Folks doing business with the Soo out on the Greenwood Line were at a loss to understand why the Soo Line had the Attitude the Company Had towards "Their" (The Folks living out in Greenwood & Loyal always considered the Greenwood Line to be THEIR Rail line) Railroad that the Soo Line had.

Only the Section from the West Yard Limits over Bear Creek at Loyal to the Rock Creek Bridge outside of Greenwood remained in respectable shape; years before, someone had slipped up and had put actual Rock underneath the track. It needed Tamping & Lining in places, but almost to the end the Loyal-Greenwood Section was still a decent looking piece of Track.

The First Winter Dad was Traveling Agent on the Greenwood Line he got his first taste of what the Soo Line had in store for this line: In late December of 1971 it Snowed. The Local was sent that night up to Colby First to do the work in Spencer thence Northward to Packaging Corporation in Colby, and then come back to Marshfield, thence out to Greenwood. That had been the Operating "Modus Operandi" in the first couple of years Dad was Traveling Agent on the Greenwood Line, send # 57 north as far as Colby-Abbotsford first, then back to Marshfield and henceforth out to Loyal & Greenwood.

By the time the Train was on it's way to Greenwood, there was enough snow, whipped by a nasty wind, that not quite out of the City Of Marshfield City Limits the Local was bashing through some pretty good sized drifts. I recall we got out of School early that day because of the Weather.

The Train, however, made it's slow (10 mph) way out towards Loyal.

Only, they never got there.

At Veefkind, a Cross-roads community that consisted of, at that time, three new homes, a Grave Yard and a Farm (Which the Greenwood Line crossed the Drive way of), the Local finally stuck into a small drift and couldn't get out, not at 10 mph. So, the Crew took a "Run" at it. They broke through, allright, but the Engine, Soo Line GP-9 # 2400, ended up at cross-puposes to the route in which it was following! Dad, and the Railroad itself, claimed the engine hit a broken crosstie sticking up above the rails, forced upwards by a fast frost----when the Snow Storm started, it was still above freezing---and that ALONE had pushed the 2400 ' WAAAAAAYYYY off her intended Destination. Having a Xerox Copy of the Newspaper Photo taken of 2400 after it had left the rails, in my "Paper" Collection, if this locomotive got that far out of line of the rails it was supposed to be following by getting stuck on a piece of broken crosstie, then Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy really exist! Let me just point this out: At the point where the 2400 went off, the Greenwood Line followed a Northwest-Southeast routing. The 2400 was sitting facing Rear End First to the WEST (She had been headed rear-end first as was the Soo's custom for single Locomotives used in this area: Rear end West, Front end East). I still highly doubt a Broken Crosstie forced a 123-ton locomotive that far off the track, esp. when I have been told this happened as the Engine was in REVERSE. The Temperature dropped I forget how many degrees in how short a time. The Greenwood Line was in such sad shape that so many ties were broken---pushed upwards by the frost in the Mud under the ties as much as the weight of 100-ton cars passing above forcing their weight down atop the rail and ties.

Dad was Called Out at 11 p.m. to go careening down unplowed Township roads in the Dark in the waning period of what had been a full-fledged Blizzard, earlier that day, to retrieve the Train Crew and bring them back to Marshfield.

The Train, 10 cars & Caboose, were pulled back to Marshfield the next day. The Geep took a full day and a half to re-rail. Even after the Freezing that took place, Section Men, the Wrecking Crew and the Carmen on hand had one *Hell* of a time trying to find solid footing for Jacks & Planking. I'm assuming the re-railing of the 2400 in below-zero cold, at Cross-purposes to her original routing, was something of an art! # 2400 ran light back to Marshfield, and the Soo Line contemplated plowing the Greenwood Line out.

Management Contemplated this for One Week. In the mean time, it had Snowed again, substantially.

Soo Line ran a Plow Extra two weeks after the 2400 & her Train got as far as Veefkind. It took some 10 hours, but Jordan Spreader W-80, tool car, Caboose and Locomotive made it to Milepost 5, whereupon the W-80 hit the Ground for the 35th time! In the first 5 miles of the Greenwood Line, W-80 had been off the track in one form or another 35 times. That was enough; the Plow Extra limped back to Marshfield, and the Greenwood Line was Embargoed of further traffic.

I quote the Roadmaster at the time, a Gentleman named Martini, of a comment he made to Dad after the 35 derailment fiasco: "Jesus Crist, Neil! Every Grade Crossing was a New Adventure!" Ice had built up in the Flangeways of all the Grade Crossings the Soo Line had on the Greenwood Line in those first five miles, but no one had thought of having the Section Crew out Chopping out those Flangeways ahead of the W-80. And, I would be remiss to mention, W-80 DID have awful problems with those aforementioned Broken Crossties that it was claimed that put the 2400 off the Track (almost off the Right-of-Way!!!) at Veefkind which had, truthfully, put the W-80 off the track the other 30 times it hit the ground. Dad complained for years afterwards, to any Section Foreman, Road Foreman or Roadmaster that would listen to him, that the Soo should have used a Russell Plow like the W-262 on the Greenwood Line versus a Jordan Spreader. A Jordan Spreader can adjust the Plow Blade lower to the Track and effect Flanging in that manner where a Russell blade is Fixed. They carry a Flanger toward the Rear of the Carbody underneath, however. I've often wondered if the Use of a Russell would have worked any better than a Jordan Spreader did considering the conditions out on the Greenwood Line.

