I ran a diesel engine rebuild center in Northern Wisconsin from 75 to 2006 and I can say that if Ed had not bought the old SOO line it would have been torn up. WC was a fine railroad, they had big issues at the start, much of which was caused by a disgruntled SOO employee who crashed the computer system. The SOO was awful for car availability and the CNW was just plain rude. I did business with the WC until the CN take over. CN did not want our 4 cars a month and priced us out. We simply trucked our loads to the ELS if heading east and the UP if heading south or west but many loads just went to truck. I do not believe in everything Ed did or does. I dislike one man trains. What happened in Canada makes me sick. But the WC kept a lot of paper mills running and that meant thousands of jobs. When CN took over and with NAFTA many of those mills closed. The WC also allowed many steam excursions I assisted in the organizing of two and the WC was very good to us. When CN came it was no longer feasible to put on a steam event. When I think of the WC I remember Jerry the engineer and Randy the conductor who always showed up on time and with the correct loads something CNW rarely did and who would gladly swap the cars around without billing it. The CN wanted 250 per car per touch. I remember the girls in customer service who would track down a missing car, and then move heaven and earth to get it to me. If you don't like Ed fine, but don't bad mouth a railroad that you had no dealings with.