Wisconsin Central/SOO Line Discussion!

[beaulieu]

Soo was still operating Morse into the very early Seventies in a few places, mainly east of Ladysmith and north of Neenah. Wasn't used much but the old heads operators and agents still used it.

[Lord Atmo]

i'm heading out to Milwaukee this weekend and the interstate goes alongside a CP main for quite a while. so i hope to see a lot of SOO there.

then i also go alongside a UP main. it's a very nice ride. lots of trains.

i know i kid myself, but i hope to see WC too. i'm sorry for the stupid question, but did WC ever have track in or near Milwaukee?

[zardoz]

i'm heading out to Milwaukee this weekend and the interstate goes alongside a CP main for quite a while. so i hope to see a lot of SOO there.

then i also go alongside a UP main. it's a very nice ride. lots of trains.

i know i kid myself, but i hope to see WC too. i'm sorry for the stupid question, but did WC ever have track in or near Milwaukee?

My Lord,

The only track the recent incarnation of the WC had was through Waukesha (just west of Milwaukee).  The CN operates a transfer into the Milwaukee CP yard, accessing it from Duplainville.

btw, what UP line do you know of that has "lots" of trains.  The busiest UP line in Wisconsin is the Milwaukee sub from Proviso to Bain (and busy is definitely a relative term here).

Many, many moons ago the CNW used the former Madison sub from Belton to Waukesha as a connection for freight destined for the Soo (WC).  I believe (but am not quite sure) that the connection is no longer in place.

[Noah Hofrichter]

i'm heading out to Milwaukee this weekend and the interstate goes alongside a CP main for quite a while. so i hope to see a lot of SOO there.

then i also go alongside a UP main. it's a very nice ride. lots of trains.

i know i kid myself, but i hope to see WC too. i'm sorry for the stupid question, but did WC ever have track in or near Milwaukee?

You've got a decent chance of seeing both the WC and the UP in the Milwaukee area. Occasionally a SOO locomotive will end up on a CP train, and there are usually at least two or three SOO units hanging around Muskego yard in Milwaukee, just east of Miller Park (where the Brewers play baseball). The WC also puts in the occasional appearance on the track between Chicago and Fon du Lac that Zardo mentioned. The best spot to see both of these at once is Duplainville, if you can convince the parents to spend at least an hour or two here, you are bound to see a train or two. And if you are really lucky, you might catch the occasional SOO or WC units (especially on locals).

On the UP you aren't going to catch a whole lot. Just a few mainifest trains, and the roadrailer along with the occasional local. Not much there though, but if you have a scanner and listen for traffic you might catch something.

Noah

[WSOR 3801]

The CNW connection at Grand Ave. in Waukesha is gone.  Carroll College put up tennis courts where the tracks went.  I remember one time when the CNW had 20-some cars to interchage with the WC.  They get permission, and pulled out onto the WC main.  They cleared the switch, and the WC SW1500 tied on, and dragged the string north towards the yard. 

WC 2006 was on the Burlington job a week or two ago, and WC 6004 has been on the Spur 105 rock job.

Sit at Duplainville, might even see the WSOR go by.

On the scanner, make sure you program in the EOT frequency.  The little chirps will let you know if a train is close, even if nobody is talking on the radio.

[Lord Atmo]

i love how you automatically assume i own a scanner. they cost some hundred dollars that i dont have. so i go by luck. thanks for the advice, guys, but i'm metting up with my friend chris (gluefinger on these forums) and he's gonna take me to where the best fanning spots are.

BUTLER!

[Gluefinger]

<BLOCKQUOTE><table class="quoteOuterTable"><tr><td class="txt4"><img src="/trccs/Themes/default/images/icon-quote.gif">&nbsp;<strong>wctransfer wrote:</strong></td></tr><tr><td class="quoteTable"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="100%" valign="top" class="txt4">WC GP38-2s and a few GP40s are now in British Columbia on the old BC Rail track. Unless things change, this will be where these units will be forever. Right now, i believe all of the 38-2s, 2001-2006, and one GP40, # 3005, are now up there. CN decided to do this after having trouble with dynamic brakes, and since the WC units have dynos, it makes sense I guess. Sad to see the WC geeps go, and now i suppose Im going to see more CN 4 Axle junk...

