The bankruptcy of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road) saw Soo Line acquire its routes to add trackage between Chicago and the Twin Cities in 1985.
Soo Line created the LSTD on February 10, 1986 to operate the original Soo Line mainline from Forest Park, Illinois to Minneapolis via Withrow, Minnesota, as well as from Withrow to Sault Ste.
Marie, Michigan, and branch lines from Argonne, Wisconsin to Neenah, Wisconsin and former Milwaukee Road branch lines from Green Bay to Milwaukee.
The entire LSTD was sold to newly formed Wisconsin Central Ltd. in 1987 for $133 million as per the ICC ruling.
[3] The WC was acquired by the Canadian National Railway in 2001 and the CN became the dominant operator of trains on its Chicago-Minneapolis mainline.