CRANDON, Wis. – Canadian National has filed a notice of exemption with the Federal Surface Transportation Board to abandon a former Soo Line route in northern Wisconsin. The 6.4-mile line is on CN’s Pembine Subdivision, between milepost 242.21 (formerly milepost 243.00 on the old Shawano Subdivision) in Argonne and milepost 235.85 (formerly milepost 249.38) at Crandon.
The line was once part of Soo Line’s route from Wisconsin’s Fox River Valley to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, linking with Soo’s Minneapolis-Sault Ste. Marie line at Argonne. After Soo sold these lines to Wisconsin Central in 1987, the route continued in that role until WC’s acquisition of Union Pacific’s former Chicago & North Western routes north of Green Bay in 1997 offered a more direct route. The line through Crandon to Argonne was then downgraded, and over the last several years, portions south of Crandon have been abandoned. There was potential for business in Crandon with a proposed metallic sulfide ore mine in the area, but that proposal has been abandoned.
The abandonment will be effective Aug. 27, 2014, unless stayed pending reconsideration.
