Milwaukee Road — Corporate Overview

The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad — universally known as “The Milwaukee Road” — was a Class I railroad chartered in 1847 and headquartered in Chicago IL. At its peak, the Milwaukee Road ran from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest via its electrified Pacific Extension across Montana, Idaho, and Washington. After decades of financial decline, the Milwaukee Road filed its final bankruptcy in 1977, abandoned the Pacific Extension in 1980, and was dismantled in 1986 when the surviving Midwest lines were sold to the Soo Line Railroad (a Canadian Pacific subsidiary). Milwaukee Road shops, roundhouses, and rolling stock remained in service under Soo Line and CP Rail for years after the corporate dissolution.

Premises Description

The Milwaukee Road has been named as a premises defendant in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation, including cases brought under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA), for alleged asbestos exposure across its shops, roundhouses, yards, powerhouses, and rolling stock — including the Milwaukee Shops (Milwaukee WI), the Bensenville Yard (Chicago IL), the Deer Lodge MT electrification shops, the Tacoma WA shops, the Minneapolis MN yards, and other Milwaukee Road / Soo Line / CP Rail-legacy facilities.

Milwaukee Road shops and rolling stock were heavy industrial premises: steam-locomotive erection and repair bays, diesel-electric and electric-locomotive shops, passenger and freight car repair shops, powerhouse and steam plants, and machine and pipe shops. Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that pre-1980 Milwaukee Road premises allegedly involved asbestos through:

  • Steam-locomotive-era asbestos boiler lagging and firebox packing
  • Diesel-electric locomotive asbestos traction-motor insulation, arc chutes, and exhaust-manifold lagging
  • Electric-locomotive asbestos transformer and traction-motor insulation on the Pacific Extension
  • Passenger car asbestos body panels, heating-duct lagging, and Vapor Clarkson steam generators
  • Freight car brake asbestos friction materials (WABCO / NYAB / Symington-Gould)
  • Roundhouse and shop asbestos pipe covering on steam and process piping
  • Asbestos-fabric arc chute plates in shop and yard switchgear
  • Asbestos sheet gaskets at compressor, air-brake, and steam-line flanges
  • Asbestos sprayed fireproofing on shop structural steel (pre-1973 EPA ban)

Workers Exposed

Plaintiffs allegedly worked at Milwaukee Road Milwaukee, Bensenville, Deer Lodge, Tacoma, Minneapolis, and other Milwaukee Road / Soo Line / CP Rail-legacy shops and yards in trades including:

  • Machinists overhauling asbestos-lagged steam locomotives and diesel-electric and electric prime movers
  • Boilermakers rebuilding asbestos-refractory-lined locomotive fireboxes and powerhouse boilers
  • Pipefitters (UA) breaking asbestos-gasketed flanges on air-brake, steam, and process piping
  • Insulators (HFIAW) applying and removing asbestos pipe covering and block on shop steam mains
  • Carmen rebuilding passenger and freight cars with asbestos brake shoes, body panels, and duct lagging
  • Electricians (IBEW / IBRW) on asbestos arc chutes and transformer insulation in locomotive shops
  • Engineers, firemen, brakemen, and conductors exposed in cabs, engine rooms, and passenger equipment

FELA — Railroad Workers Have a Different Statute

Railroad workers exposed to asbestos on the job are generally covered by the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) rather than state workers’ compensation. FELA claims have their own limitation periods, causation standards, and procedural rules. If you or a family member is a former Milwaukee Road, Soo Line, or CP Rail worker with an asbestos-related diagnosis, do not assume state workers’ comp deadlines apply — talk to a firm that handles railroad-worker FELA asbestos claims.

If You Worked at the Milwaukee Road

If you or a family member worked at a Milwaukee Road / Soo Line / CP Rail shop, roundhouse, yard, or in train service before 1980 and have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, or another asbestos-related disease, you may have a legal claim.

Free, confidential case evaluation: Speak with O’Brien Law Firm — (314) 936-2956

Plants by State

The Milwaukee Road operated shops, roundhouses, and yards across multiple U.S. states. Detailed premises information is available on the following state jobsite pages: