DRGW fan wrote: B.Erdmann wrote: also i do believethe old cnw route from fondy to milwaukee portions were takin out by wcbetween eden & west bend west bend to milwaukee still exist& the line to eden does.Why would therailroad go through all the bother (and expense) of tearing out such ashort section of rail? The old CNW line could have been used asan alternative in the event of disaster on their regular line.
B.Erdmann wrote: also i do believethe old cnw route from fondy to milwaukee portions were takin out by wcbetween eden & west bend west bend to milwaukee still exist& the line to eden does.
also i do believethe old cnw route from fondy to milwaukee portions were takin out by wcbetween eden & west bend west bend to milwaukee still exist& the line to eden does.
Why would therailroad go through all the bother (and expense) of tearing out such ashort section of rail? The old CNW line could have been used asan alternative in the event of disaster on their regular line.
Verysimple. Little on-line business. Other than the quarry at Marblehead,and the feed mill and canning factory at Eden, not much else betweenEden and West Bend.(about 30+ miles) CN still serves Eden andMarblehead from Fond du Lac, about 3 times a week.
TheAirline(as the subdivision was known in CNW days) was mainly a highspeed passenger line from Milwaukee to the Fox Valley. Most of thefreight went down the Clyman Junction line until about '86 when it wasabandoned between FDL and Clyman Junction. Then the Airline picked upwhat little freight there was between the Fox Valley and Milwaukee.Then CNW sold it to the Fox River Valley RR., which was sold toWisconsin Central in about 1990. The WC only kept the Airline untildouble-tracking of Byron Hill was completed, then it was abandoned.
The section between Eden and West Bend has been turned into a hiking/biking trail called the Eisenbahn trail. HTH
ShopsYardMaster wrote: DRGW fan wrote: B.Erdmann wrote: also i do believethe old cnw route from fondy to milwaukee portions were takin out by wcbetween eden & west bend west bend to milwaukee still exist& the line to eden does.Why would therailroad go through all the bother (and expense) of tearing out such ashort section of rail? The old CNW line could have been used asan alternative in the event of disaster on their regular line. Verysimple. Little on-line business. Other than the quarry at Marblehead,and the feed mill and canning factory at Eden, not much else betweenEden and West Bend.(about 30+ miles) CN still serves Eden andMarblehead from Fond du Lac, about 3 times a week. TheAirline(as the subdivision was known in CNW days) was mainly a highspeed passenger line from Milwaukee to the Fox Valley. Most of thefreight went down the Clyman Junction line until about '86 when it wasabandoned between FDL and Clyman Junction. Then the Airline picked upwhat little freight there was between the Fox Valley and Milwaukee.Then CNW sold it to the Fox River Valley RR., which was sold toWisconsin Central in about 1990. The WC only kept the Airline untildouble-tracking of Byron Hill was completed, then it was abandoned.The section between Eden and West Bend has been turned into a hiking/biking trail called the Eisenbahn trail. HTH
You seem to know quite a bit about that line...just by knowing about that quarry. Do you have any idea how the railroad is doing with their transloading terminal just south of West Bend? It seems that traffic is pretty regular in and out of there. Given the railroad sunk a little money into developing that AFTER that line was pretty much abandoned north of West Bend they must see some future for it. Any comments would be greatly appreciated!
solzrures I'm sure was made awhere of this, so pardon me if I'm late on this comment: The Airline ran from the Wiscona interlocking tower to North Fond du Lac. The only way to Manitowoc from Fond du Lac would either go north to Green Bay and take a train on the Lake Shore route south or go south to Milwaukee and take a train and take north, via Lake Shore Route. If you live in Fond du Lac before I believe it was 1926, the Marshfield to Fond du lac train service extended to include Sheboygan. From Sheboygan north to Manitowoc on Lake Shore Route
jclass The former Soo ROW through Oshkosh was abandoned by WC for good reasons. For instance, the roadbed was physically part of the front yards of many homes. As a railfan and modeler, it was fascinating; for everyone else, a nightmare. I think it's unfortunate that CN ended TOFC/COFC from Green Bay when it took over. Many more trucks on 41 and 43. There's some talk about the need to locate an intermodal transfer point in Wisconsin as CN develops its Prince Rupert - Chicago service. I hope it happens.
The former Soo ROW through Oshkosh was abandoned by WC for good reasons. For instance, the roadbed was physically part of the front yards of many homes. As a railfan and modeler, it was fascinating; for everyone else, a nightmare.
I think it's unfortunate that CN ended TOFC/COFC from Green Bay when it took over. Many more trucks on 41 and 43.
There's some talk about the need to locate an intermodal transfer point in Wisconsin as CN develops its Prince Rupert - Chicago service. I hope it happens.
There is an intermodal ramp in Chippy Falls, though it is quite small.
Would it be accurate to say that WC lived and died by the traffic they originated, hence the attention to customer service; while it is more or less a means for CN to cross the area, picking off only the traffic that's profitable under their business model?
I just joined this site. Funny there's a 8 year gap between my post and the last. Hope these new posts will revive it. I use to envy how fast the Soo use to run through Slinger, I watched them when I went to the Washington County Fair at Slinger before the move it to it's present location south of West Bend.
The CN management has to have daily or weekly deliveries to an industrial customer to keep serving them.
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