Marshfield, Wisconsin
| SooLineHistory Group | Index and Map | 1 - The Story | 2 - Pictures |
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| 3 - Pictures | 4 - Pictures | 5 - Pictures | 6 - Pictures |
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| 23 - Pictures | 24 - Speculations | ||
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The Trainmen, left to right: Ted Bratton, unidentified, Pete Lutz and Engineer Doug Glenn.
Keith
Unique in that most everything in this photo no longer exists, save for the Miller Building and the two tracks in the center. Everything else is Bupkis in a major way.
Judging by the way the engines are sitting and where they're sitting, the RS1 was assigned as the Switch Engine/Second & Third Trick Yard Engine. The Geep ahead of her is tied on to an F Unit, making that # 26's power, the Nekoosa Line train. The Geep sitting in the distance is idling away in front of the TOFC Ramp, a.k.a. "the Coach Track", and that unit would be the 1st trick yard engine/Medford & Greenwood Line train power.
The Ice House still stands to the right (The multi-gabled brown building) and it looks as though two cabooses and a couple ballast cars occupy the Ice House Track. Can't quite explain that one.
Jon must've shot this on a Sunday, seeing that # 26's power is sitting ahead of the RS1. The Sunday Tramp job must've used the GP9 sitting on the Coach Track for doing their work that Sunday, typical, that.
s.i.c., Transit Gloria.
Keith
The three-headed searchlight signal in the distance guards the C&NW Diamond for their line from Wausau-Eland and also serves as the approach for the signal guarding the East Power Switch for the main line and Siding. Somewhere near ballast level next to the siding is the dwarf signal that protected the siding and the C&NW diamond.
The F unit on the Asphalt Products track is power for the Nekoosa Line local, # 26-27.
Over on the left we have a caboose, a ballast spreader, two ballast hoppers and what appears to be ANOTHER ballast spreader?
Next to the Caboose is one of 4 box car bodies set off their trucks and adjusted to freight car floor height and used by Hub City Jobbing Company for storage. At one time, Hub City unloaded meat here.
The Ice House pokes up above the ballast cars.
The sliver smoke stack in the distance to the right marks the Weyerhaeuser plant in Marshfield.
The "Maple Street Crossover" (called the Peach Street Crossover by WC) is just above the Nekoosa Line Junction Switch. Ballasting looks bad, but at this point in time, the Soo was only getting started on rehabbing their track in to what we would come to know in the 1970's until the end, deep in blue-grey ballast with heavier rail.
Only the Weyerhaeuser plant, the metal Section House to the middle left in the distance, and the main line and the siding remain today. Everything else is gone, and where those freight cars stand is a 4 lane roadway.
Keith
Tonight, a Jon Ruesch shot, of the abandoned Chicago & North Western r-o-w leaving Marshfield, September 3, 1981.
I had a hard time placing this view. Initially, I thought it to be the C&NW west of Oak Avenue---the r-o-w looks wide enough to accomodate the Main Line & Siding that were here. However, more inspection leads me to believe this to be the C&NW north of McMillen Street, the line to Wausau and Eland, on the far outer reaches of Marshfield's northern boundary.
Right next to, in fact, Wisconsin Homes. They would be to the right, down 15 or more feet lower than this spot. The Wisconsin Homes factory sits in a declevity, a low spot. They were serviced by a spur that came off at McMillen Street and headed downwards into the factory grounds. You can still see most of this today yet.
Interesting to note: C&NW couldn't get off the Wausau-Marshfield-Eland segment fast enough. The road trains were of good sizes through here; 100+ cars was not uncommon. Yet, the C&NW claimed none of it was making money so it all had to come out.
I know the final Green Bay-Wausau-Marshfield-Maerrillan train carried 79 cars westbound, and brought back an equal amount eastbound going to Green Bay. I guess I could question the wisdom of C&NW's move, but, why bother anymore.
In classic C&NW line abandonment Modus Operandi, the C&NW lines coming in to Marshfield were stubbed from Wausau and from Merrillan. What was left, serviced from Adams-Wisconsin Rapids, withered and died in a fairly short period of time. The sagging economy of the era helped C&NW out a great deal to justify getting off these lines.
A number of people have asked me if there had been any attempt to convert these C&NW lines in to Marshfield in to a short line operation. I never heard of any---at least, nothing official. Anything like that would've been pretty thread-bare for traffic anyway. Most of what was there was agriculture related, which doesn't translate in to high profits.
Still, loss of these lines hurt the Ag industry severely, particularily in Clark County. Feed Mills and Fertilizer Plants had to raise their prices accordingly to offset the costs of trucking, and a number of Farmers living on a shoe-string ended up losing their operations. Perhaps it was meant to be that way, I really can't judge.
Keith
| SooLineHistory Group | Index and Map | 1 - The Story | 2 - Pictures |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 - Pictures | 4 - Pictures | 5 - Pictures | 6 - Pictures |
| 7 - Pictures | 8 - Pictures | 9 - Pictures | 10 - Pictures |
| 11 - Pictures | 12 - Pictures | 13 - Pictures | 14 - Pictures |
| 15 - Pictures | 16 - Pictures | 17 - Pictures | 18 - Pictures |
| 19 - Pictures | 20 - Pictures | 21 - Pictures | 22 - Pictures |
| 23 - Pictures | 24 - Speculations | ||
| To see the pictures full-size, right-click and select "View Image." | Next Page | ||