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.
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 Cedar Lake & Slinger, Wisconsin, taken on November 19, 2001.
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| Cedar Lake - Arthur Road Overpass |
This timber stringer bridge carries Arthur Road over the
Wisconsin Central at Cedar Lake in Washington County, just north of the town of
Slinger. The bridge was built in 1936. Its deck is 19 feet wide and it has a
total length of 129.9 feet, with its longest span measuring 20.3 feet.
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| Cedar Lake - Looking South |
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| Cedar Lake - House |
There are houses along the east side of the tracks south of
the Arthur Road Bridge.
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| Cedar Lake - House #2 |
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| Cedar Lake - Tracks under the Arthur Road Overpass |
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| Cedar Lake - Under the Arthur Road Overpass |
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| North Slinger - Washington County Highway Shed |
This is the Washington County Highway Shed in Slinger, adjacent
to the State Highway 175/West Washington Street overpass over the Wisconsin
Central.
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| North Slinger - State Highway 175/West Washington Street Overpass |
This modern concrete overpass carries State Highway 175/West
Washington Street over the Wisconsin Central.
In addition to a passing siding, there was also a spur in
Slinger near this overpass.
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| North Slinger - Siding |
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| North Slinger - South Building |
On the west side of the tracks is an industrial area,
including this building.
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| North Slinger - Housing Development |
On the east side of the tracks is a housing development.
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| South Slinger - Old Depot from the North |
The LaCrosse & Milwaukee Railroad was completed to
Schleisingerville on August 23, 1855. It was merged into the Milwaukee &
St. Paul in 1867, which subsequently merged with the Chicago & Pacific
Railroad in 1874 to become the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway (also
known as The Milwaukee Road). The Wisconsin Central Railroad reached
Schleisingerville in 1882, crossing the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, but
rather than a diamond crossing, the two railroads actually share the same track
for a few hundred feet south of the Slinger depot, before separating again and
running parallel to each other for several miles. 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. This depot was
built by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul around 1911 and it served both
the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault
Ste. Marie. The previous depot was moved to become a residence at 121 Storck Street, where it remains today. 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 Railway was reorganized in 1928
as the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad, and after declaring
bankruptcy in 1977, the line through Slinger was taken over by the new
Wisconsin & Southern Railroad in 1980. In 1986, the depot was purchased by
E.H. Wolf & Sons, Inc. and was restored for use as the company’s new
headquarters as it moved from Ackerville to Slinger. It was also relocated
slightly to 414 Kettle Moraine Drive South; though it is near its original location, it has been rotated about 90
degrees to face Kettle Moraine Drive South rather than the tracks. On October 11, 1987, the Soo
Line spun off the former Wisconsin Central line to the new independent
Wisconsin Central, Ltd. Since August 1992, the Wisconsin & Southern has had
trackage rights over the Wisconsin Central from Slinger south to Waukesha. The
Wisconsin Central was purchased by Canadian National Railway on October 9,
2001.
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| South Slinger - Looking North |
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| South Slinger - Dick's Ambulance Service |
Richard Burg established Dick’s Ambulance Service in 1960, and
built this commercial building at 411 Kettle Moraine Drive South in 1969.
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| South Slinger - South Buildings |
The town now known as Slinger was founded in 1845 by Baruch
Schleisinger Weil, an immigrant merchant who was born in Strasbourg, France on
June 29, 1802, and settled here on November 1, 1845, buying two thousand acres
of government land and platting the village of Schleisingerville, which was
originally part of the town of Polk when the latter was organized on January
21, 1846. Schleisinger operated a general store and later a distillery before
moving from the town around 1859-1860. The village of Schleisingerville was
incorporated in 1869. Over time, people began to abbreviate the long name of
Schleisingerville as Slinger, and on April 5, 1921, the residents of the town
voted to officially change the name to Slinger and the name was officially
change on May 3, 1921.
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| South Slinger - North Buildings |
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| South Slinger - Old Depot from the South |
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| South Slinger - Foundations |
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| South Slinger - Storck Brewery from the North |
The Storck Brewery in Slinger traces its history back to the
Benedict Kornburger Brewery of 1868. Lehman Rosenheimer acquired the brewery in
1870. In 1877 Charles Storck and William Hartig acquired it and it became the
Storck & Hartig Brewery. Hartig’s name was dropped from the company name in
1884. One of the products produced by the Storck Brewery was Slinger Beer. The
brewery operated until 1958, surviving prohibition by making ice cream and
bootleg beer, and supplied the Milwaukee Brewers stadium during the 1953
Milwaukee brewery strike. The former brewery property is now used by Blaine’s
Auto & Truck Parts.
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| South Slinger - Storck Brewery from the South |
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| South Slinger - Houses |
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| South Slinger - White Building |
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| South Slinger - Blue Building looking North |
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| South Slinger - Yet Another Building |
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| South Slinger - Blue Building looking South |
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| South Slinger - Odd Building |
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| South Slinger - Old Depot from the East |
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| South Slinger - Sign on Old Depot |
Continue to
Ackerville to Colgate, WI…
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