Soo Junction

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Current State of Construction

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Soo Junction (first known as Sage Junction and then Sault Junction) is where the 46.8 mile section of track to Sault St. Marie meets the DSS&A main line going west to Marquette and south down to St. Ignace.  There is not and never has been much there in the way of structures.

 

Prototype History and Operation

 

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 Links to more Information/Pictures

MichiganRailroads.com
 Toonerville Trolley

 

 

Cliffs Shaft, Greenwood, and Tracy Mines

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Current State of Construction

Princeton Mine Cliffs Shaft Mine Greenwood Mine Tracy Mine
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The Princeton mine is located near Princeton, Michigan.  It was served by the CNW railroad.

         

The Cliffs Shaft mine, also known as the Barnum mine, was opened in 1867 in Ishpeming, MI.  What originally started as an open air pit evolved into two shafts (“A” and “B”).  In 1919 the wooden head frames were replaced by the iconic Egyptian revival obelisks which became symbols for the Ishpeming area.  In 1955 a new “C” shaft was placed in service and was located between the “A” and “B”.  Both “A” and “B” were retired from service.  The entire mine closed down in 1967 which closed out 100 years of operation and shipped out 27 nmillion tons of high grade iron ore.

  The Greenwood mine was a little southwest of Ishpeming and was opened by Inland Steel in 1930  and ceased production in 1962.  In its 32 years of existence 2.3 million tons of very hard hematite, much of which was in a very desirable lump varity, was shipped.   The Tracy mine was underground mine opened by the Jones & Laughlin Ore Co (later LTV Steel) in 1951 and closed in 1971.  It was located in the southeast part of the city of Negaunee, MI. 

 

 

Prototype Pictures

Cliff's Shaft  GreenWood Mine Tracy Mine
 
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Links to more information:

Cliffs Shaft Mine Greenwood Mine Tracy Mine General Information
 History of Cliffs Shaft Mine Michigan Mining Industries, 1962 -pdf Tracy Mine Buildings A Brief History of Mining in the UP by L. Michael Kaas
Cliffs Shaft Museum Iron Mining Methods & Costs, Greenwood Mine-pdf Explore Tracy Mine Iron Ore-Where and Why
Video of Cliffs Shaft  The Diggings Information The Diggings Info Iron Mining Today
 The Diggings Info    Michigan Iron Mines
Cleveland Cliffs Co. Records      Michigan Iron Mines-2
A Case Study in Mining      
Constructing "A"& "B"      

 

Brimley/Waiska River Bridge

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Brimley is a small town on Waiska Bay at the head of Lake Superior.  It is the home of the Point Iroquois lighthouse which is considered the starting point of the downbound trip through the Soo Locks.  The city has a small  "Wheels of History" musuem which features the history of the railroad and logging in the Brimley area. 

The Superior Northern layout has a short passing siding at Brimley but will feature a long bridge over the Waiska River.  The bridge is being built from scatch by Rob Lambers. 

 

Prototype History and Operation:

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 There is some history on the prototype.  In May of 1963, a 104.5 foot section of the railroad bridge over the Waiska River at Brimley was moved by barge, skid and flatcars from the former railroad right-of-way and taken to Lake Bronson, Minnesota to be incorporated into a new bridge there. The bridge over the Waiska was built about 1914 and originally had nine spans totalling 436 feet in length.   Source is the michiganrailroads.com website.

Links to more Information on Brimley

MichiganRailroads.com Wheels of History Museum (Facebook)
Wheels of History Website  

 

Munising and Munising Junction

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Current State of Construction

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Munising , a small city of about 3000 people sitting on the shores of Lake Superior, was served by the Munising, Marquette, and Southeastern Railway (MM&SE) from 1911-1923.  In 1923 the MM&SE was merged with another railway to form the Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad (LS&I) and had 173 miles of mainline and was owned by Cleveland Cliffs company.  Later the LS&I discontinued operations between Marquette and Munising Junction but continued to own the section between Munising and Munising Junction where it had a connection with the DSS&A.   This section primary served the paper mill industry in Munising.

 

End Goal (Pictures from original Superior Northern)

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Prototype History and Operation

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 Links to more Information/Pictures

MichiganRailroads.com  Munising Junction Album by Mark Anderson
 RailPictures.Net - Munising  City of Munising Profile

 

Escanaba

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There are no original Superior Northern photos as Brimley was not modeled in that layout.

Escanaba was the main iron ore port for the Chicago and NorthWestern Railroad.  It had the advantage of being on Lake Michigan so it had a longer ooperating season than ports on Lake Superior plus it did not have to use the Soo Locks.

Links to more Information on Escanaba

 

MichiganRailroads.com Closing Iron Ore Dock
  1. Features-Ishpeming
  2. Features-Newberry
  3. Features-Chief Wawatam and St Ignace
  4. Features-Au Train and Helix