I stumbled across these pictures on the Internet. The depot caught fire in 2000 because of a tenant restaurant on the first floor. Apparently they had insurance and that led to rebuilding the depot. Not sure when the restoration photos were taken or what happened to the SOO LINE sign.....which looked neon to me.
It's a pretty large depot for a po-dunk town but I guess being a Port city and rail junction helps as well.
After fire picture of the Depot (year 2000).
http://www.lacusveris.com/The%20Hi-Line%20and%20the%20Yellowstone%20Trail/The%20Bois%20Brule/sooashlfire1.jpg
http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr0901/misc4.jpg
Restored Depot Pictures (not sure of date):
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Ashland_WI_Depot.jpg
http://www.tkda.com/images/project-gallery/arch_hist_sooline_1.jpg
http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr1001/misc12.jpg
Ashland, Wisconsin must be a town that treasures its history. What a solid, handsome, masculine railroad station; it just says "Old Northwest." Any town would be proud to have such a station as this.
How forward-looking to re-build it after the devastaing fire. Bravo, Ashland!
I visited the Ashland Station on vacation in 2014 and it is indeed beautiful. Soo Line "Decapod" No. 950 sits across the street from the depot. There is a nice history display in the lobby that tells the story of the depot and its restoration.
I rode what was probably the last scheduled passenger train out of this station, on January 2, 1971. (I had come north on an overnight Greyhound from Skokie, IL.) By that time, C&NW's nameless remnant of the Flambeau "400" was a seasonal operation, running only in summer and over the Christmas-New Year's season. Of course, by the following summer, when service would presumably have resumed, the North Western was happily out of the intercity passenger business.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.