Alec</td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

WC 002001 MARKHAM IL 08 14 2030 U Arrive In-Transit Q11841 CN

WC 002002 LILLOOET BC 08 02 2125 U Arrive In-Transit L57251 CN

WC 002003 CHETWYND BC 08 14 2343 U Arrive In-Transit L57851 CN

WC 002004 MARKHAM IL 08 02 1900 U Arrive In-Transit Q11841 CN

WC 002005 FRASERVIEW BC 08 15 0745 U Departure A48551 CN

WC 002006 EXETER BC 08 14 1420 U Arrive In-Transit L57251 CN

At least we still have two.

[beaulieu]

i love how you automatically assume i own a scanner. they cost some hundred dollars that i dont have. so i go by luck. thanks for the advice, guys, but i'm metting up with my friend chris (gluefinger on these forums) and he's gonna take me to where the best fanning spots are.

BUTLER!

You can listen to a scanner over the Internet this website has a feed for the Twin Cities which will give you a warning of when trains are headed east out of St. Paul, once you learn what to listen for.

Railroadradio.net

[Andrew Falconer]

In the Trains Newswire there is an article and a photo of the fully restored Soo Line Wide-Vision Caboose #1. The photo also features the fully restored SOO GP30 #700. The people at the Lake Superior Railway Museum have done excellent work.

Andrew

 

[coborn35]

In the Trains Newswire there is an article and a photo of the fully restored Soo Line Wide-Vision Caboose #1. The photo also features the fully restored SOO GP30 #700. The people at the Lake Superior Railway Museum have done excellent work.

Andrew

 

Really? We made it into there? AWESOME!! Our curator has been working on the caboose for months, and I will be riding it next Friday.  We took out our FP7, first one ever owned by SOO, our GP30, which saw service on WC, and our caboose over to Superior using a CP crew. If anyone is ever interested, come down and ask for Max, as I would be happy to give you a tour of them, as well as some of our other equipment. ( I am hardly there during winter, so come during the summer)

Also WC related, ( and I am working here tomorow) The LSRM owns the former WC Engineer training simulator, which CN donated. It features the cab of WC SD45 #7528 and you can run the Neenah Subdivision, Minneapolis Subdivision, and two Delaware and Hudson routes. It was an actual video shot on the line in the 1970's.

Here is a shot of the cab, and from the window you can see the large projector screen:

[coborn35]

In the Trains Newswire there is an article and a photo of the fully restored Soo Line Wide-Vision Caboose #1. The photo also features the fully restored SOO GP30 #700. The people at the Lake Superior Railway Museum have done excellent work.

Andrew

 

Also, would you mind sending me the article and photo so I can post it in our shop?

[wcfan4ever]

WC 2001, WC 2004, and WC 2005 are all back in the US again.  The 2004 and 2005 are currently sitting down at Markham Yard for is what I guess inspections.

[da Milwaukee beerNut]

GP40 WC3005 was on the Saukville sub less than 48 hours ago - a long trek from Manitoba where it was traced on 9/12.

[WCfan]

any examples of what they did? all i see is them buying out WC to get a clear route to Chicago and scrapping SD45s because it's power they dont need.

I HATE THEM!

I hate them too. CN stinks. Look at there web site at the Wisconsin Central Story. They said they wanted to partner with them. And CN would do the same thing as WC did. Noooooo way. WC use to switch out here every day. CN only does it once or twice a week.

[B.Erdmann]

the Soo & WC will be lived on forever ,

 

even though the soo wasnt around in my time but i think cp isnt that stupid as CN is, look on the CP all the old soo locomotives & i always see soo cars too. i have to get pics of the soo & cp locomotives yet, now CN they took the WC name out of every thing, cars, locomotives etc. if you go around stevens point u only see 1 or 2 signs for bo tresspassing that sat wc on it otherwise it all says CN now. even in my town CN put signs up, their is this bridge that goes over the river & the wc let people fish off of it since they only came through twice a week & now cn put a sign up  &  it says no tresspassing, vilolators will be prossecuted. the wheel thats at the shops in fdl they covered up the WC name on it w/ something else & the signs on the shops & all that say CN now. the yard tower awning still says WC but the sign on the buildign says CN. i think if the wc was still its own railroad it would be alot different. & if wc bought the  soo when cp tried selling it they would be a big railroad a yard in the twin cities & then if they did buy the line CN would of never came in but wc wanted to pay off the debt from buying the lake states which is reasonable not to get into anymore debt. ya CN took out alot of the old wc lines too like past shawano the line dont  exist anymore, the line from saukville to kiel was sold to WSOR but WSOR is a good line & partnered w/ the wc so they could run from horicon to janesville. does CN still do the milwaukee trun at duplainville? i cant find that out yet?

