Wisconsin Central Ltd. ( reporting mark WC ) is a railroad subsidiary of Canadian National . At one time, its parent Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation owned or operated railroads in the United States , Canada ( Algoma Central Railway ), the United Kingdom ( English Welsh & Scottish ), New Zealand ( Tranz Rail ), and Australia ( Australian Transport Network ).
5-775: 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 rights of way after the Soo Line Railroad 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
10-700: The Great Lakes region. The railroad extended from Chicago into and through Wisconsin to Minneapolis-Saint Paul and Duluth, Minnesota , to Sault Ste Marie, Michigan , and north (through the Algoma Central Railway ) to Hearst, Ontario . Wisconsin Central Railway (1897%E2%80%931954) The Wisconsin Central Railway Company was created in 1897 when the Wisconsin Central Railroad (1871–99)
15-710: The Green Bay and Western Railroad and the Fox River Valley Railroad . In 1995, Wisconsin Central acquired the 322-mile (518 km) Canadian Algoma Central Railway whose tracks ran north of Sault Saint Marie to Hearst, Ontario. The Algoma Central runs a popular tourist passenger train through the Agawa Canyon and Agawa Canyon Wilderness Park near Lake Superior Provincial Park. In 1996, Chicago commuter rail agency Metra inaugurated service on
20-610: The WC's Waukesha Subdivision as the North Central Service . In 2001, the Wisconsin Central was purchased by Canadian National . Along with the former Illinois Central Railroad , 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 2,850 miles (4,590 km) of track in
25-623: Was reorganized from bankruptcy. In 1954, it reverted to the name Wisconsin Central Railroad Company. The railroad was merged into the Soo Line Railroad in 1961. After a proposed merger with Northern Pacific Railway fell through in 1908, Wisconsin Central was leased by the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad , the "Old" Soo Line, in 1909. Controlling interest in the Soo Line, along with Wisconsin Central,
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