Trains in the Northland: Northeast Wisconsin to Upper Michigan by Rail

(C) 2025 H125 ( Manistique Lake Rail Series)
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Railroads run on parallel ribbons of steel — but in the Northwoods, those ribbons also carry the lifeblood of communities and industries that have long defined this rugged country. From the deep forests of the Upper Peninsula to the industrial shores of Green Bay, the trains of this region have hauled the raw materials that built the Midwest and beyond.
The iron-rich hills of the Marquette and Menominee Ranges once thundered with ore trains bound for the docks of Escanaba and Gladstone. There, Great Lakes freighters loaded the cargo for the steel mills of the lower lakes — while year-round, ore cars continued rolling south on the Escanaba & Lake Superior, Wisconsin Central, and later Canadian National lines. Even today, these routes echo with the rumble of heavy trains moving iron pellets, pulpwood, and paper.
At Green Bay, the heart of Northeast Wisconsin’s rail network, boxcars of paper and forest products head out from mills in places like Kaukauna, De Pere, while unit trains of chemicals and grain feed the region’s industries and ports. The twin bridges over the Fox River, the sprawling yard at North Green Bay, and the winding branch lines through Oconto and Marinette all tell the story of railroads adapting — from iron and timber to modern freight.
From the rocky spine of the U.P. to the dairy farms of the Wisconsin northwoods, these rails connect towns. The same steel that once carried ore from Ishpeming now hauls the products of today’s economy proving that in this land of lakes and forests the railroad endures as the great connector.
In this edition of the Manistique Lake Rail Series., we follow the trains that keep the region moving — from ore docks to paper mills, from the Soo Line’s legacy to the Canadian National’s determination, where every train tells the story of the North Country.





Photos Used:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peninsu...
https://www.michiganrailroads.com/sta...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/railpho...


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