Milwaukee Road (MILW) Last Run Racine & Southwestern / Elkhorn, WI ~1982

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Recorded by Elkhorn Area High School students witnessing the Milwaukee Road clearing out the line in anticipation of abandonment circa 1982. The footage begins in Elkhorn near the site of the former depot with engines MILW 955 (GP20) and MILW 486 (MP15AC) running east on the main track. The rear of their train is in the siding. The engines are heading east of Elkhorn to pick up a long string of boxcars stored on the main line. The footage continues at MacLean Road showing the crew picking up additional cars stored east of the road. The footage ends at County Road F (near where the poster grew up) showing the entire train, consisting entirely of Milwaukee Road boxcars save one BN boxcar, heading somberly westward to points unknown.
It is presumed this was one of, if not the final run of the Milwaukee Road on this portion of the historic Racine & Southwestern. The line was purchased by the State of Wisconsin and the portion west of Elkhorn, was briefly operated by the Central Wisconsin and the Wisconsin & Western, laid dormant for several years then was revived by the Wisconsin & Calumet. The line was rehabbed in 1996 and is currently operated by the Wisconsin & Southern. The line east of Elkhorn was abandoned and converted to a bike trail.
Footage was provided by the late Neil Thieleke, railfan and longtime teacher in the Elkhorn Area School District.

Опубликовано:

7 янв 2023

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Комментарии : 31

@mitchwinder1204 Год назад

Would love to see footage of that line west of Beloit, into Illinois. I grew up outside of Durand, IL within a stone’s throw of the rails. I think about those days a lot.

@bradhardy2629 Год назад

As a former Union Railroad man. I hate to say it but. The writing was on the wall many times for the Milwaukee road. They actually should've spun all the branch lines off .and kept all the double main line from Washington to Chicago and on to Kansas city . If they did that when the economy was at a high point and fired all of the top management that came from the B.N. To sabotage the Milwaukee road. They would still be here today. Especially with the S.P Container business out West .

@admydragon

The BN box at the tail of that train, pictured in a video about the abandonment of Milwaukee property, is a little ironic.

@freddykagin Год назад

I always love the Milwaukee Road. They went through our backyard, years ago.

@markchicwak370 Год назад

Sad sad sad.😢

@WAL_DC-6B Год назад

Classic Milwaukee Road, bay window caboose seen at the end. Thanks for sharing!

@loritobin2578 Год назад

I wonder how many of those boxcars ended up being sold to the Wisconsin Central Ltd. railroad in later years. They purchased alot of Milwaukee Road boxcars and other rolling stock from Soo Line in the late 80's to early 90's for their startup.

@andrewfosbinder2826 Год назад

I know of two ex Milwaukee road box cars that's being used to house horses on the lacrosse / Monroe county line in western wis.

@stevestar657 Год назад

Thanks for sharing! My father worked for The Milwaukee. He worked for the piggyback division, and it was known as the MMTC - Milwaukee Motor Transportation Co. He stayed until the end when the SOO took over operations out of the Bensenville, IL terminal. What's interesting is there were at least two contenders to keep the piggyback operations going without being sold as a separate entity, the CNW and CP had looked at that option. Employees like my father would have kept their jobs had this happened but the SOO had no interest, and that division was sold and became third party operations, and the rest is history.

@EastEndProductionsArchiv-lm3lq

I'll bet CPKC would love to have this line today. It was incredible shortsightedness to let this line go.

@robchit1

Thanks for documenting this once in a lifetime event

@freddykagin Год назад

A Great railroad 😊

@fundude4566 Год назад

Thanks Reagan

@fuzzyworld3 Год назад

I was wondering about crossing protection at MacLean Rd, as I take that way to church and cross the bike path. Great video! I always hoped to see a train on this line, but started railfanning it far too late. Probably the biggest shock was when I went to scope out Spring Valley Rd, by that time the bypass was already beginning to be built!

@bluecollar3 Год назад

Excellent footage, thanks for posting.

@kenburbey Год назад

Thanks for posting this amazing footage.

@whiteknightcat Год назад

Well what do you know? MILW 955 ended up as Georgetown RR 9055. I'd have to go back and look through my pics from the last 3 or 4 years to see if it's still active or if it's been semi-permanently parked.