Editing Soo Line Railroad (section)

== History  ==
[[File:EMD SD60 SOO 6022.jpg|thumb| Soo Line 6022, an [[EMD SD60]], pulls a train through [[Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin|Wisconsin Dells]] on June 20, 2004.|alt=]]
The present Soo Line Railroad was incorporated in [[Minnesota]] on October 19, 1949, as the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railroad, as part of the plan for reorganizing the [[Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway]] (DSA) and subsidiary Mineral Range Railroad. When CP consolidated several subsidiaries on January 1, 1961, it used this company to merge the [[Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad]] and the [[Wisconsin Central Railway (1897–1954)|Wisconsin Central Railway]] into, and renamed it to the present name, the Soo Line Railroad. The Soo Line gained control of the [[Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway]] (MNS), a Twin Cities–area [[shortline railroad]], in June 1982.<ref name=Moodys>[[Moody's Transportation Manual]], 1992, pp. 221, 223</ref>

Passenger service was mostly eliminated by the 1961 merger, but several trains remained for a few more years. These were a Saint Paul to Duluth daytime train known only as Trains 62 and 63 (discontinued June 1961),<ref name=Abbey-097>{{harvnb|Abbey|1984|p=97}}</ref> the overnight Chicago to Duluth ''Laker'' and its Saint Paul connection (both discontinued January 15, 1965),<ref name=Dorin-097>{{harvnb|Dorin|1979|p=97}}</ref> the Twin Cities to [[Winnipeg]] ''[[Winnipeger]]'' (discontinued March 25, 1967),<ref name=Dorin-097 /> and the Saint Paul to Portal ''Soo-Dominion'' that, during the summer, ran through to [[Vancouver]] via a connection with Canadian Pacific's ''[[The Dominion (train)|The Dominion]]'' at [[Moose Jaw]]. It was discontinued in December 1963,<ref name=Abbey-099>{{harvnb|Abbey|1984|p=99}}</ref> and the western Canada cars were handled on the ''Winnipeger'' for two more summers before they too were pulled. The Soo Line's last passenger train was the ''[[Copper Country Limited]]'', a joint service with the Milwaukee Road inherited from the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic. This Chicago-[[Champion, Michigan|Champion]]-[[Calumet, Michigan|Calumet]] service was discontinued May 8, 1968.<ref name=Dorin-097 /> In addition, there were several mixed trains, with additional ones created to enable the discontinuance of the Saint Paul to Portal passenger train. Some mixed train services gained notoriety because passengers were conveyed in one direction only.
[[File:Soo Line boxcar.jpg|thumbnail|left|A Soo Line [[boxcar]] in 2010|alt=]]
In 1984, CP incorporated the Soo Line Corporation in Minnesota as a [[holding company]], exchanging stock in December to give the Soo Line Corporation total control over the railroad. Two months later, on February 19, 1985, the Soo Line purchased the property of the bankrupt [[Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad]] and assigned it to a newly created subsidiary, The Milwaukee Road, Inc. This company and the MN&S were both merged into the Soo Line Railroad effective January 1, 1986. To cut costs, the Soo Line created the [[Lake States Transportation Division]] (LSTD) on February 10, 1986<ref>''[[Modern Railroads]]'', February 15, 1988, p. 37</ref> to operate the less-important lines, including the ex-Wisconsin Central line between Chicago and the Twin Cities. Unable to implement its proposed labor rule changes, the Soo Line sold the approximately {{convert|2000|mi|km|adj=on}} LSTD to a new [[regional railroad]], [[Wisconsin Central Ltd.]], in 1987<!--Moody's Soo Line Railroad entry says April; Soo Line Corp entry says October 11--> for $133 million.<ref>Steve Glischinski, Regional Railroads of the Midwest, Voyageur Press, 2007, p. 137</ref> (The WC folded into the [[Canadian National Railway]] in 2001). In 1990, CP gained full control of the Soo Line Corporation, of which it had previously owned about 56% of the [[common stock]].<ref name=Moodys/> In the 2000s, the Soo line was consolidated into CP.