Location: Sault Ste. Marie, MI - Facilities

The Canadian National International Bridge at Sault Ste. Marie is located about one half mile west of downtown.

Photo Info: Top, Soo Line engines 103 and 228 at the engine service facility at Sault Ste. Marie Yard. Note the unused coal and water tower, and the International Bridge in the background in 1963. [Neil Plagens photo, Mark Andersen collection]. 2nd photo, Wisconsin Central 6653 heads south from Canada to the U.S. with a manifest train in 1997. [Neil Plagens]

Notes

Time Line

1913. March. Work on the new roundhouse of the DSS&A and Soo Line railroads at the Soo has ceased and not until spring will operations be resumed. Thus far, the structure is so nearly completed that sixteen locomotives may be taken care of and repaired. The old roundhouse is being torn down. Only a small repair equipment will be kept in the new building, probably just enough to make minor repairs. Most repair work will go to the shops at Gladstone or Marquette, where the companies have large machine shops and complete equipment for locomotive work. When the roundhouse is completed there will be room for 20 or more engines and it will be one of the most complete and spacious buildings of its kind in the upper peninsula. [CN-1913-0301]

1932. September. G.D. Peoples, Soo Line railroad detective, today revealed the theft of $300 in merchandise from a Soo Line railroad freight car. The merchandise included cigarettes, shoes and candy. [EDP-1932-0911] Follow Up: A long search for Edward Fields, a Fort Brady soldier charged with the implication in the theft of $200 worth of cigarettes from a Soo Line freight car last summer, ended when word was received by local officers that Fields is serving a prison sentence at the Indiana Reformatory at Pendleton, IN for grand larceny. He may also have been responsible for holding up the Soo Machine and Auto company night watchman the night before he disappeared. [IDG-1932-1217]

1966. August. Sault Ste. Marie yard could be a busy rail car focal point if the Canadian railway strike continues, the general agent for the Soo Line railroad here said this morning. The yards are being geared to handle up to 300 Canadian-bound railway cars now in the U.S. so they could be unloaded here into private trucks and transported (over the international bridge).

He said that all empties now in the yards are being diverted for parking on numerous sidings between here and Gladstone (to make room for loaded cars). If the strike continues, it may be necessary to place some of the empties on sidings on the line between the Sault and Marquette. If the strike continues, we could be one of the busiest rail spots in the country. Virtually all rail service in Canada halted as 118,000 employees struck for higher wages. [SEN-1966-0829]

Right now, sidings at Isabella, Rudyard and Dafter are filled or being filled. [SEV-1966-0901]

Canadian railmen return, and forwarding of cars from the Sault yards was to get underway this afternoon. The railroad has been calling in local switching crews as word was received that trains are again moving on Canadian rail lines which had been struck for a week. Several hundred cars will eventually be sent on their way. [SEN-1966-0902]