Wisconsin Central Ltd. is a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

subsidiary of

Canadian National The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue an ...

. At one time, its parent Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation owned or operated railroads in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

(

Algoma Central Railway The Algoma Central Railway is a railway in Northern Ontario, Canada, that operates between Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Sault Ste. Marie and Hearst, Ontario, Hearst. It used to have a branch line to Wawa, Ontario, Wawa. The area served by th ...

), the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

( English Welsh & Scottish),

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

(

Tranz Rail Tranz Rail, formally Tranz Rail Holdings Limited (New Zealand Rail Limited until 1995), was the main Rail transport in New Zealand, rail operator in New Zealand from 1991 until it was purchased by Toll Holdings in 2003. History The New Zealand ...

), and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

(

Australian Transport Network Australian Transport Network (ATN) was a freight railway operator in Australia that commenced operating in November 1997. The company operated narrow gauge trains in Tasmania and standard gauge trains in New South Wales and Victoria. It was fo ...

Overview

Wisconsin Central Ltd. (WC) started in US in the mid-1980s using most of the original Wisconsin Central Railway's rights of way and some former

Milwaukee Road The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), better known as the Milwaukee Road , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States, Midwest and Pacific Northwest, Northwest of the United States from 1847 ...

rights of way after the

Soo Line Railroad The Soo Line Railroad is one of the primary United States railroad subsidiaries for the CPKC Railway , one of six U.S. Class I railroads, controlled through the Soo Line Corporation. Although it is named for the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Saul ...

acquired the Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Minnesota holdings of the bankrupt Milwaukee Road and divested its older railway trackage in Wisconsin. In 1993 the Wisconsin Central also acquired the

Green Bay and Western The Green Bay and Western Railroad served central Wisconsin for almost 100 years before it was absorbed into the Wisconsin Central in 1993. For much of its history the railroad was also known as the Green Bay Route. At the end of 1970 it opera ...

Railroad and the

Fox River Valley Railroad The Fox River Valley Railroad was a short-lived railroad in eastern Wisconsin, US from 1988 to 1993 with about 214 miles of track, all of which was former Chicago and North Western Railway trackage. The line ran from Green Bay, Wisconsin, to th ...

. In 1995, Wisconsin Central acquired the Canadian

whose tracks ran north of Sault Saint Marie to Hearst, Ontario. The Algoma Central runs a popular tourist passenger train through the

Agawa Canyon The Agawa Canyon is a shallow canyon located deep in the sparsely populated Algoma District in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It was created 1.2 billion years ago by faulting along the Canadian Shield and then enlarged by the erosive action of the ...

and Agawa Canyon Wilderness Park near Lake Superior Provincial Park. In 1996, Chicago commuter rail agency

Metra Metra is the primary commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 243 train station, stati ...

inaugurated service on the WC's

Waukesha Subdivision The Waukesha Subdivision or Waukesha Sub is a railway line owned and operated by the Canadian National Railway. It meets the Neenah Subdivision to the north in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and runs south to Chicago, Illinois. History Construction of ...

as the

North Central Service The North Central Service (NCS) is a Metra commuter rail line running from Union Station (Chicago), Union Station in downtown Chicago through northwestern and far northern suburbs to Antioch, Illinois, Antioch, Illinois. In December 2022, the pub ...

. In 2001, the Wisconsin Central was purchased by

. Along with the former

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the Central United States. Its primary routes connected Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, and thus, ...

, the former Wisconsin Central became part of Canadian National's United States holdings and its property integrated into the CN system. At the time of its sale to Canadian National, Wisconsin Central operated over of track in the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

region. The railroad extended from

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

into and through

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

to Minneapolis-Saint Paul and

Duluth, Minnesota Duluth ( ) is a Port, port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of St. Louis County, Minnesota, St. Louis County. Located on Lake Superior in Minnesota's Arrowhead Region, the city is a hub for cargo shipping. The population ...

