Soo Line passenger trains remembered

Soo Line passenger trains were simple affairs serving wide swaths of the rural Upper Midwest.

Stevens Point–Chicago local

Pacific 734 with Stevens Point–Chicago local train 2 approaching Colgate, Wis., October 1954.
Jim Scribbins

Laker

Chicago–Duluth Laker stopped at Waukesha, Wis., December 1958.
Jim Scribbins

Duluth–Minneapolis local

GP9 551 with Duluth–Minneapolis local train 63 at Frederic, Wis., July 1956.
Marvin Nielsen

Soo-Dominion

FP7 and F7B with St. Paul–Vancouver Soo-Dominion at Minneapolis (Milwaukee Road station), late 1950s.
William D. Middleton

Laker

FP7 and F7B backing equipment for Chicago–Duluth Laker into B&OCT’s Robey Street Yard, Chicago, February 1952.
Mert Leet

Stevens Point–Chicago local

Pacific 2711 with Stevens Point–Chicago local train 2 approaching Slinger, Wis., May 1954.
Jim Scribbins

Laker

GP9s 557 and 2555 with Chicago–Duluth Laker departing Grand Central Station, Chicago, June 1962.
Bob Krone

Heavyweight coach

Interior of heavyweight coach 2112 on Laker, October 1964.
Jim Scribbins

Minneapolis–Duluth local

Pacific 732 with Minneapolis–Duluth train 62 between Minneapolis and St. Paul, December 1950.
Roger H. Klatt

Duluth–Thief River Falls local

Pacific 2702 with Duluth–Thief River Falls train 65 departing Duluth, September 1954.
Philip R. Hastings

Laker

Two GP9s and F7B with Duluth–Chicago Laker at Forest Park, Ill., August 1958.
George Speir

Duluth–Minneapolis local

GP9 with Duluth–Minneapolis train 63 departing St. Paul Union Depot, June 1958.
William D. Middleton

EMC motor car

Electro-Motive Co. motor car M-1, built June 1925 (to Soo company service, 1942; to Sperry Rail Service 137, 1947).
Classic Trains coll.

Laker

Chicago–Duluth Laker stopped at Waukesha, Wis., December 1958.
Jim Scribbins

Portal–St. Paul local

Pacific 709 with Portal–St. Paul train 12 near Minot, N.Dak., July 1953.
W. H. N. Rossiter

Stevens Point–Chicago local

Pacific 2718 with Stevens Point–Chicago train 2 passing Sussex, Wis. (a flagstop); note extended mail hook.
Classic Trains coll.

Sault Ste. Marie–Minneapolis train

GP9 552 with Sault Ste. Marie–Minneapolis train 7 at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., September 1955.
Jim Scribbins

Minneapolis–Sault Ste. Marie train

Pacific 2713 with Minneapolis–Sault Ste. Marie train 8 near Ensign, Mich., circa 1950.
Mike Runey

Duluth–Minneapolis locals

GP9 551 with Duluth–Minneapolis local train 63 meeting FP7 550 with Minneapolis–Duluth train 62 at Frederic, Wis., July 1956.
Marvin Nielsen

Chicago–Duluth train

Mountain 4018 departing Grand Central Station, Chicago, with Chicago–Duluth train 17, May 1949.
Harold Stirton

While passenger service was not a big part of Soo’s business, the road strived to maintain quality service, and with partner CP, offered Canadian connections. In 1889 MStP&SSM inaugurated the Minneapolis-Sault Ste. Marie Atlantic Limited, among the first trains with vestibule sleeping cars; its last remnant came off in 1960. Soo and CP in 1904 began the overnight Twin Cities-Winnipeg Manitoba Express, which in 1928 was renamed Winnipeger and lasted 39 years. It was the last of “pure” Soo Line passenger trains when it quit in March 1967.

“Pure?” Soo offered “mixed train” service, as seats in cabooses, on a select list of freights until September 1986, ending an era dating to early times in which almost all trains on branches in sparsely populated North Dakota carried passengers. Soo also ran Milwaukee Road’s Copper Country Limited, with Milwaukee equipment, on the train’s northerly 77 miles between Champion and Calumet, Mich., a service begun in 1907 and inherited from DSS&A. The train was discontinued March 8, 1968.

Soo and CP in 1923 inaugurated the summertime Chicago-Vancouver (B.C.) Mountaineer. In the off months, the train was the St. Paul-Moose Jaw, Sask., Soo-Dominion, its cars going on CP’s Dominion to Vancouver. Beginning in 1933, the Mountaineer rode C&NW east of St. Paul, and Soo-Dominion cars went to Chicago on C&NW’s Viking. After being off during World War II, it resumed in 1947, but service east of St. Paul ended in 1950. The Soo-Dominion quit in December 1963, the through service to western Canada going via Winnipeg. The Mountaineer then was part of the Winnipeger, until 1965. Soo was the last road to finish a Twin Cities-Twin Ports line, in 1912, and by the 1920s ran the Duluth-Superior Limited, trains 62 and 63. The route was in a pool with NP and Great Northern, but Soo withdrew first, in 1961.

Any lightweight cars on Soo Line passenger trains (apart from the road’s two 1948 American Car & Foundry baggage cars and one business car) were owned by Pullman, CP, or other roads as Soo stuck with heavyweights. Soo did rebuild some heavyweights for its Chicago-Duluth train, which gained the name Laker on June 3, 1951. It had through cars to St. Paul from Owen, Wis., and from Spencer, Wis., to Ashland. The Laker’s last run was Jan. 16, 1965.