While wandering about this afternoon I came across “The Marina” on Silver Lake in SE Wisconsin.
It sits by the lake and across a county highway from the CN mainline between Chicago and Fond du Lac. The bar area of the establishment has an unobstructed view of the CN trains. One northbound and one southbound went by on the single track as I consumed a bowl of chili and drank a glass of wine. The trains are pretty close, just across the road.
The chili was so-so, but I enjoyed watching the trains with my lunch. The service was small town Wisconsin friendly. I thought I’d pass this along in case anyone is in the area and would like a meal with a rail view.
During the summer (tourist season) this place can be quite busy. I’ve only had a sandwich (italian beef) there, but it was tasty enough (and the beverage was most refreshing).
It’s a decent location for train photos, but late afternoons are best, due to the foliage blocking the sun on the east side of the tracks.
Thanks, Ken–you may have given us a stopping point on our wanderings through southern Wisconsin sometime (the restaurant-with-a-view for me, a quilt shop in Elkhorn for Pat). We could do this in a day, I’m sure.
In a spontaneous decision of the type that we should be able to look forward to when we’re retired. Pat and I took the trip into southern Wisconsin. The trip up to Silver Lake was a breeze, but when we got there, the restaurant was closed–no signs on the door, no posted hours, nothing. Dining-room looks like it overlooked the lake, but yes, the bar would look out over the tracks. It doesn’t look like they were out of business, but we thought that we could have gotten lunch sometime after 11:00 a.m. if it were a year-round operation. Silver Lake looks fairly seasonal, though, and I can see where Jim would be right about the summer business.
The news isn’t all bad, though–we went on to Burlington, Wisconsin, where we found The Charcoal House. We each had a delicious burger, taking advantage of their two-for-one special on Mondays. We only happened across this place after waiting for a CN train to clear the nearby crossing, and another train went through just before we were ready to leave. (We were in the “back room”, which has lots of railroad pictures and railroadiana on the walls–the bar area, with a smoking section, also has views of the track.)
Carl, when I lived in Wisconsin, I learned the hard way that many small town restaurants were closed on Mondays. The last time I was in Burlington, my friend and I ate at the Charcoal House. I enjoyed the food and the view of the passing trains. [:)]
go to pullman bay or casey jones steakhouse in Celina ohio.They have more of a view Grand Lake then of the tracks.RJ corman runs on this former NKP line so there might not be as much traffic.
To anyone planning a visit to the area, I suggest taking Hwy B south to Hwy C, then east on C to the grade crossing in Trevor. Looking south you can get a real good look at the roller-coaster profile of the CN main.
Just south of Hwy C is 119th street, which gives a good location for morning photos of southbound trains, framed by the huge signal mast.
Ken, the Charcoal House looks like a fairly new purpose-built structure right in the center of town. We did see the station further west (north?) as we were leaving on Route 11. We weren’t close enough to it to see whether it was also a restaurant, but it looked like it had been maintained.
Still, going around Silver Lake was kind of neat. It has a lot in common with the Silver Lake near the Shaver family cottage in Michigan–and a railroad besides!
The Marina’s recorded message (something we should have thought of yesterday) suggests that they’re closed on Mondays and Wednesdays, at least for now.