Today (Sat. the 9th) our railfan group traveled to Janesville WI to see the Soo Line 2-8-2 #1003 and tour the former Milwaukee Road roundhouse courtesy of the Wisconsin & Southern RR. It was the WSOR’s 25th birthday party and the 100th anniversary of the roundhouse which has been reworked and improved.
We had substantial and almost totally unrestricted access to the entire yard which includes a turntable and two different main lines which branch off.
On display was the 1003 as well as the SD40-2 25th anniversary locomotive, an Operation Lifesaver locomotive (and the operation lifesaver display was inside the roundhouse), the WSOR’s beautiful E9 and two passenger cars (you could tour the E unit), an antique Soo Line wood caboose, and there were various locomotives in the roundhouse itself, including a display of how the wheels are trued up. Every locomotive gleamed. Even a locomotive hidden back in the yard (normally off limits but cars were parking there so we took advantage of the situation) gleamed in the sun.
Within reasonable limits (things were marked off with yellow tape) you had great freedom to wander everywhere. This was a rare chance believe me!
WSOR crews wearing easily identifiable red shirts were plentiful and were working the crowds, always willing to answer questions or assist, and coming up to just talk about trains and the WSOR. There is a lot of pride I think on this railroad.
Bill Gardner the President/CEO was much in evidence too – he was getting his photos from the roof of the roundhouse! While we were photographing, a lineup of engines came off the Milton Jct wye and tied up at the fueling track near the roundhouse – I am sure they were much photographed
Inside the roundhouse there was a WSOR table where they sold shirts, hats, HO scale locomotives and cars, timetables, calendars, free brochures, and perhaps other stuff. They had a great powerpoint presentation on the history of the roundhouse – unfortunately they were not selling copies but
Well here some photos from Janesville, WI. The weather was perfect and so were the locomotives on display.
Here is the sign announcing the event as you entered the parking lot.
Before going over by the roundhouse we noticed a couple of WSOR locomotives in the yard just west of the roundhouse.
Here is a shot of the outside displays. They included the #10A E-unit, several passenger cars, Soo Line #1003 2-8-2 Mikado under steam, WSOR #4025 painted for 25th Anniversary of WSOR, WSOR #2053 Operation Lifesaver unit and Soo Line cupola caboose that accompanies #1003.
The #10A on display, the line to go inside the 10A was quite long at times.
The #2053 Operation Lifesaver on display
WSOR #4025 on display
Soo #1003 2-8-2 on display backing off the turntable
Line of locomotives inside the roundhouse.
Working on the #2052 inside the roundhouse
The “Stars” of the show WSOR #4025 and Soo Line #1003
WSOR #4025 on the turntable #1003 takes a back seat.
Good stuff. Which I could’ve ventured over for that, but had conflicting events this weekend.
Nice to see clean loco’s(thinks about WC), company parties(thinks about WC) pleasant about people taking pictures, looking at locomotives,giving tours(thinks about WC). WSOR is a pretty cool railroad, nice pics.
Alec
How generous and thoughtful of the railroad! Wish I could have been there.
The day was absolutely awesome! Here’s a few of my photos from the day, but they pale in comparison to Keith’s.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=111959
This was my first shot of the day(well, one of the first series), and it really awed me. I loved seeing 4025 on the turntable, and it was perfect weather to get a shot like this. I sent this photo to railpictures.net, and they actually took it!(which is a rare thing to me, I don’t take that many good photos). For a while when we were first there(10am), there were two guys on top of the turntable, one with a big telephoto lens, and one with a radio. No clue what they were up there for, but they seemed like WSOR officials.
http://www.railimages.com/albums/noahhofrichter/aci.jpg
Here’s what I think is one of my better shots of 1003 of the day, at least one of the better one’s that’s not a roster shot, and considering that the loco was back lit all morning. I did get a little artsy-fartsy, and the tape being removed might have helped. I like the smoke creating a shadow on the ground too. Here you can see about a 1/6 of the line to get into 10A, it got long. When we first got there it was short, and I thought it’d stay that way, so I decided to come back to that. We ended up waiting a good half hour. They let us walk through the engine compartment, and through the cab.
http://www.railimages.com/albums/noahhofrichter/acj.jpg
Here’s a bad back lit shot of the only regular power besides 2053 in the out and open yard(by this I mean not in the roundhouse), the rest(two, 4050 and 2051) were in the main car yard(west yard?). There two units were apparently the power from something, they came in from Milton, and drifted in towards the track, where the crew tied them up. I shot mainly video of that, so I don’t have any good photos of there move in, just this.
http://www.railimages.com/albums/noahhofrichter/ack.jpg
The next two shots are from the hill abo
Noah,
Great shots. You must have gotten there right at 10am or before. We got there about 10:30 and there were alot of people there already. Crowds seem to get smaller after noon. I wish I would have brought my video camera, I didn’t know that the #1003 and #4025 were going to be switching places on the turntable. Would have made some nice video of them turning the locomotives.
