These pictures were originally posted on the website of the Society of Model Engineers model railroad club at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. The website is no longer online, so I am posting them here.
…Continued from
Mukwonago, WI.
The new layout for the Society of Model Engineers at the
Milwaukee School of Engineering was to be based on the Wisconsin Central’s Chicago Subdivision between Burlington and Cedar Lake, Wisconsin, with staging yards representing Chicago, Illinois and Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. In November 2001, fellow SOME member Stuart Baker and I explored the route, taking pictures with a digital camera of interesting things along the line to model.
Here are the pictures from Honey Creek & Burlington, Wisconsin, taken on November 21, 2001.
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| Honey Creek - Siding |
Honey Creek is a small unincorporated community with a
population of about 400 people. It is named for nearby Honey Creek, which flows
south toward Burlington. County Highway D/Washington Avenue crosses the
Wisconsin Central main line in Honey Creek. There is a quarry served by rail in
Honey Creek along with another stub-ended siding.
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| Honey Creek - Building |
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| Honey Creek - West Side of Tracks |
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| Honey Creek - East Side of Track |
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| Burlington - Echo Lake Bridge |
Echo Lake is an artificial lake created by the 10-foot-high Echo
Lake Dam where the White River from the south and Honey Creek from the north
meet and flow into the Fox River. The Wisconsin Central main line crosses the
lake on this bridge near the middle of the lake.
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| Burlington - Burlington Farmers Supply, Inc. |
Burlington Farmers Supply, Inc. at 780 North Pine Street is a grain elevator near the
Burlington depot that is served by the railroad.
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| Burlington - Downtown |
New England settlers came to this area in 1836 and initially
named the settlement Foxville after the nearby Fox River, but they soon decided
to name it after Burlington, Vermont, and the name was officially changed on
July 15, 1839. Burlington was incorporated as a village in 1886 and became a
city in 1900.
Two major railroads once served Burlington. The first
railroad to pass through Burlington was the Racine, Janesville &
Mississippi Railroad in 1855, later reorganized as the Western Union Railroad
in 1866 and eventually merged into the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
Railroad (also known as The Milwaukee Road) in 1900, where it was the Racine
& Southwestern Division, often referred to as the Southwestern Line. The
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway was reorganized in 1928 as the
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad.
The other railroad was the Wisconsin Central Railroad, was
completed through Burlington in 1885-1886. The Wisconsin Central Railroad was
reorganized as the Wisconsin Central Railway in 1897 and was leased in 1909 by
the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway, which itself was
controlled by the Canadian Pacific Railway. On September 1, 1944, the
Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway was reorganized as the
Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railroad. The Wisconsin Central
Railroad entered receivership in 1932, declared bankruptcy in 1944, and was
reorganized as the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company in 1954. On January 1,
1961, the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railroad and the
Wisconsin Central Railroad Company were merged with the Duluth, South Shore
& Atlantic Railroad to form the Soo Line Railroad.
The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific declared
bankruptcy in 1977, and ran its last train west of Burlington in 1982. The Soo
Line acquired the remains of the Milwaukee Road in 1985, and on January 1,
1986, the bankrupt railroad was merged into the Soo Line. On October 11, 1987,
the Soo Line spun off the former Wisconsin Central line to the new independent
Wisconsin Central, Ltd. The former Milwaukee Road line between Sturtevant and
Burlington and between Burlington and Elkhorn was abandoned in 1995, though the
section in Burlington remains with a connection to the Wisconsin Central to
allow it to serve local industries along this section of track. Most of the
abandoned right of way is now the used for the White River State Trail. The
Wisconsin Central was purchased by the Canadian National Railway on October 9,
2001.
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| Burlington - Downtown |
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| Burlington - Wisconsin Central Depot & MOW Shed |
The brick depot built by the Wisconsin Central Railroad at 824 North Pine Street is
still in use by the Canadian National Railway today for local train crews and maintenance
personnel. There is also a Maintenance-Of-Way Shed in Burlington.
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| Burlington - Echo Lake Dam |
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| Burlington - Feed Mill |
In 1909, Chicago-area dairy farmers organized the Milk Producer's Co-Operative Marketing Company to get better prices for their milk. The organization spread through Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, and in 1920 the Burlington chapter incorporated as the Badger Dairy Company. In 1921 brothers James and Lawrence Murphy established the Murphy Brothers Company to manufacture and sell livestock feed. In 1925, they purchased the office and factory buildings of the Badger Dairy Company. The original factory was destroyed by fire in 1951 and a new Murphy Brothers Feed Mill was built, with various additions added over the years until 1972. The Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company of Milwaukee purchased Murphy Brothers in 1971, and was in turn purchased by the Stroh Brewing Company of Detroit in 1982. The former Murphy Brothers buildings were later purchased by Maple Leaf Farms of nearby Yorkville for use as a duck feed mill. In 1996, Purina Mills purchased the mill and restored it to full-scale feed operation following a $500,000 renovation. The former Murphy Brothers buildings were demolished in 2018 to make way for new development.
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| Burlington - Feed Mill |
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| Burlington - Feed Mill Trackside |
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| Burlington - Car Dealer |
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| Burlington - Car Dealer |
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| Burlington - Saint-Gobain Containers Glass Factory |
Saint-Gobain Containers is a glass factory that is served by the former Milwaukee Road line. It is at the west end of the surviving track. The plant
was built in 1965 by the Foster-Forbes Glass Company of Marion, Indiana. This
was the first glass factory in Wisconsin to produce glass bottles by machine.
Foster-Forbes was founded in 1911 as Upland Flint Glass Company and became
Foster-Forbes in 1929. In 1995, Saint-Gobain purchased both Foster-Forbes and
the Ball Corporation, merging them to form Ball-Foster Glass Container Company.
Ball-Foster Glass Container Company was renamed Saint-Gobain Containers in
2000.
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| Burlington - Saint-Gobain Containers Glass Factory |
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| Burlington - Lavelle Industries, Inc. |
Lavelle Industries, Inc., is a manufacturer of plastic and rubber components that has a siding on the former Milwaukee Road line, though it is unclear if this siding is being used.
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| Burlington - Lavelle Industries, Inc. |
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| Burlington - Lavelle Industries, Inc. |
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| Burlington - Saint-Gobain Containers Glass Factory from across the tracks |
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| Burlington - Cooperative Plus, Inc. from the South |
Cooperative Plus, Inc. is a grain elevator served by the
former Milwaukee Road line. CPI was founded on April 20, 1937. In 1944 it
purchased the Farmers Feed and Fuel Company facilities in Burlington, which
included a feed mill, feed warehouse, and a coal business. At the time the
Burlington Co-op had 17 employees and an annual payroll of $35,000. The Farmers
Feed and Fuel Company dated back to at least 1921.
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| Burlington - Cooperative Plus, Inc. from the South |
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| Burlington - Cooperative Plus, Inc. from the South |
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| Burlington - Cooperative Plus, Inc. from the South |
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Burlington – Nestlé Chocolate Factory
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The Nestl
é chocolate factory is an industry that
is served by the former Milwaukee Road line. It is at the east end of the
surviving track, near the connection with the Wisconsin Central main line. The
chocolate factory was built in 1966, and after it was built Burlington received
the nickname “Chocolate City, USA.”
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Burlington – Nestlé Chocolate Factory
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| Burlington - Cooperative Plus, Inc. from the North |
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| Burlington - Cooperative Plus, Inc. from the North |
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| Burlington - Wisconsin Central Right-of-Way to the South |
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