SLHTS Publications

Fall 2007 Issue

IN EVERY ISSUE

Soo News
WC News
Editor's Report
Executive Report
Gallery
Rip Track
Letters
Transfer Table
Less-Than-Carload

STAFF

Editor
Reid Van Sluys

Associate Editor
Ken Soroos

Associate Editor
Andy Roth

Associate Editor
Jason Korth

News Editor
Galen Fromm

Wiconsin Central News
Galen Fromm

Associate Editor/Modeling
Chuck Derus

Contributing Editors
Doug Fleming

Production Consultant
Rick Johnson

Technical Consultants
Stuart J. Nelson, Dennis Storzek

Commercial Accounts
Joe Lallensack

Advertising Manager
Burnell Breaker

Back Issues
Roger Wurtzel

Editors Emeritus
Larry Easton & Rick Johnson

Fall 2007 Issue Hightlights

Building the Soo Line's Chicago Freight House

By David J. Leider

When the Soo Line leased the Wisconsin Central in 1909, the management of the Soo realized that their terminal arrangements in Chicago were far from adequate. The ten-year lease with the Illinois Central for its lake-front Terminals would soon expire and it was uncertain if it would be renewed. It was decided to change terminals. The obvious choice was to use the Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal Company and return to Grand Central Station. However, the officers of the B&OCT refused to sign a lease with the WC, insisting the Soo Line be the lessor. The area around Grand Central was already occupied, so an alternate site was needed for a frieght house. ...

The Soo Line's Chicago Tunnel Railroad Connection

by Andy Roth

Photos courtesy of the Bruce Moffat collection

The second railroad serving the Soo Line's Chicago freight house was the Chicago Tunnel Company, which operated a 62-mile underground two-foot gauge electric railroad below cty streets. This railroad was created when the Illinois Telephone and Telegraph Company began building tunnels under Chicago streets to bring what was then brand new telephone technology to Chicago.

Phantom Steam on the Soo?

Thought steam on the Soo died in February of 1955? Maybe not.

by Carson Wilder

Most fans of the Soo Line know that "D-Day" (that's Dieselization Day) came on February 16, 1955. The previous day, Soo Class F-9 2-8-0 no. 468, with Engineer James M. Heuer at the throttle and Fireman Francis N. Cannon wielding the scoop, slowly eased into the Neenah roundhouse at 3:30pm on the last of its steam for the purpose of cooling down and having its boiler and tender drained. After that act was accomplished, the book was effectively closed on almost seventy-one years of continuous steam locomotive use in revenue operations on the Soo Line, dating back to the railroad's acquisition of its first wood burning locomotives in 1884. But was the book truly closed? That is a matter of conjecture.

Twenty-Five Years of the SLHTS Limited Run HO Scale Freight Cars, 1982-2007

by Ken Soroos

Over the past twenty-five years the Soo Line Historical and Technical Society has produced 60 distinct designs of limited-run HO Freight cars with 94 different car numbers.

Gallery of Soo 1003 & Soo 2719

by Various Contributors

Questions about the content of the SOO? Contact:

Reid Van Sluys, Editor
W61 N327 Washington Avenue
Cedarburg, WI 53012-2404
or E-mail.

Questions about reselling the SOO in your store? Contact:

Joe Lallensack, Commercial Accounts Manager
3818 Mangin St.
Manitowoc, WI 54220
or E-mail.

Questions about Back Issues of the SOO? Contact:

Roger Wurtzel, Back Issues Manager
910 Chandler Avenue
Plover, WI 54467
or E-mail.

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