I was looking at a picture of the turntable and roundhouse in Janesville and the roundhouse looked like it was designed for diesels not steam locos. Is this something Wisconsin Southern built or is it the original building? If original, who built it?
Also, quite a few years ago, I was heading South from the North woods. As I approached Tower Bridge in Green Bay, to the West I saw a roundhouse in what looked like a train yard. Is it still there, is/was there a turntable there, and what railroad owns/owned it?
Thanks in advance.
James
The Janesville roundhouse was built by the Milwaukee Road in 1905, for steam engines. Engines back then were smaller, and it wasn't a big main line. Modern diesels just happen to fit very nicely.
Mike WSOR engineer | HO scale since 1988 | Visit our club www.WCGandyDancers.com
I believe the roundhouse you saw in Green Bay was/is the ex-C&NW...now U.P. house and I believe it is still there (or at least part of it).
Thanks for the information. I didn't know UP was running anything that far North. I thought CNW pulled out of Northeastern Wisconsin long before UP took over.
UP no longer serves Green Bay, but was the UP that sold the ex-CNW line north of Green Bay to the Wisconsin Central, soon after the merger, so it had a very brief history there and in Upper Michigan.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
The round house in green bay is used by the mow crews of the CN now. WC took out the turntable I believe in the 90"s. The also took out the underground fuel tanks to re-fuel engines too. dont know why but I suppose it was cheeper to have fuel trucks refuel on call rather then upkeep fuel tanks. It was origionaly C&NW round house since tracks were laid there in the 1800's. There was another round house in green bay also, the former greenbay and western, which the WC bought out in the early 90's, the roundhouse and turntable on the former GB&W are all gone. Along with most of the GB&W tracks across the great state of wisconsin. SAD! thats why I dont like mergers. Track is always ripped up.
I think the last of the C&NW roundhouse is gone [Edit: Nope, the last few, forlorn stalls are still there] but I can't remember if the turntable is still there. Gosh, I only drive by it every day, but I always look on the other side of the overpass. The GB&W shops and the old Milwaukee Road shops were torn some years ago, too. At least we still have the C&NW and MILW depots.
Imisswc The round house in green bay is used by the mow crews of the CN now. WC took out the turntable I believe in the 90"s. The also took out the underground fuel tanks to re-fuel engines too. dont know why but I suppose it was cheeper to have fuel trucks refuel on call rather then upkeep fuel tanks.
The round house in green bay is used by the mow crews of the CN now. WC took out the turntable I believe in the 90"s. The also took out the underground fuel tanks to re-fuel engines too. dont know why but I suppose it was cheeper to have fuel trucks refuel on call rather then upkeep fuel tanks.
Liability problem. The tanks were probably old and had zero spill protection to go with them. As a rule, railroads want no part of an u/g fuel tank. Better to build them above ground in a giant concrete bathtub that can hold 110+% of the volume of the tank. U/G fuel tanks now require vaults which are expensive, especially for railroad loadings.
When I passed the yard at North Green Bay this summer we drove over to the roundhouse area- the CN was using the old turntable area as a place for shredding old ties into mulch. There was only a few stalls remaining of the original structure in use by the MOW crews- a far cry for when I saw it as a kid surrounded by CNW Alcos and Geeps.
In reality though a good portion of the former GBW main line still exists- the line is still complete from East Winona to Plover (although the alignment in Wisconsin Rapids did see some GBW trackage removed there it can still be operated as a "through" route), then it is removed from just east of Plover to Manawa (with a short industrial lead at Amherst Jct. still in too). From Manawa it runs to New London and is still used by CN- the line from New London east to Green Bay- save for a small chunk at Black Creek used for car storage and the Onieda industrial lead on the west side of Green Bay- is gone. Green Bay to Kewaunee is also stubbed at Luxemburg. For the most part the GBW is still largely there- just not on the far eastern side of the state
Were the fronts of the steam locos kept outside at Janesville? The roof doesn't look as though it could handle the steam and smoke.
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