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
Waukesha, 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 Mukwonago, Wisconsin, taken on November 20, 2001.
The village of Mukwonago was incorporated in 1905. It was
originally the tribal seat of the Bear Clan of the Potawatomi, who ceded their
lands in 1832. The name Mukwonago comes from the Potawatomi word for “bear’s
den.”
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| Mukwonago - Bridge over State Highway 83/South Rochester Street |
The Wisconsin Central Railroad completed the line through
Mukwonago between Chicago and Waukesha in 1885, and this trestle over Wisconsin
State Highway 83/South Rochester Street was built in 1920. 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. On October 11, 1987, the
Soo Line spun off the former Wisconsin Central line to the new independent
Wisconsin Central, Ltd. The Wisconsin Central was purchased by the Canadian
National Railway on October 9, 2001. This bridge was the last known
rail-related historical resource in Mukwonago. It was replaced by a through
plate girder bridge by 2007.
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| Mukwonago - Bridge over the Mukwonago River |
Just south of the bridge over Wisconsin State Highway
83/South Rochester Street is a deck plate girder bridge over the Mukwonago
River.
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| Mukwonago - Bridges |
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| Mukwonago - Mukwonago River Bridge Footings |
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| Mukwonago - County Highway ES/Fox Street Overpass from the North |
This modern concrete overpass that carries County Highway
ES/Fox Street over the Wisconsin Central was built in 1995.
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| Mukwonago - County Highway ES/Fox Street Overpass from the South |
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| Mukwonago - Brittingham & Hixon Lumber Company Small Building - Oakland Avenue Side |
The W.S. Heddles Lumber Company was established on this site
at 616 Grand Avenue in 1897. It was the third lumberyard to open in Mukwonago
within 10 years. It was purchased by the Alexander Lumber Company of Chicago,
Illinois in December 1924. Their first manager at this location was Peter
Christisen. John Alexander was the youngest of the Alexander family who came to
Wisconsin from Scotland in the 1870s. In the 1880s he was hired by the Stewart
family of Wausau, Wisconsin, to open a lumberyard in Aurora, Illinois. In 1891,
John Alexander opened his own lumberyard in Aurora, the Alexander Lumber Co.,
with the help of partners Tom Brittingham and Joe Hixon and a $5,000 loan from
the Continental Illinois Bank of Chicago. The company continued to expand and
by the 1920s Alexander operated more than 100 lumberyards. In 1929, he bought
out his partners and acquired the Brittingham & Hixon lumberyards in
Wisconsin, which he continued to operate using the Brittingham & Hixon name
as a subsidiary. During the Great Depression, Alexander continued to expand by
purchasing additional lumberyards. His son, John Alexander, Jr., was named
president of the company in 1932, and starting in 1940 the day-to-day
operations were managed by vice-president Otto Unteed. John Alexander, Sr. died
in 1944 and his son assumed full control of the company. Following the
retirement of Otto Unteed in 1966, control was passed on to the third
generation as Walter Alexander became company president, a position he would
hold for 45 years until his retirement in 2014. This lumberyard closed between
May and September of 2008.
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| Mukwonago - Brittingham & Hixon Lumber Company Large Building - Oakland Avenue Side |
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| Mukwonago - Brittingham & Hixon Lumber Company Sign |
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| Mukwonago - Brittingham & Hixon Lumber Company Small Building - Track Side |
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| Mukwonago - Brittingham & Hixon Lumber Company Large Building - Track Side |
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| Mukwonago - Brittingham & Hixon Lumber Company Large Building - Track Side |
The Soo Line passenger train depot was located next to the
lumberyard at 610 Grand Avenue. It was demolished after the Soo Line
discontinued passenger service on the line in 1961, and the lumberyard appears
to have expanded onto the former depot property.
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| Mukwonago - Horn Feeds, Inc. Granary from the North East |
This grain handling facility at 728 Clarendon Avenue was
built around the turn-of-the-century adjacent to the Wisconsin Central Railroad
tracks, providing farmers with a method to ship their products to distant
markets. It was originally operated by Buell & Goodman. It has been Horn
Feeds, Inc. since 1978.
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| Mukwonago - Horn Feeds, Inc. Granary Trackside |
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| Mukwonago - Horn Feeds, Inc. Granary Trackside |
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| Mukwonago - Horn Feeds, Inc. Granary Trackside |
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| Mukwonago - Horn Feeds, Inc. Granary Trackside |
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| Mukwonago - Horn Feeds, Inc. Granary Small Building from Clarendon Avenue |
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| Mukwonago - Horn Feeds, Inc. Granary Small Bins from Clarendon Avenue |
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| Mukwonago - Horn Feeds, Inc. Granary Fuel Station from Clarendon Avenue |
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| Mukwonago - Horn Feeds, Inc. Granary from the South |
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| Mukwonago - Horn Feeds, Inc. Granary Tall Bins from Clarendon Avenue |
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| Mukwonago - Horn Feeds, Inc. Granary from Clarendon Avenue |
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| Mukwonago - Horn Feeds, Inc. Granary from Clarendon Avenue |
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| Mukwonago - Horn Feeds, Inc. Granary Office from Clarendon Avenue |
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| Mukwonago - Horn Feeds, Inc. Granary Sign |
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| Mukwonago - Horn Feeds, Inc. 1986-1991 Volvo FE6 Box Truck |
Based on the Volvo FL first
introduced in the summer of 1985, the Volvo FE6 was introduced for North
America in 1986. Usually powered by a Volvo TD63 6-cylinder turbocharged diesel
engine, they were also available with a lower-priced 6.6-liter Caterpillar
3116. Also available was the FE7 model, with a larger 7-liter Volvo TD73 diesel
engine for heavy-duty applications. The Volvo FE received a minor facelift for
1992, with the front turn signals moving to the corners of the bumper, and
continued to be offered in North America through 1998.
