out of its niche powering the smaller custom Streamliners.
The EMD F7 is a 1,500 horsepower (1,100 kW) Diesel-electric locomotive produced between February 1949 and December 1953 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors (EMD) and General Motors Diesel (GMD).
The EMD FL9 is a dual-power electro-diesel locomotive, capable of diesel-electric operation and as an electric locomotive powered from a third rail. Sixty units were built between October 1956 and November 1960 by General Motors Electro-Motive Division for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.
An SD40T-2 is a 6-axle road switcher diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division having a 16-cylinder EMD 645E3 diesel engine producing 3,000 horsepower (2,240 kW). 312 SD40T-2s were built for North American railroads between April 1974 and July 1980. This locomotive and the SD45T-2 are popularly called tunnel motors, but EMD's term is SD40-2s with "cooling system modifications" because they were designed for better engine cooling in mountainous areas. The difference between this locomotive and its non-tunnel motor cousin, the SD40-2, are the radiator intakes and radiator fan grills located at the rear of the locomotive.
The ALCO RS-1 was a 4-axle road switcher diesel-electric locomotive built by Alco-GE between 1941 and 1953 and the American Locomotive Company from 1953 to 1960. The Montreal Locomotive Works built three RS-1s in 1954. This model has the distinction of having the longest production run of any diesel locomotive for the North American market. The RS-1 was in production for 19 years from the first unit Rock Island #748 in March 1941 to the last unit National of Mexico #5663 in March 1960.
The Finger Lakes Railway is a Class III railroad in the Finger Lakes region of New York.
Soo Line 2719 is a restored 4-6-2 steam locomotive originally operated by the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway. The 2719 was used to haul the Soo Line's last steam-powered train, a June 21, 1959, round-trip excursion between Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Ladysmith, Wisconsin. It was then displayed in Eau Claire, Wisconsin until 1996. It was restored and operated excursions from 1998 until 2013 when its boiler certificate expired. In 2015 it was sold to the Lake Superior Railroad Museum, where it is displayed.
The ALCO S2 and S4 were 1,000 horsepower (746 kW) diesel electric switchers produced by ALCO and Canadian licensee Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW). The two locomotives differed only in trucks, with the S-2 using ALCO "Blunt" trucks, and the S-4 using AAR type A switcher trucks. Both were powered by ALCO 539 turbocharged, 6-cylinder diesels. The S-2 was built between August 1940 and June 1950, with a total of 1502 completed, while the S-4 was constructed between June 1949 and August 1957 with total sales of 797. Canadian production of the S-4 started more than a year before U S production of the S-4. ALCO did not start building the S-4 until August 1950. A modified version, the S-7, was built by MLW only; 29 were built between June and August 1957.
The Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad is a heritage railroad based in Romney, West Virginia.
The Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad was a Class I railroad subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the Midwest United States. Commonly known since its opening in 1884 as the Soo Line after the phonetic spelling of Sault, it was merged with several other major CP subsidiaries on January 1, 1961, to form the Soo Line Railroad. 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 Escanaba and Lake Superior Railroad is a privately held shortline railroad that operates 347 miles (558 km) of track in Northeastern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Its main line runs 208 miles (335 km) from Rockland, Michigan, to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and it also owns various branch lines and out of service track.
The Cliffs Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated from Hoyt Lakes to Taconite Harbor, Minnesota. The railroad opened in 1956 by Erie Mining Company to transport taconite from Hoyt Lakes to Taconite Harbor. In 1989, LTV Steel purchased Erie Mining and the railroad was renamed LTV Mining Railroad. The railroad closed in early 2001 when the LTV company ended the operations of the harbor. In 2002 Cleveland Cliffs bought the plant, and again renamed the railroad The Cliffs Erie Railroad. In 2004 Cliffs Erie hired a contractor to claim leftover chips and pellets from the mine due to the high iron prices. They used the only unsold locomotives, EMD F9s. The cleanup trains ran until 2008 when the last train ran. In 2014, the F9s were sold off. The railroad is now sitting, unlikely to ever see activity again.
Duluth & Northeastern 28 is a restored 2-8-0 (consolidation) locomotive built in 1906 by the Pittsburgh Works of American Locomotive Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was restored to operating condition by the Lake Superior Railroad Museum from 2011-2017, it now operates in excursion service on the North Shore Scenic Railroad.
Soo Line 700 is a restored EMD GP30 diesel locomotive originally owned by the Soo Line Railroad. It was built in 1963 as a part of the "second generation" diesel power that replaced older locomotives.
Northern Pacific 3617 is a restored SD45 diesel locomotive originally owned by the Northern Pacific. It was built in 1967 as a replacement to older locomotives that were "trade-ins" for new units in the 1960s. NP 3617 now is a display piece and is in restoration for operation at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum.
Great Northern 400, nicknamed Hustle Muscle, is a restored SD45 diesel locomotive originally owned by the Great Northern (GN). It was built in 1966 as the first production SD45 by Electro-Motive Division.
