I should intone that the Soo would not hesitate to Annul the run to Greenwood and not run the Train at all if the Business from Spencer to Medford demanded the Soo's attention, which it oftentimes did. Track Conditions were bad enough by 1972 on the Greenwood Line that when a trip was Annulled, # 57's crew would breath a collective Sigh of Relief knowing they wouldn't be going out there!

If a Train to Greenwood would get Annulled, then the usual predictable results happened: Train length became longer, occasionally forcing the Train to Double out of Marshfield for Loyal. This happened a lot, later on, as Service dropped from Three Days per week to two, and then to but one day per week. And it would happen, usually in the Spring of the year, when Fertilizer & Ag Lime came in en masse. A GP-9 could make it out from MP 1 to MP 5 with 20 cars; 21 cars was a Stall. A GP-7 had slightly lower tonnage ratings: A, " 7 " could haul out 18 loaded cars, 19 was a stall. That DOESN'T include the weight of the Caboose.

In June of 1972, Dad picked up a New Customer on the Greenwood Line: Abby Ag Lime from Abbotsford. Abby Ag Lime was the only other Ag Lime company in this area, aside from Cooperative Services in Greenwood, that handled and Spread Ag Lime for farmers. Abby was a growing concern in 1972; by 1977, Abby unloaded Ag Lime at Loyal, Mann, Spencer, Riplinger, Owen, Abbotsford, Ogema, Dorchester, Westboro, Unity.....and at Granton, Stratford, Edgar & Marathon City off the Chicago & North Western. The only reason the Soo Line consented to place cars for Abby to unload at Loyal was because Abby was a Good Rail Customer and did a lot of business overall with the Soo Line. I forget what the Soo Line did in inbound business overall each year, total, with Abby. Abby got in 20 cars of Ag Lime that year; thereafter, Abby Ag Lime got in 45 cars per year of Ag Lime at Loyal, unloaded right about where the Loyal Depot had stood between the "Main Line" and the Loyal House Track.

Business with the Estabilshed Customers picked up on the Greenwood Line in 1972: O.W. Trindals began expanding their Business, reaching out far beyond Loyal, becoming a Feed "Distributor" of sorts, to other Feed Mills in a 60-mile radius. O.W. Trindals got in 360 cars in 1972. That was just the Total cars arrived inbound at Loyal. Trindal's also operated Feed Mills at Auburndale, Riplinger, Withee and two miles west of Withee at "Trindal Spur", Station Number 0155 on the Owen-Twin Cities Main Line. The Loyal Canning Co. upped their Business as well, shipping/receiving a total of 350 cars that year. Grassland was still shipping Butter, Borden's was still shipping Barrel Cheese, the UBC's in Loyal & Greenwood were doing a Brisk business. Cooperative Services did the same amount of business with the Soo it had in 1970-71: 250 cars. All in all, not a bad year for the way it had started out. Some trains were going out with 10 cars per trip.

I recall one fine day pulling in with the Soo Line Auto on the Track Side of O.W. Trindals as Dad went about writing down Reporting Marks in his Yard Check Book. As we drove around the covered Rail/Truck Dock Trindal's had installed before Dad became Traveling Agent (Both Box Car or Semi could be unload out-of-the-weather here. It still stands today and sees use everyday from Trucks, and the two large Doors on each end that closed off where the Spur went through are still there) to get the car numbers of the two cars spotted beyond the Covered Dock. As we pulled around that extension, I could see there was something that didn't quite look right with the last car on the spur.....it looked to be too far back. When we pulled up to this car, one set of wheels had been pushed off the end of the track. Not the whole set of Trucks, just one set of wheels on that Truck. Dad hadn't noticed this---he was busily writing down reporting marks in the Yard Check. In fact, had I not mentioned it to him I doubt Dad would have noticed it at all! When I was able to get his attention away from the Yard Check, Dad got---for lack of a better term---Pissed!! Whoever had been the Rear Brakie that night switching at Trindal's hadn't bothered to Protect the rear car as they shoved the cars in to Trindals in the Dark spotting the respective cars at the Designated unloading doors. This car, an Illionois Central 50' Box Car of "Midds", leftover bits from the milling process of Grain and used as Cattle Food, had been positioned at the end of the Cut of cars because Trindals didn't need it right away. No one had bothered to ride or protect that last car. Luckily, it was only one set of wheels that was pushed off, it could have been worse! The way Dad acted upon seeing this, you'd have thought the Crew had pushed the LAKER over the Bumping Post at Grand Central Station!

Had the Rear Brakie been present at that moment, Dad would have delivered to him as LOUD as rear-end chewing as you could ever ask for! Dad had time to cool off before he rteported this offense to the person responsible later on...it took the Carmen & Section Crew about a day to respond to go out to Loyal to rerail that car.

Early in 1972, about May, a Work Train went out on the Greenwood Line with some 6 or so cars of used ties, Brand new ties installed on the Athens Line, pulled up when the Athens Line was Abandoned but too new to throw away. This Work Extra dropped ties at several points along the Greenwood Line, one right at the First Street Crossing in Loyal itself.

