Odds and Ends

The former SP 1034 in it's CNW dress at the National Railroad Museum. The CNW never owned nor used this unit,but it looks nice anyway.

Another display at the Illinois Railroad Museum.

The GBW 2407 at it's current home in the Illinois Railroad Museum. The unit came to the GBW from the Lake Superior and Ishpeming, who got their "alligators" from the Santa Fe.

WC 7525 at it's new home in the Illinois Railroad Museum.

A CNW SD40-2 at the Illinois Railroad Museum.

Nice set of BN "F" units at the Illinois Railroad Museum.

A great old piece at the Illinois Railway Museum, Union, IL.

Interurbans at rest on a Sunday afternnon.

The shady side of the 166 resting in Harvard. The side in sunlight was a little too hard to get to without possibly getting into trouble.

Having set out cars for the CN interchange, the Genesee and Wyoming owned Tomahawk Railway 1587 heads back for the yard in Tomahawk.

An old piggy packer safely secured on a private property at the corner of 9th and State Streets in Green Bay. I wasn't able to get any numbers from it and it doesn't match any of the photos I have seen in my Wisconsin Central books. My guess is that this was used at the WC's Oakland Avenue intermodal terminal, but I am not sure.

A rather humble ending for the GBW 1001, serving as a storage shed on a disused section of mainline. Note the full length ladder.

The red flag is visible marking the end of line in Manawa at the bridge over the Little Wolf River. The CN now owns this section of the former Green Bay and Westerns line across Wisconsin. The CN would get here from Appleton over former CNW rails to New London where it then connects with the former GBW line. Manawa still has the industrial spur running thru town just waiting for someone to use rail service eough to actually entice CN to start coming up here again.

A humble end for the GBW 1001 serving as a shed along the disused former GBW mainline in Manawa.

I couldn't resist taking a shot of a covered hopper still in it's Rock Island blue paint after so much time has passed since the Rock went into oblivion. The blue is faded, but is still a favorite of mine.

A rear oblique of the 1007 rolling thru the former Milwaukee Road yard in Portage, WI.

Former Santa Fe Ce3 class way car preserved at Avoca, WI. The 999600 was purchased by McMillan Publishing in 1985 from the Santa Fe. Evidently the caboose did some work for the WICT (Wisconsin and Calumet) and some how found itself a nice home in Avoca. Avoca is preserving much of it's historic areas centered around the railroad station area and even has an operating wig-wag guarding a grade crossing.

Ce3 class waycar 999600 preserved at the historic section of Avoca, WI. The waycar left the Santa Fe in 1985 and somehow wound up in Avoca, a former Milwaukee Road town.

Combines loaded at the John Deere Harvester Works.

A nice old wooden CB&Q caboose on display at the Dan Nagle Walnut Grove Pioneer Village. This place has some very interesting displays. If one is in the area, it is well worth the visit. You might want to check the hours of operation to make sure you can see all of it.

Every once in a while, one linds some fallen flags rolling by. The ATSF car has a build date of 6/75. The view is looking south west at the State Street grade crossing in Appleton. The track is former CNW.

Still going strong. This old beast is earning it's keep at Charter Steel. Piles of scrap steel dwarf the railroad equipment.

A decent sized cut of ballast hoppers being loaded at the Cisler Quarry. The facility is located along the former Milwaukee Road R.o.W. on the south end of Mosinee. This Milwaukee Road line was the "Valley Line" from New Lisbon to Minoqua.

A corn syrup car sits off spot just to the east of Stanton Street on the industrial spur in Ripon's northeast business park. The corn syrup cars go to JM Smuckers in Ripon. Ripon was once a two railroad town served by the Chicago & Northwestern along with the Milwaukee Road. Now Ripon is only served by the WSOR and has two nice rails to trails heading out of town toward Berlin and Green Lake.

Three of a long cut of Missabe ore cars that were at the former Soo shops at Shops Yard in North Fond du Lac. This facility is now part of the CN.

Four gondolas on a "team" track at Grant Street in DePere. A nice example of a loading ramp resides along side the spur.

