MIlwaukee Road at Oshkosh

[Great Western]

As part of my interest in Wisconsin and the Milwaukee Road I was searching for two names to give to two tunnel portals that have been built on my large scale (G1 garden) railroad.

So much of America seems to have place names given by the people who lived (and many I know still live) all over the USA before settlement from Europe and the rest of the world.  I decided that Tomahawk and Oshkosh were two names that might cause interest this side of the pond.  I found that there was a MILW presence at Tomahawk but it seems that the SOO and C&NW were to be seen at Oshkosh.

I wonder if the MILW had running rights on the line that went, and passed through, Oshkosh?  Two of my locos are models of MILW RS3.s by the way. (452 and 457).

All the areas of my garden have a small story behind there names which I usually regale to any visitors.

[desertdog]

The Milwaukee Road had its own line into Oshkosh.  It was part of the old Northern Division, which consisted of a secondary line from Milwaukee to Portage and several branch lines to places like Fond du Lac, Oshkosh, Markesan, Berlin, etc.  It remains the core of today's Wisconsin and Southern, although some of the branches are gone or have been cut back.

At one time there was short joint stretch over the Soo Line Wolf River bridge in Oshkosh that allowed the MILW to reach its own industrial spurs on the north side that served the once-thriving lumber industry, including Diamond Match Company and Payne Lumber.  There were connections on both sides of the river to the C&NW, as well.

There was a small roundhouse and service facility on the south side of the river.  By the 1950's, traffic began to fade fast and trains rarely ventured across the bridge.  When the WSOR took over in the 80's, little if any traffic was left in town and the line was severed west of the busy US 41 crossing.  The line west of the crossing is quite busy under Wisconsin and Southern ownership and serves serveral industries in large industrial park.

John Timm 

 

[aricat]

I am a Yank who bleeds Chocolate and Cream out of one arm and Milwaukee Road Orange out the other. The Milwaukee did serve Oshkosh by gosh! It had a branch from Ripon Wisconsin. Consult table 97 of the Milwaukee Road July 1964 Official Guide.

[Great Western]

 Many thanks John and Yank for your replies.  I am very grateful.

The MILW and D&RGW are my fav US railroads, and I am a volunteer on a Heritage RR which operates former Great Western (UK) locos.  The rolling stock is "chocolate and cream" but not of GWR provenance. Some is early BR and the rest is commuter units from the SE of England.  These cars are lighter in weight and seat more people which is needed to keep the operation viable.

A couple of links might be of interest:

 http://www.greatwestern.org.uk/m_in_gwr.htm

 http://www.pdsr.co.uk/

We held a Heritage Weekend recently and some You Tube vids were made.  Those by Hemerdonbank are, in my opinion, some of the best.  No unwanted people noises or music,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-OwWcIbebk

but there very many others to see,

 

[MILW Trains]

The city was actually the end of the MILW's Oshkosh branch, which came directly from Ripon (I believe its still in use as far as Pickett); lines to Berlin and Winneconne ("WIN-a-connie") were separate branches running west and north respectively from Rush Lake. The line entered Oshkosh from the southwest, and while it's long gone, there was a turntable and engine house at the intersection of Ohio and 4th streets (all street names are still in use so you can get a sense of where things were using a modern map). At this point, the line branched in three directions. The first, although not clearly marked as a MILW route on period maps, ran eastward along 4th, crossed the original Wisconsin Central Railway and gradually curved southeasterly until it reached the CNW yards alongside Lake Winnebago, just east of South Main Street at 10th. The second route crossed the Fox River — originally on its own trestle, and later shared a swing bridge with the Wisconsin Central Railway – splitting into an eastern route that served the MILW passenger and freight stations on Market Street (just south of the intersection of Pearl and Market) before ending a block later at Division. The second portion of this line headed north/northwest up into the heart of the lumber district, serving numerous lumber, door, sash and window mills before ending at Algoma street. The third line south of the river meandered northwest from the Ohio Street facility along Barber Avenue to serve the Badger Canning Company and the American Wire Grass Co. plant (wire grass, which grew in a marsh nearby and along the river, was used to make binder twine through the early 1900s, and later wicker furniture and rugs. The Oshkosh Library Web site has some period news articles, and an internet search will turn up general information). All of the MILW lines ended in the city proper, but there appears to have been interchange with the WC (later Soo) and CNW lines. Lance Burton

[desertdog]

Lance,

As far as I know, the WSOR still serves an industrial park just west of U.S. 41. 

When did passenger service to Oshkosh end?  I lived in Fond du Lac and it was long gone even in the 1940's.  Interestingly enought, it continued to Berlin into the 50's and I saw a mixed in Beaver Dam in that period, as well.

John Timm

[Great Western]

 Many thanks Lance for your very informative post.  I will look at the Oshkosh Library web site.  I subscribe to two Yahoo groups with emphasis on the MILW and WI but I can always rely on a good response from this Forum.

By the way I am following with interest your Countryman and name sake in his efforts to ride the 2009 Tour de France.  He is doing just fine right now. 

[MILW Trains]

I think a plastics plant and perhaps one other customer are still served by rail on the west end, had forgotten about those.

Had a chance to check through some of my notes. Nice thing about the Northern is that there's still a lot of its history waiting to be discovered.

While I can't find an exact date for the last MILW passenger run, Oshkosh was still served by a single first class passenger train Monday through Saturday in 1939. You mentioned they were gone by the 1940s, which leads me to suspect it may have been terminated during WWII, as part of the efforts to reduce duplications of service and free up equipment.

Berlin still warranted its own train, and mixed trains served the outlying smaller communities by that time as well. I know the Milwaukee also ran buses in the area, having replaced the last passenger runs on the Fond du Lac – Iron Ridge line sometime after 1920.

 

Lance

[desertdog]

Lance,

 I recall seeing the Milwaukee Road bus unloading mail at the local Post Office in FDL.  I believe it was a Flxible (love that spelling).  When I asked around about passenger trains it had been so long even in the late 1940's that no one could recall when they stopped running.

The Berlin train was interesting in that it had a built-in baggage compartment in the locomotive, similar to what the C&NW used on the Manitowoc-Merillan run.

Thanks for the info.  I agree that there is much to be told about these lines.  Up until the diesels arrived, I spent many a summer's day "helping" the hostler at the round house as he got the "time freight" ready for the evening run south and putting the local switcher to bed. 

John Timm

MILW Trains

I think a plastics plant and perhaps one other customer are still served by rail on the west end, had forgotten about those.

Had a chance to check through some of my notes. Nice thing about the Northern is that there's still a lot of its history waiting to be discovered.

While I can't find an exact date for the last MILW passenger run, Oshkosh was still served by a single first class passenger train Monday through Saturday in 1939. You mentioned they were gone by the 1940s, which leads me to suspect it may have been terminated during WWII, as part of the efforts to reduce duplications of service and free up equipment.

Berlin still warranted its own train, and mixed trains served the outlying smaller communities by that time as well. I know the Milwaukee also ran buses in the area, having replaced the last passenger runs on the Fond du Lac – Iron Ridge line sometime after 1920.

 

Lance