, to

Sault Ste Marie, Michigan Sault Ste. Marie ( ') is a city in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Chippewa County and is the only city within the county. With a population of 13,337 at the 2020 census, it is the second-most popul ...

, and north (through the

) to

Hearst, Ontario Hearst is a town in the district of Cochrane, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Mattawishkwia River in Northern Ontario, approximately west of Kapuskasing, approximately east of Thunder Bay along Highway 11. At Hearst, Highway 583 extend ...

. In November 2020, as part of celebrations for the 25th anniversary of CN's privatization, the company unveiled a series of locomotives repainted in the schemes of its predecessor and/or subsidiary railroads.

GE ET44AC The Evolution Series is a line of diesel locomotives built by GE Transportation Systems (now owned by Wabtec), initially designed to meet the United States, U.S. United States Environmental Protection Agency, EPA's United States emission standa ...

No. 3069 was repainted in the burgundy and yellow livery of Wisconsin Central, along with the logos of that company.

Timeline

* January 10, 1986: The Soo Line, nine days after purchasing the

, creates the

Lake States Transportation Division The Lake States Transportation Division (LSTD) was a wholly owned division of the Soo Line Railroad that existed from 1986 until 1987. The bankruptcy of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road) saw Soo Line acquire its ...

to operate its mainline between

Forest Park, Illinois Forest Park (formerly Harlem) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, and a suburb of Chicago. The population was 14,339 at the 2020 census. The Forest Park (CTA station), Forest Park terminal on the Chicago Transit Authority, CTA ...

and

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

. * April 3, 1987: The

announces the sale of its

to private investors, forming the new Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation * October 11, 1987: The first WC train runs, from

Stevens Point Stevens Point is a city in Portage County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. Its population was 25,666 at the 2020 census. It forms the core of the Stevens Point micropolitan statistical area, which had a population of 70,377 in 20 ...

North Fond du Lac, Wisconsin North Fond du Lac is a village in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 5,378 at the 2020 census. Despite the name, North Fond du Lac is actually located northwest of Fond du Lac, as Lake Winnebago is directly north ...

* May 1991: WC shares begin trading under the ticker symbol WCTC, raising $36.2 million * 1992: ''

Railway Age ''Railway Age'' is an American trade magazine for the rail transport industry. It was founded in 1856 in Chicago (the United States' major railroad hub) and is published monthly by Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation. History The magazine ...

'' names Wisconsin Central the

Regional Railroad of the Year ''Railway Age'' is an American trade magazine for the rail transport industry. It was founded in 1856 in Chicago (the United States' major railroad hub) and is published monthly by Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation. History The magazine' ...

* 1993: WC acquires the

and Green Bay & Western railroads * 1993: A Wisconsin Central-led consortium acquires New Zealand Rail through a new subsidiary, Wisconsin Central International, and renames it

in 1995 * 1995: WC acquires the

through a new subsidiary, Wisconsin Central Canada Holdings * 1995: A WC-led consortium acquires

Rail Express Systems Rail Express Systems (RES) was a sector of British Rail. This sector was responsible for transport of mail and parcels, including the travelling post office trains, as well as taking over charter operations from InterCity (British Rail), InterC ...

in the United Kingdom from the

British Railways Board The British Railways Board (BRB) was a State ownership, nationalised industry in the United Kingdom that operated from 1963 to 2001. Until 1997, it was responsible for most railway services in History of rail transport in Great Britain 1995 to d ...

* 1996: WC partners with

(CN) and

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of trac ...

, inaugurating a new intermodal shipping corridor between the west and east coasts of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

* 1996: The

Loadhaul Loadhaul Ltd. was a railfreight operator based in the north-east of the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1994, as part of the privatisation of British Rail, and acquired in 1996 by a consortium headed by Wisconsin Central Ltd., Wisconsin Centra ...

