Escanaba and Lake Superior Railroad
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The Escanaba & Lake Superior Railroad is a Class III
shortline railroad :''Short Line is also one of the four railroads in the American version of the popular board game Monopoly, named after the Shore Fast Line, an interurban streetcar line.'' A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that opera ...
that operates of track in Northeastern
Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
and the
Upper Peninsula of Michigan The Upper Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. – is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by t ...
. Its main line runs from
Rockland, Michigan Rockland is a census-designated place (CDP) and the primary community in Rockland Township, Ontonagon County, Michigan, United States. It is along US Highway 45, which leads north to its terminus at Ontonagon on Lake Superior, and south to Ea ...
, to
Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...
, and it also owns various branch lines and out-of-service track. In 1897, the Escanaba River Company built a railroad from Wells, Michigan to tap a large hardwood timber stand at LaFave’s Hill. In 1898, the company name was changed to the Escanaba & Lake Superior Railway (E&LS).


History


Founding to 1978

Isaac Stephenson, Jefferson Sinclair, Daniel Wells Jr., Harrison Ludington, and Nelson Ludington were the founders of the N. Ludington Company. It was again renamed to the I. Stephenson company when Isaac Stephenson became majority owner in the same year. The N. Ludington Company became part of this company, and along with being rebranded as the ''Escanaba River Company'', became a subsidiary of this new company in 1888. The Escanaba River Co. constructed to connect the company to hardwood reserves west of Wells and
Escanaba Escanaba ( ), commonly shortened to Esky, is a port city in Delta County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located on Little Bay de Noc in the state's Upper Peninsula. The population was 12,616 at the 2010 census, making it the third-largest city i ...
. Work began in 1898 to extend the track from Wells northwest to Watson and was completed in 1899. A branch line referred to Ford River was constructed in 1899 from Watson for a distance of . This branch was abandoned in 1910. In 1902, the E&LS built of track southeast out of Wells into the center of Escanaba. From 1900 to 1903, the railroad extended the mainline track to Channing. This established a connection with the
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1986. The company experience ...
(component of the Milwaukee Road) and began their haulage rights agreement to their ore dock in Escanaba. At this time, the CMStP&P operated just north of in Michigan. As part of the agreement that allowed the CMStP&P access to its line, the E&LS was reincorporated as the Escanaba and Lake Superior Railroad for its agreement, which allowed it to reach Ontonagon on
Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...
; it has used this name ever since. This agreement ran from February 12, 1900 to March 15, 1937. At this point in the railroad's history, it had connections to both major Class 1 railroads that existed at the time in the UP: The Chicago and North Western and the Milwaukee Road, and was able to diversify its traffic base. This diversification included the Milwaukee Road ore trains mentioned above, bound for the now gone Milwaukee ore docks in Escanaba. The railroad also chartered a mixed passenger train that ran along the existing route up until the late 1950s. This service included run-through mail and express from the Milwaukee Road, and passengers bound north from the Chicago & North Western. Starting in 1901 and continuing into 1902, a branch line was constructed from Northland for to the
Escanaba River The Escanaba River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed December 19, 2011 river on the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. In his poem ''The Song of Hiawatha' ...
. Between 1902 and 1903, the Northland line was extended from the Escanaba River to Kates, a distance of . The northernmost portion of this branch that extended from Gleason was abandoned June 7, 1922. This branch was abandoned in 1939.. Other branch lines were built by the E&LS to get out the remote timber stands:
Ralph Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...
,
Turner Turner may refer to: People and fictional characters *Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name *One who uses a lathe for turni ...
(1911–1912), Mashek, and Hendricks (1915). These branches totaled more than of combined branch trackage and sidings. The railroad peaked at of mainline and of yard and sidings on June 30, 1918. In 1935, the Milwaukee Road moved its ore trains off the E&LS and entered into an agreement with the Chicago & North Western (C&NW) to jointly operate ore trains into Escanaba. Though the E&LS petitioned the
Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later trucking) to ensure fair rates, to eliminat ...
(ICC) and later the
U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
to be allowed to join the joint operations, it was blocked from doing so in 1938 by the Supreme Court. In the 1940s, two major sources of traffic were developed near Escanaba: The
Harnischfeger Corporation Joy Global Inc. was a company that manufactured and serviced heavy equipment used in the extraction and haulage of coal and minerals in both underground and surface mining. The company had manufacturing facilities in Alabama, Pennsylvania, Tex ...
, which built large cranes for mining operations, and the Escanaba Paper Company.. The railroad's transportation of logs ended in 1943 with the closure of the Stephenson mill in Wells. In the early 1960s, the E&LS was purchased by the Hanna Mining Company. In 1969, the E&LS stopped serving the Escanaba Paper Company during a strike (July 1, 1969) at the mill; in response, the mill's owners built a new connection to the C&NW and Soo Line and cut car movements on the E&LS more than five-fold in two years, from 2,200 carloads in 1968 to 449 in 1970. The E&LS continued skeleton service during the 1970s. In 1978, Hanna requested permission from the ICC to abandon the railroad.


