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Spring 1999 Issue IN EVERY ISSUE Soo News STAFF Editor Associate Editor Associate Editor/Soo News Soo News Wiconsin Central News Modeling Editor Contributing Editors Editorial Consultants Technical Consultants Commercial Accounts Advertising Manager Back Issues
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Spring 1999 Issue Hightlights |
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Neenah's Engine Facilitiesby Larry E. EastonThere are several interesting twists and turns in the history of Neenah's Soo Line yard and engine terminal facilities. Various events over the years have shaped what once existed, as well as what we see today. Over 78 years ago, on January 3, 1921, the first passenger trains on the Wisconsin & Northern Railroad ran between Appleton and Neenah. In anticipation of this event, the Soo Line, in 1920, laid a second main line track, two and one-half miles in length, from a point near Blair's Springs, west of Neenah, through the local freight yards, to the southern city limits of Neenah. This permitted the little railroad easy access to the Soo's Neenah depot, located on Sherry Street, just behind Hiram Smith's octagon house. According to the Neenah Times, Edward Smith, Hiram's brother, had sold the land to the Wisconsin Central Railroad in 1882. The completion of the railroad gave the W&N 119 miles of main line trackage, connecting with the Soo Line at Argonne, on the north end, and again with the Soo Line at Neenah on the south end. It was only a short time before the Soo Line purchased the W&N for $3,350,000 on July 31, 1921, ending the colorful shortline's history which had begun in 1906. Under the guidance of presidents Leander Choate, of Oshkosh, and Charles R. Smith, of Menasha, the railroad had been organized and built, becoming an important supplier of pulpwood and logs to many Fox Valley mills.
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Off-Line Soo LineThere was a sleepy time when the Soo Line was a modest Class 1 railroad that pretty much kept to itself in upper Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota. Soo Line locomotives were rarely seen on anything but Soo Line trackage. That was then, but it isn't quite that way now! Ever since the Soo Line transformed itself in 1985 from a semi-regional carrier into a major Midwestern transportation company following acquisition of the Milwaukee Road, railroad-watchers across the nation have become more familiar with locomotives bearing the bold "SOO LINE" markings. Even as the Soo spun off lines to I&M Rail Link, parent Canadian Pacific was pushing its way into and through the United States to new Atlantic ports; and suddenly Soo Line SD402s began showing up in places like Nicholson, Pa., on Tunkhannock Viaduct on the Delaware & Hudson. Locomotive-watchers have had a field day in the 1990s as railroads
merge, spin lines off and otherwise amalgamate operations. Suddenly,
sighting "foreign" motive power became an eagerly anticipated
pasttime among railfans on nearly all railroads, and many make
it a point to document the wanderings of one railroad's locomotives
over the rails of another. Soo Line was no exception, so in these
pages we have assembled a selection of interesting sightings of
Soo Line off-line. |
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Soo Line's "7-post" boxcarsBy Rick Johnson and Guy N. KieckheferThe new Soo in January 1961 rostered 8855 boxcars, of which only 1563 (or 17.7%) were of the longer 50-foot length. None of these cars met the emerging new standards for the boxcar of the future. All of these 1563 cars were 50-ton cars (although many ultimately would be upgraded to a 55-ton capacity) with 25K floors. Most of them (81.3%) had been bought for the old Wisconsin Central Railway to handle general merchandise and paper and paperboard carloadings, particularly from the Fox River valley. The first 50 such riveted-side steel boxcars in the 136200136298 series had been purchased for the old Wisconsin Central in November 1936; the last 200 cars in the 177100177498 series were built at North Fond du Lac in December 1957, also for the WC. The Soo's pre-1961 purchases of 50-foot boxcars could be broken down into three groups: the first 1000 cars delivered between November 1936 and February 1942; a later 500 built at NFDL between April 1950 and December 1957; and the 100 contributed by the DSS&A. In 1961, the oldest cars of the first group were already 24 years old, the newest 19 years old, and all were fast becoming obsolete. Many of these cars, in fact, would spend their last years on the Soo roster without operable doors in wood chip service. The later 600 cars (including the 100 cars in the 1550015599 series contributed by the DSS&A), although fairly new, were already obsolescent in design, being 50-ton (later 55-ton) cars with 25K floors. It was obvious that the construction of any further cars of the existing Soo Line 50-foot design at NFDL could not be justified. In December 1961, the new Soo received 25 new 50'-6" boxcars in the 177500177548 series from Pullman-Standard, followed in late 1963 and early 1964 by 80 70-ton cars of a more modern design in the 177698-177856 series from GATX. It was obvious then that if Fond du Lac Shops wanted to continue to supply the Soo with much of its future boxcar requirements, it would first have to design a radically new 50-foot boxcar incorporating all of the new technology then becoming available. Using available components such as Youngstown steel sides, Stanray dreadnaught ends, Stanray or Pullman-Standard roofs and either Youngstown or Superior doors, the Soo Line in 1964 developed a standard 50'-6" 70- (and later 100-) ton boxcar design that continued to be built at Fond du Lac for the next 15 years. They were ommonly referred to as "7-post" boxcars because of their eight side panels. Subtle variations between the different series included the roof style, truck centers, wheel size, roofwalks, side sill and frequent changes in the style of the door. The paint scheme applied to these cars evolved from a utilitarian freight car brown with white "SOO LINE" billboard lettering through several variations of the "new" Soo red, white and black scheme to CP Rail and Wisconsin Central livery.
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