Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway
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| Reporting mark | SOO |
|---|---|
| Locale | North Dakota to Chicago |
| Dates of operation | 1883–1961 |
| Successor | Soo Line Railroad |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Headquarters | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
The Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad (reporting mark SOO) was a Class I railroad subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the Midwest United States. Commonly known 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.
In 1970 it reported 8249 million net ton-miles of revenue freight (and no passengers) on 4693 route-miles and 6104 track-miles operated at the end of the year.
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:
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 Presidents of the Soo Line were:
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:
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