One day, while I was riding along with Dad on the Traveling Agency, Dad noticed the Pile of Ties in Loyal had become short...by about 60 or so ties. To me, it still looked like the same pile old ties! (In thinking back, it still, in my mind, looked the same as it had....Dad was good, no doubt about it!) Dad found them....being used as a fence around some schlep's home about Four miles North of Marshfield, right out in plain sight of Highway 13 (which parallel's the Soo Line/Today's Wisconsin Central from Marshfield to Spencer) AND the Soo Line Main Line!!!! Dad got a Confession out of this guy, who admitted he had taken those ties from the pile in Loyal. Dad told this fellow that he (the Gentleman with the "Light" fingers) would have to pay the Soo Line for those ties....after all, they were still VERY usable. Dad literally pestered the death out of this individual, trying in vain to get a Cash Payment for those pilered Ties, finally catching him leaving his home one morning. He told this fellow quite bluntly: "If the Company doesn't see some money out of you pretty soon, the Next Time I come a-knocking, it'll be Me AND the County Sherriff to arrest you for Theft." The Man paid up. I think it had taken about One Year for Dad to finally extract Payment!

Those ties laid in the spots they were dropped at until the Fall of that year. Another Work Train came out, picked all those ties back up and reloaded them, and spirited them away to who knows where. Although I can't prove it, I'm guessing the Greenwood Line was charged for Tie Replacement that NEVER took place. Too bad; used or not, their installation would have helped a great deal.

That fall, we had a Patented Wet Wisconsin Autumn. One Rainy Wednesday night, # 57 was finishing their work at Greenwood. They had made some 7 or more trips through the house track there, as was necessary, to get on the "right" end of the cars they were switching. They were on their last trip through, going back onto their train to head home to Marshfield, when the Engine, GP-35 # 725, suddenly lurched to the right and came to an inglorious, sickening stop. The rails of the Greenwood House Track---possibly 75, maybe 80 pound rail---maybe Less---had, after countless trips over it by the 725 that night, broke under the weight of the engine, mostly because there was nothing you would call "Ties" under the track at that spot. The Rail finally flexed enough that the 725 simply Sank into the sea of Mud under the Tracks. It wasn't derailed, per se, but it wasn't ON the track, either! Dad got called out at 2:30 a.m. to drive to Greenwood to pick up the crew and bring them home to Marshfield.

Later that Morning, while making his regular calls on Customers, Dad stopped by at the House Track to see how things were going. Dad was there about 10:30 a.m., and the Section Crew, Wrecking Crew & the Carmen STILL couldn't find enough DRY soil to erect Jacks on to jack the 725 up enough to effect repair to the Rail underneath the Locomotive! I forget how much wood planking & blocking was used; each time these boys thought they had a decent footing for the Jacks, once they started to apply air, the Jacks---Planking, blocks and all---began to settle into the gooey mud around the Locomotive!

Once they had the Locomotive Jacked up, then still more fun: Tie replacement was bad enough, with a Locomotive looming overhead, but, as the Section Men tried to cut the old rail to splice on a newer piece, the older rail kept breaking apart as the Rail Saw dug into it! After a REAL full day's work, the 725 was railed and rolled off while the Section Crew re-spiked the new Splice in place. I had a 6" long broken section of that rail around the house for many years.

Things at this point became relatively uneventful, until the Soo Line filed to Abandon the Greenwood Line again in early 1973.

The Communities of Loyal and Greenwood sent up a Howl of Protest to wake the dead! The Hearing for Abandonment was set & scheduled to be held in Spencer at the Village Hall. Three Soo Line Officials and two ICC men were in attendance. They were ever-so-slightly taken aback when the Hall PACKED to near-capacity with citizenry of Loyal & Greenwood and the outlying areas! Anytime a Soo Line Official would try to say the Greenwood Line had to come out because of unproftable operations, the crowd murmured LOUD disapproval. This turn out, with the subsequent Public Outcry, was hardly what the Soo Line expected!

In the End (You guys are gonna love this!) the Soo Line asked the Communities of Loyal and Greenwood to, "Help Us (The Soo Line) Fight The Full Crew Law" and all the subsequent blather that went with it, including the excuse that Rural Operations like the Greenwood Line were expensive to operate because of the Law requiring Five Men on a Train. I would be remiss to mention that the "Help Us Fight The Full Crew Law" was what the Soo Line cried at every Abandonment Hearing---not necessarily in connection with the Greenwood Line---from that time onwards. I doubt that if the Soo Line had been able to get rid of Firemen that it would have brought a great difference; the Soo would then probably have cried it needed "Help" fighting the requirement to use Cabooses. After that, the Soo would have used another excuse to get train crews size down to three Men....it would have never stopped, and I doubt there would have been a return to Three Day per Week service.

Instead, the Communities of Loyal & Greenwood came together and tried---really tried---to convince the Soo Line that they wanted that Railroad in.

That spring, the Soo Line dropped service to Loyal & Greenwood to Twice Per Week, Tuesdays & Thursdays, on the Basis that because of Operating Expense, operation could not be justified beyond twice per week.

And business began an upstroke, due as much to the Resistance of the Good People of Loyal & Greenwood of the Soo Line's claim the Greenwood Line was chronically Unprofitable, as to the Arab Oil Embargo. Soo Line was unimpressed.

And then the Really Nasty Stuff began.

...to be Continued.....

Keith