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| Mukwonago - Great Lakes Western Rail Tours Sleeping-Lounge-Buffet Car #3225 |
Mukwonago-based Great
Lakes Western Rail Tours, Inc. was founded in mid-1990 by a group of private
railcar owners to operate their cars for excursions and business conferences. The
cars themselves remained owned by the individuals in limited partnerships, but
were all painted in this Chicago & North Western-inspired paint scheme. Great
Lakes Western ran their first excursion on Memorial Day in 1992, operating on
the Wisconsin Central. Great Lakes Western Rail Tours seems to have ceased
operating after 1994. This lone car remaining on a Mukwonago siding seemed to
have been sitting for some time. It was built by American Car & Foundry in
1949 as Atlantic Coast Line Ponte Vedra Beach. It had 6 Double Bedrooms, a
Lounge, and a Buffet, and originally had fluted sides. The Atlantic Coast Line
was merged into the Seaboard Coast Line on July 1, 1967, and this car became Seaboard
Coast Line #6605, retaining its name. After Amtrak took over passenger service
on May 1, 1971, it became Amtrak #3225. It was off the Amtrak roster by 1979.
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| Mukwonago - CSX Freight Train |
This CSX through freight train passing through Mukwonago at County Highway NN/East Veterans Way is powered by a pair of 3,000-horsepower 6-axle diesel-electric locomotives built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors. It appears the lead locomotive is an SD40 while the trailing unit is an SD40-2 trailing. On CSX, SD40s were numbered from 8300 to 8438, and SD40-2s were numbered from 8000 to 8261. CSX acquired all of these locomotives from its predecessors when it was formed in 1986. Of the 138 SD40s, which were built between June 1966 and September 1971, the largest number, 63, came from the Chesapeake & Ohio, with others from Louisville & Nashville, Clinchfield, Western Maryland, Baltimore & Ohio, and Gainesville Midland. Of the 263 SD40-2s, which were built between October 1974 and October 1981, the vast majority, 202, came from the Louisville & Nashville with the rest coming from Seaboard Coast Line, Baltimore & Ohio, and Clinchfield. The majority of the Louisville and Nashville SD40-s along with all of those from Seaboard Coast Line and Clinchfield were delivered in the Family Lines paint scheme, while the Baltimore & Ohio SD40-2s were painted for Chessie System. CSX rebuilt many of its SD40s to SD40-2 standards, making these locomotives essentially identical from an operational and maintenance perspective, but the earlier model still lacks the longer frame, front and rear “porches” and the water level sight glass of the later model.
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| Mukwonago - North Water Tower |
This Water Tower at County Highway NN/East Veterans Way on
the north side of town is one of Mukwonago’s two water towers and has a
capacity of 500,000 gallons.
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| Mukwonago - East Troy Electric Railroad Connection |
This line was built by The Milwaukee Electric Railway and
Light Company as part of a line from East Troy to Milwaukee. In 1939, the rest
of the line to Hales Corners was abandoned, but the village of East Troy
purchased the segment from the connection with the Soo Line at Mukwanago to
East Troy. Under the terms of the purchase, The Milwaukee Electric Railway and
Light Company continued to operate the line for ten years, but declined to
renew the agreement in 1949 and the village of East operated the line itself as
the Municipality of East Troy Wisconsin Railroad. In 1967 The Wisconsin
Electric Railway Historical Society relocated from North Freedom to East Troy
and began operating its collection of historic electric railway equipment on
the line using a trackage rights agreement with the village of East Troy. In
1984 the trackage rights agreement ended as the village of East Troy made an
agreement with the Wisconsin Trolley Museum to operate the line as the East
Troy Electric Railroad. The Friends of East Troy Railroad Museum, Inc. has
since purchased the line from the village of East Troy. The East Troy Electric
Railroad is a common carrier that retains the ability to carry freight to and
from East Troy.
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| Mukwonago - Near East Troy Electric Railroad |
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| Mukwonago - South Water Tower |
This Water Tower near Interstate 43 on the south side of
town is one of Mukwonago’s two water towers and has a capacity of 500,000
gallons.
Continue to
Honey Creek & Burlington, WI…
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