1978 to 2009

On October 6, 1978,
Hanna Mining Company M. A. Hanna Company was an iron ore processing company located in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Origin The origins of the M. A. Hanna Co. are with Daniel F. Rhodes. In the 1840s Rhodes had founded Rhodes & Company which mined coal in the Mahoni ...
sold the E&LS Railroad to John C. Larkin and his father Wade Larkin, businessmen from
Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
who had organized a
National Railway Historical Society The National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) is a non-profit organization established in 1935 in the United States to promote interest in, and appreciation for the historical development of railroads. It is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsyl ...
passenger excursion on the railroad earlier in the decade.. He planned to return the railroad to profitability by reducing labor costs and entering the business of leasing boxcars to other railroads. Shortly thereafter, the boxcar leasing market collapsed. Additionally, with the Milwaukee Road going bankrupt in 1977, it planned to abandon its trackage in Michigan, consisting largely of a route between Ontonagon and
Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...
.. This plan would break the E&LS's connections at Channing, as well as end rail service to the shippers on the Milwaukee Road lines. One of these shippers, Champion Paper, which operated a mill in Ontonagon, approached the E&LS with a proposal for the railroad to buy the Milwaukee Road track to Ontonagon.


Purchasing ex-Milwaukee Road, C&NW, and Soo Line trackage

The E&LS was able to reach an agreement with Milwaukee Road's bankruptcy court to take control of the Ontonagon route, as well as additional trackage south. They were backed by many of the line's shippers and the states of Michigan and Wisconsin, but opposed by the C&NW, which wanted to retain iron ore transport from the Groveland Mine in Randville, Michigan, and Hanna Mining, the former owner of the E&LS and owner of the Groveland Mine. The C&NW and Milwaukee Road had previously shared service to the Groveland Mine under a decades-long agreement between the two, called the Menominee Range Iron Ore Pool. By 1979, the mine impacted 31,000 of the 50,000 cars moved over the Milwaukee Road's tracks in the area, a level of traffic so high that Larkin publicly stated that the E&LS would not make a profit without it. The ICC, and a US court, ruled in E&LS' favor. On March 10, 1980, the E&LS formally bought the ex-Milwaukee Road between Ontonagon through Channing south to Iron Mountain.. It also obtained a lease-to-own agreement of the tracks south from Iron Mountain to Green Bay; this section was purchased in 1982. Upon purchase, the E&LS immediately began rebuilding its new trackage, which had been neglected by the Milwaukee Road in the years leading up to its bankruptcy. Major funding came from the state of Michigan, which paid $1.6 million (equivalent to $ in ) to install new ties on the track to Ontonagon. In November 1981, the E&LS bought additional trackage, this time a branch line from Channing north to
Republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
. In 1985, it bought a branch from
Crivitz, Wisconsin Crivitz is a village in Marinette County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 984 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Marinette, WI– MI Micropolitan Statistical Area. History Crivitz was surveyed and plotted in the summer of ...
, on the Green Bay line, east to
Marinette, Wisconsin Marinette is a city in and the county seat of Marinette County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the south bank of the Menominee River, at its mouth at Green Bay, part of Lake Michigan; to the north is Stephenson Island, part of the ...
, and
Menominee, Michigan Menominee ( ) is a city in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 8,599 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is the county seat of Menominee County, Michigan, Menominee Cou ...