 

 

[Andrew Falconer]

Who owns SOO Wide-Vision Caboose #60?

Andrew

[RRFoose]

Right before CN bought WC, they had leased some CR SD80MACs.  Was WC testing and planning on buying new power, or were these just temporary leases?  As much as they loved the 45's, new power would eventually have to show up (look at MRL) - although SD40-2's and second-hand SD50/60's may have been the next step.

[Soo 6604]

Right before CN bought WC, they had leased some CR SD80MACs.  Was WC testing and planning on buying new power, or were these just temporary leases?  As much as they loved the 45's, new power would eventually have to show up (look at MRL) - although SD40-2's and second-hand SD50/60's may have been the next step.

They were testing DP power up on the ore lines in Michigan, kinda nice to see Conrail Blue mixed in with the WC Maroon

Paul

[EJE818]

I am not sure if the WC was interested in new power or not. I'm sure if the WC was still around the SD45s would be as well. Maybe some of the more odd stuff like the GP35s and that kind of stuff would be gone, but I think the SD45s, SD40-2s, GP38-2s, GP40s and possibly the F45s would still be running.

[RRFoose]

Right before CN bought WC, they had leased some CR SD80MACs.  Was WC testing and planning on buying new power, or were these just temporary leases?  As much as they loved the 45's, new power would eventually have to show up (look at MRL) - although SD40-2's and second-hand SD50/60's may have been the next step.

They were testing DP power up on the ore lines in Michigan, kinda nice to see Conrail Blue mixed in with the WC Maroon

Paul

If they wanted distributed power, wouldn't that mean they'd have to buy new locos with the technology in them though?

I'm the sure the 45's would still be around - but they're getting fewer and farther between to keep buying up.  They may have very well been rebuilt to fake SD40-2's in due time. 

[EJE818]

The WC was in the process of rebuilding the SD45s, but they were not turning them into fake SD40-2s. They were rebuilding them into what are known as SD45Q-3s by knocking down the HP a bit and adding a updated electrical system known as a Q-tron. They were not able to rebuild all of them, however. The ones that are 74XX, 75XX or 76XX were rebuilt. Anything that was not rebuild had a 64XX, 65XX, or 66XX number. I think if CN didn't but the WC they would still be doing this rebuilding program. They would also probably still be around for a while because the WC did a excellent job maintaining them. Also, MRL got rid of a bunch of SD45s recently. I wonder if the WC would've bought them from MRL if they were still around? 

[WCfan]

Exactly what Robby said. I think WC would of kept the SD45 for a long time. They might have kept rebuilding them too. I do wonder if WC would of got the MRL SD45s. I'm also pretty sure WC would of keep the F45s and the FP45. As I have heard crews liked them because of the wider cabs, and another benifet was that you didn't have to worry about icey walk ways.

[EJE818]

I also think if the WC was still around, the DM&IR and B&LE would still be independant as well, and CN wouldn't even be thinking of taking over EJ&E either. I also think they would eventually get rid of the older stuff like the GP30s and GP35s. I think a good possibility would've been more secondhand SD40-2s and GP38-2s. I think the SDL39s would still be around as well for branchline service. Overall, I think the SD45s, F45s, the FP45, the GP38-2s, the SD40-2s and the SDL39s would still be around, and posssibly the GP9s for yard service.

[wctransfer]

I can almost guarantee that the GP7s and GP9s would still be around. The WC rebuilt those things also, along with chopping the noses on the ex AC ones. The 1501-1506 blcok had some very nice engines, the crews loved them. Much better than CNs...

Alec