1I’m just curious as to how many other wisconsinites are on this board[?][:)]
2How many of you are fans of the Wisconsin southern railroad[?]
and
3How many of you WSOR fans belong to the WSOR fan club? I’m curious to know if it’s worth joining[:)]
For those of you who are completely lost as to what i’m talking about [%-)], the WSOR railroad is a class 1 railroad that operates in southern wisconsin.
Just curious[?]
Noah[:p][8D][:p][:)]
i’m from Wisconsin. i’ve never heard of the WSOR before until i read your post. i think i might have seen some pictures. i live just east of Minneapolis/St. Paul so thats probably why. i just see UP all the time and when i go up to the cities i can see BNSF and CP.
I’ve lived in Wisc, almost all of my life (I’ve made sure to travel overseas, though, several times!). I lived in madison long enough to remember the WICT, and before them, the CNW and the MILW.
Yes, WSOR is an interesting RR to railfan and model their operations… It’s a class 3, though - not a class 1. Info regarding the WSOR may be gleaned from their Yahoo! group.
I live just outside of Wausau.
Don’t know about the WSOR though.
See a lot of UP stuff here.
It’s only natural that the other posters here would bring up the UPRR. They purchased the CNW, and the CNW was as synonymous with Wisconsin railroading as the MILW. It has been disappointing to wathc the CNW, and now the UP, try their utmost to leave the Wisconsin RR marketplace, since the CNW has been so closely associated with Wisconsin RR’s. As for the Wisconsin & southern, they seem to be a polarizing railroad, in that either you enjoy them, or you detest tham. Seems to be that the WSOR is making efforts to become the RR that Madison loves to hate [(-D]. I’d invite the other posters here to spend a little time railfanning around Madison, however, Madison has never had that much rail activity, and the Wisconsin & Southern has done nothing to change that.
The thing that would get me real excitied would be if Amtrak came to Madison. Then it would have to go over WSOR tracks. Not much chance of that happening in the present, or near future, though [:(] , seeing as how Amtrak has to endure yet another threat to its existance and operations. [:(]
I grew up in Wisconsin but I hadn’t heard of the WSOR until they made the Model Railroader 60’th anaversary railcar.
Hello, fellow Cheesehead![:D]
I’ve lived in Fond du Lac all my life, and have had an interest in WSOR since start-up in 1980. As I work in construction, I only get to railfan the WSOR to and from jobsites in Horicon, Beaver Dam, Ripon and Oshkosh.
They have begun to replace most of their older power with GP-38’s and SD-40-2’s.
As far as the fan club, IIRC it costs $35 to join. Back in the days when they ran passenger specials, it was worth the money, as they ran trips just for members of the club. They have sold most of the passenger equipment now, though.
Here’s the website- www.wsorrailroad.com
The WSOR is one of the more railfan friendly railroads, in that they sell stuff at trains hows, tolerate some tours of their facilities, and seem aware of railfan interest in their operations. At one time they even sold custom painted WSOR models in HO.
The WSOR largely operates on former Milw Rd trackage – in fact many years ago in Model Railroader there was a track plan for the Iron Ridge and Mayville which at the time was Milwaukee Road but is now WSOR (I think the spur to Mayville is partly abandoned, but Iron Ridge remains a potentially interesting junction to model.
Dave Nelson
Hey Dave,
I heard at the train show in Madison form Jim Kalrath that they are going to bring back some of the models, including the engines and the frieght cars. He said they’ve got some on order. I can’t wait.
Noah
My father was Canadian Armed Forces and we were posted to Madison in the mid-60’s until Pres Johnson announced the closure of Truax Air Field base. I spent two years at Robert M LaFollete High. I loved Wisconsin and I loved the school.
Q: Why do all the Football fields in Wisconsin have Astro-turf?
A: So the cheerleaders wont graze at half-time!
Old Iowa joke…[:D]
Here’s a Wisconsin joke about Iowans:
What’s the difference between a volcano and an Iowan woman?
At least the volcano gets hot every 500 years. [:D][:D]
FIB = F’n Iowa B*****d
[bow][bow][:-,][:-,][censored][censored][D)][D)][(-D][(-D][:-^][:-^][tup][tup]
Choooooo Choooooo! Hello Noah, 1, Whitewater Wi. 2, Getting to be a diehard fan of the WSOR. The great circus train helps, They do a wonderful job every year towing the awesome consist with all of those colorful wagons on board. & from time to time I get to see steam action passing through , Their tracks are just out my back door about 250ft away, 3, My dues are sent in & am waiting for my code. They have a very nice web site. ( www.wsorrailroad.com )
Alas if there is to be no Great Circus Parade in Milwaukee this year then there will be no circus train on the WSOR either. It was good while it lasted.
Dave Nelson (Fox Point WI)
From what I was told , They were going to be on the rails again. Supposedly were going to be in Whitewater Wi. on Sat. July 3rd. Now if that’s true , I don’t know . Dave, Let’s just hope so. If not , Well,… We can live with that also , " Atleast I hope we can"…“Have a good one Dave”
According to the Circus World Museum website, the Great Circus Train will stay in the shed this year.[V] However, there will be a circus parade in Baraboo on July 3rd.[8D]
I lived in Milwaukee for 19 years and used to love weekend country drives while counting all of the trains. I am working on a fantasy layout now, but will check into southeastern Wiscosin RR’s for my next one.
Hail to the cheese heads!
420express
Hey , Thank You for the info, I heard from the railroad personel last July that they were not going to have it, But…some folks here insisted that it was. So I thought possibly they changed their minds. "I’m sure going to miss it " PS; For the past 3 years I have put on a costume & rode way out in the back forty with my horse to greet the train, I sure surprized the passengers on board , We ride in local parades & make a new costume each year so I just wanted to have a little more fun, & we did. " THANK YOU WISCONSIN & SOUTHERN FOR THE FUN , LAUGHTER ,& PUTTING ON A GREAT SHOW BEFOR THE SHOW FOR US. " …Kind of priceless This year I had an awesome costume, oh well …Leave’m Laughing.