. During 1987 and 1988, the line to Ontonagon had its lightweight rails replaced with new, heavier rails. In 1986, the E&LS connection track to the C&NW RR was built from a switch just south of Lineville Road in
Howard, Wisconsin Howard is a village in Brown and Outagamie counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 17,399 at the 2010 census. All of this population resided in the Brown County portion of the village. It is part of the Green Bay Metropolita ...
, to the C&NW Railroad's Howard Industrial Park siding line. This ultimately allowed the E&LS to discontinue operations south of Bond Road in Green Bay in 1993. This connection was the result of a construction agreement Between the E&LS and the C&NW that was executed on November 27, 1985, which provided joint access to the Howard Industrial Park. Two of the contracts executed then allowed tenants of Howard Industrial Park a choice of competing railroads for shipping service. The E&LS mainline was stubbed off in September 2007, removing the track from Bond Street to the Oakland Avenue Yard in Green Bay, Wi. On June 24, 1991, E&LS bought a ex- Soo Line (ex- Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic) branch line from Sidnaw, on the Ontonagon line, east to
Nestoria Nestoria is a vertical search engine for real estate. In terms of users, Nestoria is the 5th largest property web site in the UK (February 2012 ) and the 9th in Spain ( comScore, May 2009 ). __TOC__ Overview Nestoria aggregates real estate ...
. The following year (1992), the E&LS mainline from Channing to Wells was taken out of service, with access to Escanaba retained via a new trackage rights agreement with the Wisconsin Central Railroad (now Canadian National Railroad), under which the E&LS was granted access their main line from
Pembine, Wisconsin Pembine is a town in Marinette County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,036 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated community of Kremlin is located in the town, The census-designated place of Pembine is also located in the town. Ge ...
, to North Escanaba. On April 20, 1995, E&LS bought a short branch line between Stiles Junction, Wisconsin, just north of Green Bay, to Oconto Falls from the C&NW.. In 2005, the
Wisconsin Department of Transportation The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Wisconsin responsible for planning, building and maintaining the state's highways. It is also responsible for planning transportation in the state ...
provided a $2.01 million (equivalent to $ in ) grant to rebuild E&LS trackage from Crivitz north to the Michigan state line. This was the last section of mainline track that had not seen a complete rebuild since it was bought in 1980. These recent branch line acquisitions are used by the E&LS to store rolling stock for third parties.


Post-2009 and track closures

After the closure of the Smurfit-Stone Paper Mill in Ontonagon in 2009, the Escanaba and Lake Superior abandoned of track between Ontonagon and milepost 395 one mile east of Rockland in 2011, severing the railroad's closest trackage to Lake Superior. The remaining track between Rockland and Mass City is used for third-party long term car storage. The sidings between Escanaba & Channing are used for long term car storage. The E&LS and the
Michigan Department of Natural Resources The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is the agency of the state of Michigan charged with maintaining natural resources such as state parks, state forests, and recreation areas. It is governed by a director appointed by the Governor a ...
consummated a rail banking/interim trail use agreement on or about October 28, 2014, for the abandoned portion of the E&LS rail line between milepost 395 at Rockland and Ontonagon. The abandoned segment is now the Ontonagon to Rockland Trail. The northernmost customer ships logs from an open air transload in the yard near the junction of East Branch Road and Depot Road in Mass City.


