Tomah Subdivision

Canadian Pacific Railway Tomah Subdivision

Legend south to IC&E/CP Marquette Sub, north to River Sub 283.6 Bridge Switch (La Crescent, Minnesota) Mississippi River, Minnesota/Wisconsin border Black River 282.1 West Wye Switch 281.2 La Crosse, Wisconsin 280.0 Grand CrossingBNSF St. Croix Subdivision 278.0 Medary West Salem Bangor Rockland 255.5 Sparta 249.6 Fort McCoy tunnel 243.8 Tunnel City 392.1 Union Pacific Railroad to Wyeville 240.1 Tomah 237.0 Monroe Union Pacific Railroad to Wyeville Being redone for Sand Company 226.0 Camp Douglas 221.2 New Lisbon to Wisconsin Rapids Mauston 211.0 Mile Creek Lyndon Station 199.0 Kilbourn Wisconsin River 195.1 Wisconsin Dells 189.0 Lewiston 178.2 Portage east Watertown Subdivision

The Tomah Subdivision or Tomah Sub is a railway line that runs about 103 miles (166 km) from La Crescent, Minnesota in the west to Portage, Wisconsin in the east.

The line is operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway's through its subsidiary, the Soo Line Railroad. The line crosses the Mississippi River between La Crescent and La Crosse, Wisconsin. Junctions in La Crescent lead to the River Subdivision to the north and the Iowa, Chicago and Eastern Marquette Subdivision to the south. In the east, the rails continue as the Watertown Subdivision.^[1] Interstate 90 runs roughly parallel to the rail line.

Most of this segment of track was quickly built over the span of two years. The line was completed from Portage to New Lisbon in 1857, and from New Lisbon to La Crosse in 1858. It took several more years for the crossing of the Mississippi River into Minnesota to take place, but that was finally completed in 1866.^[2]

The Tomah Subdivision had previously been operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, though Canadian Pacific took it over when the Milwaukee Road folded. In 1935, the Milwaukee Road introduced the Hiawatha passenger train which ran at high speed between Saint Paul, Minnesota and Chicago, Illinois. A timing from February 2, 1939 measured the train (pulled by a powerful class F7 locomotive on this run) traveling at or above 90 miles per hour (140 km/h) for at least 20 miles along this stretch. For a couple of miles, it hit 100 miles per hour (160 km/h). In the future, it would run even faster, since this was a few months before the Chicago–Saint Paul schedule was shortened by 15 minutes to make the 422-mile (679 km) run in 6 hours 15 minutes.^[3]

Today, the Amtrak Empire Builder uses this stretch of track, but is limited to 79 miles per hour (127 km/h). Along this segment it stops in La Crosse, Tomah, Wisconsin Dells, and Portage.

References

1. Don Winter. "La Crescent to Portage". Milwaukee Road Hiawatha Routes. Retrieved May 31, 2010.
2. Matt Van Hatten (September 2010). "Map of the Month: Milwaukee Road growth". Trains. pp. 50–51.
3. Scribbins, Jim (1970). The Hiawatha Story. Milwaukee, WI: Kalmbach Publishing Company. LCCN 70107874. OCLC 91468.