From: dave@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Dave Rasmussen)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: W&S ramblings
Date: 8 Oct 1992 20:30:04 GMT
Organization: UW-Milwaukee Computing Services Division
Distribution: na
NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.89.7.40
Originator: dave@opus.csd.uwm.edu

>From dave Wed Oct  7 14:34:20 1992
>Subject: Re: W&S,WICT
>To: jwm26@cas.org (John Murley)
>Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 14:34:20 -0500 (CDT)
>In-Reply-To: <9210071423.AA3206@cas.org: from "John Murley" at Oct 7, 92 02:24:01 pm

:From jwm26@cas.org Wed Oct  7 13:24:36 1992
:
:It's been a while since we've corresponded.  As you may remember,
:I am (was) interested in the Wisconsin and Calumet, which I have
:heard through the grapevine has been purchased, or at least is
:now operated by, the Wisconsin and Southern.  If I remember
:correctly, W&S runs out of North Milwaukee yards up to Horicon,
:Ripon, maybe Oshkosh, and Beaver Dam.  They have a connection
:with Wisconsin Central somewhere northwest of Milwaukee.  I know
:WICT ran as far east as Waukesha, where it had an interchange
:with WC and C&NW.  Have you heard if W&S traffic is now
:connecting between the two previously isolated systems, possibly
:via WC or some other routing?  Any plans for dinner trains or
:excursions out on the old WICT?
:
I haven't seen anything other than the speculation in the train 
magazines. There was an article in the Milwaukee Journal last week
that W&S was going to place 60-80 jobs at the old Wisconsin Bridge
and Steel plant where the Milwaukee Road Beer Line joined the line
north of AOSmith, which used to be the Milwaukee's North Milwaukee
yard. W&S will have trackage rights on the WC from Rugby Jct to Waukesha,
and I've also heard W&S is interested in buying the Madison-Watertown
line from the SOO. This has us WisARP people excited because one of the
drawbacks to Chicago Madison Amtrak service was that SOO had little freight
on the line and Amtrak would have to maintain it.

:According to my hometown paper (Boscobel Dial), upgrading of the
:Madison-Praire Du Chien line was not affected by the sale and
:continues as before.  Previous projects had upgraded sections
:between Fox Lake, Illinois and Janesville and between Janesville
:and Madison.  I don't think much if anything has been done with
:the section that connected Waukesha with Milton Junction, which
:is on the Janesville-Madison segment.  An optimistic note is that
:W&S has approached several local industries situated close to the
:railroad for possible new business, something which the local
:paper said hadn't been done by WICT.  It would be nice to see
:sidings being built instead of torn up for a change.
:
:According to the net, Glenn Mohart's F-units are not currently
:being used, and the Janesville yard is idle.  Janesville was
:previously the hub for operations to and from Chicago, Madison,
:Waukesha, and Freeport.  Any idea what their current operating
:scheme is?  There isn't much trackage available for switching in
:Madison.  Also, what motive power is being used on old WICT
:trackage?  WICT had a fleet of blue GP9's (I think) with white
:lettering.  I suspect they may still be on the property, but I'm
:in Ohio and can't verify.
:
:Any info you can provide would be greatly appreciated.  Also, feel
:free to forward this to rec.railroad, as other folks may be interested
:or have input.
:
:Thanks,
:John Murley  (jwm26@cas.bitnet)
:
I'll forward all of this to rec.railroad for you.


:From jwm26@cas.org Wed Oct  7 23:24:36 1992
:Thanks for the info and for posting on the net.  It's good to see
:that W&S has trackage rights over WC.  Mentioning that old beer line,
:who switches that now?  I think that officially WC has the old Milwaukee
:Road line to Green Bay now, but they don't run much on it.  Soo (CP) may
:still own part of that track up beyond where it splits off of the mainline
:to the Twin Cities, but I don't know.  I would imagine there is some
:traffic in the North Milwaukee yard (W&S, Soo locals, WC locals, beer
:traffic), but I haven't been up there in ages.  
:
:W&S buying the Madison-Watertown line?  I would hope that would include
:trackage rights into Milwaukee on Soo, in which case it would give
:W&S a direct route from Milwaukee to Madison and on to the Mississippi,
:with fast running east of Watertown.  I would like to see Amtrak to
:Madison, but much track work would be needed between Watertown and
:Madison (probably 10 mph track right now).  The Wisconsin government
:seems to be much more pro-train than Ohio's to be considering such
:improvements.
:
:I am active in OARP (Ohio's WISARP equivalent) and our major objective
:is to get rail service on existing 79mph trackage between Cincinnati,
:Dayton, Columbus, and Cleveland.  I guess they've been trying since
:Amtrak was conceived, but not much success.  Occasionally they send
:test trains through with political dignitaries, but that's about it.
:Fortunately, Conrail has done major tie and rail replacement in the
:area for their own trains, which should avoid major projects of that
:sort should Amtrak start running in the near future.  I guess a
:Cincinnati section of the Lakeshore Limited splitting off at Cleveland
:is our best chance for success, but a corridor with at least three
:trains in each direction per day (to start with) is the goal.  
:Hopefully the upcoming elections will bring in some state folks more
:receptive to the idea of 403b trains.  We'll see...
:
:John
:
-- 
Dave Rasmussen - SysAdm/Hacker/Consulting Manager, UWM Computing Svcs Div.
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Newsgroups: rec.railroad