Two businesses share this sheet metal industrial building in Marinette. The spur runs along Woleske Road to allow this switch back into the building. The spur starts just south of Cleveland Avenue and takes a fairly sharp curve off the former CNW (now CN) line.

A couple ballast hoppers and some other maintenance equipment at Inwood.

An old Conrail ballast hopper spotted on the Winchester and Western rails in Inwood, West Virginia.

A trio of Winchester and Western units while away the time at Inwood.

A classy looking set of Winchester and Western GP's at rest between assignments in Inwood.

A trio of Winchester and Western units pulls along Massey Blvd.

Winchester and Western action in Hagerstown along Massey Blvd.

Some of the interesting things that can be seen at the Heritage Historical Village in New London.

A classic paint scheme on Progressive Rail's Wisconsin Northern GP15-1 at Norma in the northern section of Chippewa Falls. Progressive rail operates on track leased from the Union Pacific (Chicago & Northwestern) from this location to Cameron. At Cameron, the line splits and runs on track leased from the Wisconsin Central (CN) west to Almena and north to Rice Lake. However, satellite views indicate the line beyond Poskin to Almena is out of service, with grade crossings removed.

A nice looking locomotive at the community of Norma, now within the northern limits of Chippewa Falls. This is where Progressive Rail's Wisconsin Northern interchanges with the Union Pacific.

Looking generally east along the Union Pacific (Chicago & Northwestern)R.o.W. to the at grade crossing diamond with the Canadian National (Wisconsin Central/Soo Line) The location is on the south side of the Chippewa River. There seems to have been a great deal more track down here in years past but all that remains in this part of town are these two "main" tracks. The CN track is a secondary main the the Twin Cities, the UP track leads to the interchange with Wisconsin Northern on the north side of town at Norma.

The Union Pacific found a unique way to post the right of way in Chippewa Falls, below Bridge Street. The UP is on former Chicago and Northwestern in Chippewa Falls.

There is a large sand facility on the northeast limit of Chippewa Falls in the vicinity of the community of Norma. Norma is now considered a "neighborhood" Chippewa Falls. Never the less, there is a nice szed yard and plenty of business for Progressive Rail and it's interchange with the Union Pacific here.

A couple units layover just north of the County Road S grade crossing just outside of Chippewa Falls.

Just outside the northern limits of Chippewa Falls, a couple units and a lengthy cut of cars layover at Norma. The scene is on the north side of the County Road S grade crossing and a large sand loading facility.

Progressive Rail's Wisconsin Northern and the Union Pacific interchange at Norma, just outside the northern limits of Chippewa Falls. The view is from the County Highway S grade crossing.

The Union Pacific runs from Altoona (near Eau Claire) to Chippewa Falls to interchange with Progressive Rail's Wisconsin Northern at Norma. Just as the Progressive Rail train two tracks over, the UP is on a layover also.

Looking north from the County Road S grade crossing at Norma. Progressive Rail's Wisconsin Northern and the Union Pacific interchange traffic here on former Chicago and Northwestern right of way. The Wisconsin Northern operates the line north of Chippewa Falls, leasing the right from the Union Pacific.

Looking back into Chippewa Falls from the County Road S grade crossing, one can see there is plenty of activity for the railroads.

A Progressive Rail locomotive at the Superior Silica Sands facility in New Auburn.

Superior Silica Sands provides more than a few car loads for Progressive Rail at New Auburn.

The number of sand facilities and the number of car loads they put out is almost staggering. This is a short look into the Superior Silica Sands at New Auburn. There is much more to the facility than this shows. Twenty years ago, who would have guessed sand would become such a valuable commodity to the railroads, outside of insiders that were aware of the fracking potential for oil.

A former New York, Susquehanna and Western RDC1 with new WGNS (Wisconsin Great Northern) reporting marks at the Railroad Memories Museum in Spooner, WI.

The Wisconsin Great Northern reporting marks (WGNS) have not made their way onto this side of the former Susquehanna RDC1 at the Railroad Memories Museum in Spooner, WI.