Wisconsin Central Ltd. HO Scale Models

Wisconsin Central Ltd. (reporting mark WC) emerged from the restructuring of the upper Midwest rail network in the mid-1980s, a period of significant consolidation following the collapse of the Milwaukee Road. The Soo Line Railroad purchased the Milwaukee Road in early January 1986 and established the Lake States Transportation Division to manage the primary mainline corridor between Forest Park, Illinois, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Rather than absorb this operation permanently, the Soo Line announced in April 1987 that it would sell the division to private investors. The new Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation formally began operations on October 11, 1987, when its first train ran between Stevens Point and North Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. The railroad took its name and much of its routing from the original Wisconsin Central Railway, supplementing those rights of way with portions of former Milwaukee Road trackage. From its founding headquarters in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin Central grew rapidly through acquisition. In 1993 the railroad absorbed both the Fox River Valley Railroad and the Green Bay and Western Railroad, expanding its reach across the state. In 1997 a subsidiary known as the Sault Ste. Marie Bridge Company acquired approximately 207 miles of track from Union Pacific, forging a connection between Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Ishpeming, Michigan. By the time of its sale, Wisconsin Central operated roughly 2,850 miles of track threading through the Great Lakes region, connecting Chicago to Minneapolis-Saint Paul and Duluth in the west and reaching Sault Ste. Marie and, through the Algoma Central Railway acquired in 1995, north to Hearst, Ontario. The Algoma Central added a notable tourist dimension to the system, as its trains traversed the scenic Agawa Canyon near Lake Superior Provincial Park. On the passenger side, Metra inaugurated its North Central Service commuter route over Wisconsin Central's Waukesha Subdivision in August 1996. Wisconsin Central's parent corporation also pursued an unusually ambitious international strategy during the 1990s. A Wisconsin Central-led consortium acquired New Zealand Rail in 1993, eventually rebranding it as Tranz Rail. The parent company also became a significant force in British rail freight through its involvement in the creation of English Welsh and Scottish Railway, assembled from several freight operators purchased from the British Railways Board in 1996 and 1997. A partial stake in the Australian Transport Network, which operated in Tasmania, rounded out this global portfolio. This degree of international expansion was exceptional among American regional railroads of the era and reflected the aggressive investment philosophy of the company's leadership, including president Edward Burkhardt, whom Railway Age named Railroader of the Year in 1999. Canadian National announced its intention to acquire Wisconsin Central in January 2001 for approximately 800 million dollars plus the assumption of roughly 400 million dollars in debt, completing the transaction in October of that year. The Wisconsin Central properties were folded into CN's expanding United States network alongside the former Illinois Central Railroad, giving the Canadian carrier a continuous corridor from Canada through the industrial Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico. As a legal entity Wisconsin Central Ltd. continued to exist as a CN subsidiary, and CN subsequently merged additional properties into it, including the Duluth, Winnipeg and Pacific Railway, the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway in December 2011, and the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway in January 2013. Though its identity as an independent operator ended with the CN acquisition, Wisconsin Central's routes remain integral to Canadian National's American network, and the railroad's legacy of ambitious expansion during the post-deregulation era left a lasting mark on North American railroading.