Made it a point to check myself during a recent trip to Wisconsin and sure enough the connection track is ripped up and removed. It originally cost $5 million to put that sucker in back in the say. That was for the complete project including signaling.
On a brighter note, the former Milwaukee road bed between Brookfield and the Junction with the Soo is now a bike trail with gravel foundation and no weeds. I hiked this shortly after abandonment by the Milwaukee. It's historical significance was that it was part of the mainline of the Milwaukee and Waukesha which was the earliest construction of the Milwaukee Road and first railroad built West from Milwaukee. The line eventually stretched to Prarie Du Chien and via an old pontoon bridge crossed the Mississippi there and continued West into Iowa.
The relocated the Civil War era BrookField Depot at the extension of the trail head to Brookfield Road and were still working on the Brookfield Depot at time of visit.
About when was the connection installed. Any idea why it did not live up to expectations? I'm guessing it has to do with the rise and fall of the WC.
Wisconsin Central had access to Milwaukee by way of their purchase of the Fox River Valley. The Fox River Valley owned the former C&NW Fox Valley Line between Green Bay and Milwaukee.
When WC took over they basically added the northeast quadrant connecting track at Duplainville and took up the rails of the C&NW Line between West Bend & Eden.
That stretch is now the 25-mile Eisenbahn State Bike Trail.
https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/parks/eisenbahn
When CP arch rival CN took over WC the northeast quadrant connecting track at Duplainville was removed. I don't know the exact date.
MidlandMikeAbout when was the connection installed. Any idea why it did not live up to expectations? I'm guessing it has to do with the rise and fall of the WC.
I do not remember the date but it was right after the Soo bought the Milwaukee and was setting up the former Soo to be WC. I think it was called Lake States Transportation back then (prior to being called WC). I think after CN took over WC it was viewed as surplus and probably would never be used again.
Lake States Transportation was set up by Soo to try to get lower wages and more liberal work rules. When it didn't pan out as expected, or maybe they didn't expect it to pan out at all, it was put up for sale.
Jeff
The connection went into service on 10-10-86. The first revenue move over it was a re-route of the 5 private cars from the rear of Amtrak #8 that derailed at Fall River the day before. Cars were on their way to the AAPRCO conference in Milwaukee. They were the only cars on the train that did not derail.
The removal was two or three years ago. I was surprised at the extent of the work. Bare minimum would have been to remove the connections, but they went well beyond, removing all the track and taking the roadbed out to match the grade of the area.
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