Rolling stock

The E&LS has been running a private passenger excursion yearly for invited guests and online customers since exiting passenger service on December 12, 1956. Themes of trips run have been Shippers Special Train, American Honors Society, NRHS and Great Lakes Western passenger special. E&LS handed off the ''North Woods Explorer'' train to the Soo Line at Pembine, who then took it to Sault Ste. Marie and then the Algoma Central trip to 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 ...
on May 24, 1992. These specials necessitated two special runs between the engine shops at Wells and the E&LS mainline at Pembine over Canadian National Railroad trackage from North Escanaba to Powers to Hermansville and finally to Pembine.


Shippers Special

The Shippers Special Train usually runs late spring-early summer from Pembine south to Howard and then back north to Channing. There the train stops in Channing for a short crew change and then train goes as far as Mass City. The Shippers Special Train did not run in 2020.


American Honors Society Excellence In Education

The American Honors Society train ran on the LS&I with little known of its running from 2010 to 2014. The Honors Train departs Eagle Mills and runs to the ore dock and returns. Several cars were used from E&LS and
Lake Superior Railroad Museum The Lake Superior Railroad Museum is a railroad museum in Duluth, Minnesota, United States. Opened in 1973, the museum focuses on railroading in the Lake Superior region. It is housed in the restored Duluth Union Depot complex. The museum als ...
with diesels supplied by the LS&I railroad. A coach seen running in the train, marked Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co. (ELS marks), #1001 and City of Horicon was also seen in several year's trains.


E&LS owned or leased passenger equipment

Below is the E&LS rolling stock, many of which are used for the recent trains run behind E&LS engines S-12 #300 and GP-38 #400.


Leased power

After acquiring the Milwaukee Road line from Green Bay to Ontonagon, the E&LS needed more power to run their trains. The railroads and leasers were:
Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...
, Green Bay & Western,
Lake Superior & Ishpeming The Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad , is a U.S. railroad offering service from Marquette, Michigan, to nearby locations in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It began operations in 1896. The LS&I continues to operate as an independent railroad f ...
,
Milwaukee Road The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to 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 fr ...
, Erie Mining and Soo Line. Several of the Conrail units leased ended up being leased for several years and then purchased by E&LS.


Active motive power

In 1985, the first EMD diesel, a GP-38 (E&LS 400) was purchased, followed shortly by additional GP-38s (ex-
Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...
ELS 401 & 402) and 4 SD9s (1220-1224).. In 2003, the railroad bought two SD-40-2s (ex- Electro-Motive Diesel Leasing E&LS 500 & 501), and, unusually, an FP7 (ELS 600) two years later. The FP7 was originally a
Milwaukee Road The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to 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 fr ...
FP7, then was bought by the Wisconsin Southern, and sold to the E&LS. The SD9s except for 1223 have been retired as of 2020. 1223 still operates in
Wells Wells most commonly refers to: * Wells, Somerset, a cathedral city in Somerset, England * Well, an excavation or structure created in the ground * Wells (name) Wells may also refer to: Places Canada *Wells, British Columbia England * Wells ...
and
Escanaba Escanaba ( ), commonly shortened to Esky, is a port city in Delta County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located on Little Bay de Noc in the state's Upper Peninsula. The population was 12,616 at the 2010 census, making it the third-largest city i ...
, but it has been restricted from mainline service ever since an inspection found that the
prime mover Prime mover may refer to: Philosophy *Unmoved mover, a concept in Aristotle's writings Engineering * Prime mover (engine), motor, a machine that converts various other forms of energy (chemical, electrical, fluid pressure/flow, etc) into energy o ...
was failing. The engine can regularly be seen switching out E&LS customers in that area, and at the car maintenance facility in Escanaba, or at the E&LS engine shop at Wells, moving the stored engines and cars. In early January 2020, the railroad bought the ILSX SD40-2 #1344 and later in the year re-numbered it 502. The trucks from the since decommissioned SD-40-2, E&LS 500, were replaced with the original worn-out trucks on E&LS 502. They were the original silver trucks from when the engine was a
Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
SD40-2. In May 2020, E&LS bought a former GTW/
BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...
EMD SD-40 and numbered it 503.


