Today's Train of Though- The Many Faces of Soo, January 20, 2012

Today's Train of Thought takes us to the Frozen Tundra of Dairyland on a chilly winter day.

Here, railpictures.net contributor and Heartland Rails webmaster Ray Peacock found something of a rare catch making its way north through Astico, WI in January 2008.

Soo Line SD60 #6021 leads an eclectic lashup of power (SD60/MP15AC/SD60/GP38-2/SD60M/SD60) on a Twin Cities-bound mixed freight as every paint scheme from the last 25 years on the Soo Line is represented. The lead unit (as well as two others) are painted in their as-delivered white with red trim and black lettering, while the trailing unit- an MP15 switcher- is still in its Milwaukee Road orange and black paint scheme (Soo Line acquired the Milwaukee Road outright in 1986). The two trailing units are SD60s, sporting their as-delivered candy-apple red paint scheme. The only thing really missing from this scene to establish that it was taken under Canadian Pacific is the presence of a CP Rail unit powering the train shown above.

A diminishing number of Soo Line locomotives still in Milwaukee Road orange and black continue operating into early 2012, more than a quarter century after the railroad itself ceased to exist.

While Canadian Pacific is likely to keep the SD60s around for the foreseeable, a number of them are slated to be rebuilt and overhauled in Quebec and will receive CP Rail paint once finished.