Two weeks to Madison and 25th Anniversary. Definitely bringing the video camera for the train rides. Hopefully the weather will be as nice as it was in Janesville.
Congratulations on the photo being accepted by Railpictures.Net they are really picky. I only have 2 or 3 photos on Railpictures.
Keith
I totally agree with Dave and the other posters that this event was a very rare and wonderful experience for railfans and all others in attendence. My wife (bless her for coming along one day after a nasty fall that left her seriously bruised and hurting) and I drove the two hours from Aurora to attend and had a good time. I am a diesel-electric fan but could not help being impressed with SOO LINE 1003, it is amazing how clean she is and how well she runs.
I was in awe being able to walk around inside the roundhouse liek we did…always wanted to do that! The house had a number of SD20, SD40-2 and GP38 units inside and all were sparkling clean.
The highlite for me was being able to tour inside of the WSOR business train E9 unit number 10A. We stood on a relatively short line and got inside (well, I did anyway as my wife was too sore to climb into the cab) and got to sit in the engineers seat. This unit has been ex U.P., ex Amtrak, ex. Alaska RR before coming to WSOR. She has an updated control stand, REALLY nice crew seats, etc. We were also able to take a walk back inside the engine compartment which is a super-rare opportunity. I was amazed how clean the engine compartment is and I did not get my tan slacks or white shirt dirty at all (my wife was thankful for that). The area way in the back of the unit where the steam generators were once located is quite large and currently totally empty. The engine compartment is rather cramped with the two prime movers, generators, compressors, etc. but you really had little problems getting around in there. She was immacutaletly clean…as were all the equipment.
Many thanks to the WSOR family for such a wonderful day.
It was definitely worth going for this event! I think I’ll send the railroad a nice thank-you when I get a chance. Even my wife had a great time, although she was worried about my newly-shaved head getting sunburned (it did, a little). We enjoyed walking through 10A, although I felt a little claustrophobic and even hit my head once >ouch<. I’m planning on bringing a group of friends to Madison on the 23rd, and expect to have a great time! Those new WSOR bilevels sure look sharp! [;)]
Many thanks to WSOR for putting on this great show! Now if the other railroads would take a lesson from them…
-Mark
www.fuzzyworld3.com
Keith, Yeah, right when we were getting out of the car, 1003 blew it’s whistle, and they just started letting people in 10A and the Roundhouse.
It’s been a long road with railpictures.net. They have helped me perfect my photography a little, but they still are awefully picky. I’ve got twelve photos on there, but that’s after submitting a good hundred or more. Some several times with no changes before they were excepted.
Mark, I’m looking forward to seeing some of your photos sometime in the near future!
Noah
Thanks to all of you for the opportunity to view these great photographs of great equipment and sharing the marvelous day with all of us.
Uh-oh, pressure’s on! Actually, I’ll probably just do both sets of pictures after the 23rd.
-Mark
www.fuzzyworld3.com
Keith & Noah,Thank you for sharing the pictures!!!
That had to have been an awesome day,wish we
could have attended.
I have to agree that it was a good show. While I can say “been there, done that”, it is still fun to see it all up close again. Linda took the E-9 tour with me. She also liked the whistle from the 1003. Reminded her of steam trains on the line through her home town when she was a child in the '50s.
Got a chance to say Hi to fuzzy (Mark), Tom, Kathi K and her mom, Lynn from Trains Advertising. Sorry I didn’t catch up with the rest of you, but even with a good turnout from the railfan crowd, looks like we were way out numbered by the folks just coming by for a look.
I have to agree it was a job well done and a nice piece of PR work by the folks at the WSOR
Jay
It was a good time. Plus they shut down the northern line most of the day and my daughter had a long nap (almost 3 hours).
I meet Jay’s wife, even nicer then Jay!!! Jay how did you get so lucky?
By far, and I sure don’t know.[:D][:D]
Jay
the WSOR open house was good but could have been better that could have a little ride,a couple of cabs open,more selling and a little more but I did have a fun time.
kevin
Then come to the Madison Celebration Oskar, they’ll be rides there.
I tried to get to the Trains booth at the 11 o’clock hour, but by the time I looked at my watch again, it was 11:15, and we didn’t stick around until noon. Did walk by the booth a few times on my way to other places.
Noah
too late I am already back in Georgia
kevin