Gallery

File:Dinner train (95614622).jpg, E&LS 106 in Fox Lake, IL 1 July 1993 File:Escanaba and Lake Superior Railroad 207 at Channing, MI on October 5, 1988 (22338370013).jpg, ELS #207 at Channing, MI on October 5, 1988 File:ELS 501 2.png, Escanaba & Lake Superior SD40-2 in Coleman, WI File:ELS 503 1.png, E&LS 503 running on CN trackage rights in Green Bay, WI File:E&LS 600 4.jpg, ELS 600 & 402 in Pembine File:3 Escanaba and Lake Superior Railroad Photos (25462482346).jpg, E&LS SD9 and SW1200, both former Reserve Mining locomotives. File:E&LS 503 Pembine WI.png, E&LS 503 (SD40-2) and 402 (GP38-2) pull a small road train through Beecher, Wis. This train originated in Crivitz, WI, and is bound for Channing, Mich. File:3 Escanaba and Lake Superior Railroad Photos (25462494936).jpg, Wells, Michigan More


Inactive motive power

When it began operations, the E&LS used steam locomotives purchased second hand from other railroads in the Midwest. It bought a new Shay locomotive for logging service in 1904, followed by various locomotives from Baldwin.. The E&LS first diesel locomotive, a
Baldwin VO-1000 The Baldwin VO-1000 is a diesel-electric switcher locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works between January 1939 and December 1946. These units were powered by a naturally aspirated eight-cylinder diesel engine rated at , and rode on a ...
, was purchased in 1946. The E&LS continued buying new and used Baldwins for the next several decades. Some notable mentions are the E&LS 300, the engine that can often be seen running the Shippers Special train. Other locomotives include the Baldwin RS-12s 207-217 series. 10 RS-12s have either been sold off or put in a deadline at the E&LS Wells Facility. Other engines are the E&LS Shark Nose Baldwin's, originally from the Delaware & Hudson RR (D&H). Numbered 1205 & 1216. Other notable mentions are engines 100 & 101, a pair of DS44-660s. The 101 can still be seen in Wells with its GN inspired paint scheme. The railroad also owns two Ex- Wisconsin & Calumet (WICT) F7As & F7Bs. There were several other engines, the 201, 202, & 204. These were the DS44-1000s.


Facilities, yards, and lines


Engine shops

*
Wells Wells most commonly refers to: * Wells, Somerset, a cathedral city in Somerset, England * Well, an excavation or structure created in the ground * Wells (name) Wells may also refer to: Places Canada *Wells, British Columbia England * Wells ...
*
Escanaba Escanaba ( ), commonly shortened to Esky, is a port city in Delta County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located on Little Bay de Noc in the state's Upper Peninsula. The population was 12,616 at the 2010 census, making it the third-largest city i ...
old Harnischfeger (P&H Crane) facility


Railroad yards

* Channing * Crivitz repair-in-place (RIP) railcar facility * Iron Mountain


Engine housing facilities

* Channing * Crivitz *
Menominee The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...
* Wells


Bulk transfer and wood yards

*
Amasa Amasa (עמשא) or Amessai is a person mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. His mother was Abigail (), a sister of King David (). Hence, Amasa was a nephew of David, and cousin of Joab, David's military commander, as well as a cousin of Absalom, Dav ...
* Crivitz (2) * Floodwood - bulk transfer * Iron Mountain - bulk transfer * Mass City * McConnell Landing - station name * Pembine (2) * Randville * Sidnaw, Mi - bulk transfer * Sobieski


