Tomah Subdivision

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

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

The line is operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway through its subsidiary, the Soo Line Railroad. The line crosses the Mississippi River between La Crescent, MN and La Crosse. Junctions in La Crescent lead to the River Subdivision to the north and the Marquette Subdivision to the south. East of Portage, the rails continue as the Watertown Subdivision.[1] Interstate 90 runs roughly parallel to the rail line.

History

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 finally was completed in 1876.[2]

The Tomah Subdivision previously had been operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road). In 1935, the Milwaukee Road introduced the Hiawatha passenger train, which ran at high speed between St. Paul and Chicago. Speeds were routinely over 100 mph, and with ATS in use between Portage and Hastings, MN, the Hiawatha had no speed limit. The Canadian Pacific took it over in 1986.

Current usage

Today, Amtrak's Empire Builder uses the CP between Chicago and St. Paul, but speed is limited to 79 miles per hour (127 km/h). Along this segment it stops in La Crosse, Tomah, Wisconsin Dells, and Portage.

The Union Pacific Railroad has trackage rights from Tunnel City, WI through La Crosse.[3] These date from the Chicago and North Western reroute after the collapse of the CNW tunnel.[4]

gollark: It can't really magically hide itself in the background or something because that would require basically the same sandboxing infrastructure as potatOS itself, with the same flaws.
gollark: <@151391317740486657> It does actually uninstall it, not because of the rules but because I'm just that nice!
gollark: The lawsuits were just people trying to profit off its popularity.
gollark: We are NOT RESPONSIBLE for that, it has NOTHING TO DO with potatOS.
gollark: <@478798120650670091> Sometimes dynmap sends it more data than it should. I thought I had something in place against that though, so no idea.

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. Trains Hotspots:LA CROSSE, WISCONSIN. September 2014
  4. Tom Murray. Chicago & North Western Railway. Voyageur Press. pp. 18–. ISBN 978-1-61673-154-0.
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