Two more Weeks passed before the Soo Line attempted to plow the Greenwood Line again. This time, a rented/leased Bulldozer from a Local Private Firm preceeded the W-80, and in Between the Section Men chopped out Ice from between the Flangeways at EACH Country Road Crossing, followed by the W-80, wings out, plow blade down. It took 3 days to just reach Loyal in this Manner.

That Spring, btw, after the Snow melted, you could see rotted pieces of ties pushed off the R-O-W by the Bulldozer when it plowed ahead of the W-80, breaking those pieces off sticking up above the railheads in the process. That was the idea all along.

It was some three more days before the Soo Line lifted the Embargo on traffic on the Greenwood Line, and then, wonder of wonders, some 40 cars had built up at Marshfield waiting to head out to Loyal & Greenwood. And the train was going to run: A single GP-9, 40 cars, and Caboose.

On level--or relatively level---track, a single Geep would have a tough time moving a train this long, but move it it would, even in the Cold that had descended on Wisconsin after the Storm in question (By the time the Train Ran out to Loyal & Greenwood, it had snowed thrice more from the time of the Derailment, to Plowing to the Train finally Running out there). The Problem with the Greenwood Line was that, at MP 1, the line reached a very low point, and then climbed, at about 1.5 % upwards to Milepost 3, thereafter the line "Flattened" out a bit, but still proceeded to climb, though not at the steep gradient of before. Still, a Geep would ROAR from MP 1 to MP 5, anytime the train length following the Locomotive exceeded 10 cars, all at the Breakneck speed of 10 mph.

The Train Crew never tried to take the entire 40 cars & Caboose to Loyal; rather, when the Caboose was clear of the Junction Switch, the train was cut in half, and Locomotive and 20 cars roared up the hill, out to Loyal, 17 miles distant. Once in Loyal, the first half of the train was tucked away, and the Geep ran back light to Marshfield for the Second Half. This was doubled out to Loyal.

This Doubling Operation and consequent Caboose Hop back to Marshfield consumed the ENTIRE 12 hour shift of the Train Crew; when they arrived at Loyal, they had barely enough time to pack away the second half of the train, grab their Caboose and Cab-hop home to Marshfield & tie up. All at 10 mph.

Soo Line was in no mean hurry to see those incoming cars at Loyal get spotted at their respective industries, nor were they overly concerned about the 12 cars sitting for the previous MONTH piling up per diem charges. There were 4 cars of Canned Goods waiting to move, a Car Load of Butter, 3 empties in O.W, Trindals...on & on & on. Things sat like this until the following week, after Dad had pleaded with the Chief Train Dispatcher in Stevens Point to get a Train out to Loyal to, at least, get the Empty Cars off the Line. That was what was done. Dad was informed, tersely, that this Extra (TWO GP-9's and a Caboose---I don't think what was stranded out on the Greenwood Line amounted to a return train to Marshfield of more than 12 or 13 cars) would ONLY remove the Empty Cars stranded in Loyal & Greenwood for over the past month.

In the course of time, O.W. Trindal's had cars sitting in view of their Feed Mill they couldn't get at, but Needed desperately. Dad made mention he would talk with the Train's Conductor (BIll Wade, I believe) and see if he couldn't persuade the Crew to spot the most badly needed cars in Trindals. The Folks at Trindal's laughed openly in Dad's face, saying, "Who do you think YOU are? They ain't gonna spot anything in here for us!" Dad, true to his word, spoke with Wade, and the most badly needed cars were fished out of the Tangle and spotted at Trindals. No one ever doubted Dad after that!

I'll bet you're wondering what happened to the Three Day per Week service during all this? So far as the Soo Line was concerned, it didn't exist until Spring of that year. When "Regular" service began running out to Loyal & Greenwood again in late March, there were STILL cars out there left from the 40-car fiasco. It took almost a month and a half to clean that mess up out there, given Soo's sporadic service to two communities that desperately wanted it.

As it was, during the Hiatus while the Soo tried to plow the Greenwood Line out, O.W. Trindal's was forced to Truck their incoming goods over from Marshfield, where the Soo consented to have cars sitting in Marshfield plugging up Yard Track Space, spotted on House 1 next to the Gravel Drive behind the Marshfield Freight House. Dad heard more than one loud complaint about the extra costs incurred by Trindal's having to Truck their products over from Marshfield.

Not to mention, sometimes the Switch Crew couldn't read and would spot the cars on House 2, NEXT House 1 where there was no vehicular access. Dad heard about those mix-ups, too!

And then, in Mid-April of this same year, now 1972, the Assistant Roadmaster, Bill Rottscheitt, Embargoed the Greenwood Line due to "Wet Conditions" because of a drippy spring. That tied things up again for two more weeks.Folks were Livid; they couldn't understand why the Soo Line was playing a very thinly veiled game. So long as Bill remained Assistant Roadmaster, the Greenwood Line would get slapped with sudden closings any time the Weather *might* have done something deterimental. Bill was well familiar with the Greenwood Line, having "Cut His Teeth" on it as a Section Hand and later, as the Section Foreman of the Marshfield Gang that had the G-Line appended to it. Bill was going to take Nooooooooooooooo chances with having to dispatch extra men to clean up a derailment on the Greenwood Line!

Bill, though, was retired by 1977, when Dad & I found a Washout at the Pelsdorf Road Grade Crossing at MP 16.5, the Morning after some particularily dirty weather came through this region, spawning Tornadoes and Torrential Rainfall. That got the Greenwood Line shut down for that week.

I'm getting too far ahead of myself.

....to be Continued.........

Keith