Interchange locations

The E&LS interchanges with the Canadian National Railroad in several different locations: * North Escanaba, Michigan *
Howard, Wisconsin Howard is a village in Brown and Outagamie counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 17,399 at the 2010 census. All of this population resided in the Brown County portion of the village. It is part of the Green Bay Metropolita ...
*
Pembine, Wisconsin Pembine is a town in Marinette County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,036 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated community of Kremlin is located in the town, The census-designated place of Pembine is also located in the town. Ge ...
*
Marinette, Wisconsin Marinette is a city in and the county seat of Marinette County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the south bank of the Menominee River, at its mouth at Green Bay, part of Lake Michigan; to the north is Stephenson Island, part of the ...


Trackage rights

In late 2014, the E&LS and
Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...
entered into a switching agreement to switch customers of CN in Marinette and Menominee. All traffic is given to the E&LS at Marinette; E&LS delivers loads or empties from both railroad's customers in those communities. This created a big costs and time savings for both railroads as it greatly simplified operations in these twin cities. The E&LS RR has trackage rights on several parts of the Canadian National Railroad. *
Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...
, to North Green Bay Yard in Green Bay, Wisconsin (These once extended to the Milwaukee's Oakland Avenue Yard, in downtown Green Bay via the WC, past the C&NW Green Bay station) * Pembine to North Escanaba


Existing stations

As of January 2022: * Crivitz - former
Milwaukee and Northern Railway Company The Milwaukee and Northern Railway Company (M&N) is a former railroad company that built a railroad connecting Milwaukee, Green Bay, and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The M&N was charted in February 24, 1870, and construction of the railway's mai ...
then
Milwaukee Road The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to 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 fr ...
depot built in 1883. Now owned by E&LS. This area was previously referred to as Ellis Junction. * Iron Mountain - former
Milwaukee and Northern Railway Company The Milwaukee and Northern Railway Company (M&N) is a former railroad company that built a railroad connecting Milwaukee, Green Bay, and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The M&N was charted in February 24, 1870, and construction of the railway's mai ...
then
Milwaukee Road The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to 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 fr ...
depot built in 1914. Now owned by E&LS. * Ontonagon - former
Ontonagon and Brule River Railroad Ontonagon may refer to several places in Michigan, United States: * Ontonagon, Michigan * Ontonagon Township, Michigan * Ontonagon County, Michigan * Ontonagon River * Ontonagon Indian Reservation The Ontonagon Indian Reservation is the homeland ...
then
Milwaukee Road The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to 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 fr ...
depot built in ?. Now owned by ? . Section houses: * Randville * Sidnaw File:Amberg Wisconsin Train Depot.jpg, Amberg, WI File:Amasa_MI_Historic_District_A.jpg, Amasa, MI File:Channing depot.jpg, Channing, MI File:Frost - panoramio.jpg, Frost, MI File:Milwaukee Road Depot (Marinette, Wisconsin) September 2013 02.jpg, Marinette, WI File:Menominee Michigan Railroad Station.jpg, Menominee, MI File:Pembine Train Station.jpg, Pembine, WI, burned 2019 File:Pori - panoramio.jpg, Pori, MI File:CNW wayfreight passing the MILW station at Stiles Jct., WI in September 1964. (27224122431).jpg, C&NW freight passing the MILW station at Stiles Junction, WI, in September 1964


See also

*


References


External links

*
Bridgehunter - E&LS topicEngine List - E&LS - RRpicturesarchiveEscanaba & Lake Superior Customers
*
B1G - The Big Train - railroadfan.com Escanaba & Lake Superior Railroad (ELS)E&LS RR web site
— official corporate site
Dolly Madison
- Parlor Observation car
Escanaba & Lake Superior
- public facebook group, 3.1k members {{DEFAULTSORT:Escanaba Lake Superior Railroad Michigan railroads Railway companies established in 1900 Companies operating former Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad lines Companies operating former Chicago and North Western Transportation Company lines Wisconsin railroads