Soo Line Right Of Way South Of Chassell: Rail?

[jimnorthwood]

I took a few minutes this afternoon to follow, via Google Maps, the Soo Line right of way between Chassell and Baraga. My family is from that area, and for better or worse I am old enough to remember Soo F units and Geeps trundling cars through Houghton and then across the bridge to Dollar Bay (a team track there was the last best effort to preserve rail service to that part of the Keweenaw in the late 1970's; rail service finally ended north of Baraga in 1982), Lake Linden, Calumet etc. In any event I was surprised to see that from the Sturgeon River bridge south for a fair distance, rail remained on the right of way at the time the Google satellite photo was made. At some point it petered out, but I was surprised to see any rail at all. There did not appear to be any rail on the ROW between Chassell and the Sturgeon River bridge or if there was, it was only for a very short distance adjacent to the bridge to the north. Continuing south the ROW is tough to see in some places north of Arnheim, as it is pretty much completely obscured by tree cover. Also, it looks like the ROW will eventually give itself over to U.S. 41 in some spots, as erosion continues to claim more of the land between the road and the water.

[jimnorthwood]

I believe I erred in my above post. While the last Soo Line train did indeed cross the bridge north of Houghton in 1982, I am pretty certain that one or more fiber optic cable trains ran north of Baraga after 1982, perhaps into the early 1990’s. I assume the train or trains ran as far as Houghton, although I don’t know for sure. I also think Soo Line initially sold the ROW to what was probably in those years still known as Michigan Bell. What do you guys know about these trains?

[railrod1949]

I believe I erred in my above post. While the last Soo Line train did indeed cross the bridge north of Houghton in 1982, I am pretty certain that one or more fiber optic cable trains ran north of Baraga after 1982, perhaps into the early 1990’s. I assume the train or trains ran as far as Houghton, although I don’t know for sure. I also think Soo Line initially sold the ROW to what was probably in those years still known as Michigan Bell. What do you guys know about these trains?

jimnorthwood, the final run of the remaining freight train on the Soo Line through Houghton and Hancock between Marquette and Dollar Bay, was made on September 15, 1982. The final run of the old Milwaukee Road/ Soo Line passenger train the Copper Limited, between Chicago and Calumet via Green Bay, WI and Champion, MI, was made 50 years ago this coming March 7 and 8.

[Tim]

You’re correct that Ma Bell owned the right of way and the railroad just had a lease of some kind. They figured it was less expensive to buy the land rather than lease the right of way for their fiber optics cable. When I helped bury fiber optic cable in Lansing in the early ‘80s, I was told that the lease payment was five dollars a foot in the city and a buck a foot outside the city. Given the 300 plus miles in the UP, that works out to more than $1.6 million if the above figures are correct. I have the newspaper clipping about the sale somewhere and there would also be a record of the sale at the various county clerks offices.
When we ran a section speeder over the line to Houghton in April ’87, there were several large washouts that had to be repaired before they could run the fiber train.

[jimnorthwood]

Good info, guys; thanks for filling in the gaps. An idea that kept surfacing was to build a paper mill in Lake Linden, which would have required rail service. That seemed to take the place of the "we might need rail service in case one of the Keweenaw mines re-opens" theory. My recollection is that the then Houghton city manager was very anti-rail, which didn't help that cause. Although, given the changes in that market it is unlikely the paper mill development would have gotten off the ground regardless. I think a snowplow took out the U.S. 41 grade crossing, and when that was removed the next idea was to build a pulpwood trans-load facility in Chassell. That obviously didn't fly, either. At least the line survives as far as Baraga, although I don't think there is much if any reason for revenue trains to go beyond L'Anse these days.

[Tom Train]

Especially without any track north of L'Anse.

[Tom Train]

Make that north of Baraga, Sorry about that.

[GAP]

The proposed paper mill would have been in Arnheim. There were studies done to see if there was enough current in Keweenaw Bay to minimize pollution but the public was never convinced. Instead all they got many, many pulpwood trucks on the road but no paper mill jobs. I was on the committee to return rail service to Houghton County. We talked to John Larkin of the Escanaba and Lake Superior and also Tim Tennant of the Nicolet Badger Northern RR as well as WC but the Houghton city manager scared them all off. The Houghton city manager was a real politician. He would say he favored the return if rail but then he had the rails thru Houghton paved over to make a walking path. Things like that.

Plans were drawn up for a proposed pulpwood landing in Chassell on the old drive-in theater property. I saw them. That would have avoided the tracks crossing US-41. On the other side of US-41 there was already a huge pulpwood landing so potential traffic could be seen. I can't remember why it never materialized.