Mainline Freight Mainline Freight was a trainload rail freight operator based in Islington, London, England with operations extending to Yorkshire in the north and Somerset in the west. It was formed from part of British Rail's Trainload Freight division as par ...

and

Transrail Freight Transrail was a trainload rail freight operator based in St Blazey, England, UK with a large operating area including Scotland, Wales and the west of England. It was formed in 1994 from part of British Rail's Trainload Freight division, as part ...

freight operators in the UK are purchased from the British Railways Board and merged as English Welsh & Scottish (EWS) * March 4, 1996: A Wisconsin Central freight train derails in Weyauwega, Wisconsin; the

derailment In rail transport, a derailment is a type of train wreck that occurs when a rail vehicle such as a train comes off its rails. Although many derailments are minor, all result in temporary disruption of the proper operation of the railway sys ...

results in a 16-day evacuation * August 19, 1996:

, a commuter railroad agency based in

, inaugurates its North Central Service route on the WC's

. * 1997: EWS acquires

Railfreight Distribution Railfreight Distribution was a sub-sector of British Rail, created by the division in 1987 of British Rail's previous Railfreight sector. It was responsible for non-trainload freight operations, as well as Freightliner and Intermodal servic ...

in the UK from the British Railways Board and merges it into EWS * 1997: Another WC subsidiary, the Sault Ste. Marie Bridge Company, acquires of track from

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

forming a WC connection between

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in Brown County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the head of Green Bay (Lake Michigan), Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the F ...

, and

Ishpeming, Michigan Ishpeming ( ) is a city in Marquette County, Michigan, United States. Located in the Upper Peninsula, the population was 6,140 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, less than it was in the 1950s and 1960s when the Iron ore mines employ ...

* 1997:

(ATN), in which Wisconsin Central owned a one-third stake, purchased

Tasrail TasRail (legal name Tasmanian Railway Pty Limited) is a Tasmanian Government state-owned enterprise that has operated the Rail transport in Tasmania, mainline railways in Tasmania since September 2009. It operates only freight services. Histo ...

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

, six months later ATN acquired the

Emu Bay Railway The Emu Bay Railway was a Tasmania, Australian railway company. The railway was significant during full operation, in that it linked the Tasmanian Government Railways system at Burnie with that at Zeehan that further linked to the Mount Lye ...

in Tasmania * 1999: ''Railway Age'' names Wisconsin Central president

Edward Burkhardt Edward Arnold Burkhardt is a railroad executive, the founder and current chairman of Rail World Inc. Career After gaining a B.S. with honors in Industrial Administration from Yale University and studying Rail Transportation at Yale's graduate s ...

its

Railroader of the Year Railroader of the Year is an annual award presented to a North American railroad industry worker by trade journal ''Railway Age''. The award was first presented in 1964 by trade journal ''Modern Railroads'' and has continued through the magazine ac ...

* January 30, 2001: Wisconsin Central and

announce plans for CN to purchase the former for $800 million and the assumption of $400 million of WC's debt, it is completed on October 9, 2001 * December 21, 2011: Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific Railway and

Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway The Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway (DM&IR) , informally known as the Missabe Road, was a railroad operating in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin that used to haul iron ore and later taconite to the Great Lakes ports of Duluth and Two Harbo ...

, also owned by CN, are merged into Wisconsin Central * January 1, 2013:

Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway The Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway was a Class II railroad, making a roughly circular path between Waukegan, Illinois and Gary, Indiana. The railroad served as a link between Class I railroads traveling to and from Chicago, although it operat ...

is merged into Wisconsin Central Ltd indirectly as parent company CN made the acquisition

References

External links

Soo Line Historical and Technical Society

WC2scale - Wisconsin Central Motive Power Photo Gallery #1
(extensive online photo source of WC Ltd. equipment)
RailPictures.Net
– Photographs of the Wisconsin Central {{Authority control Railway companies established in 1987 Canadian National Railway subsidiaries Illinois railroads Michigan railroads Minnesota railroads Wisconsin railroads Railroads in the Chicago metropolitan area Upper Peninsula of Michigan Predecessors of the Canadian National Railway Former regional railroads in the United States Spin-offs of the Canadian Pacific Railway 1987 establishments in Wisconsin