Spring 2008 Issue

IN EVERY ISSUE

Soo News
WC News
Editor's Report
Executive Report
Gallery
Rip Track
Letters
Transfer Table
Less-Than-Carload

STAFF

Editor
Reid D. Van Sluys

Associate Editor
Ken Soroos

Associate Editor
Andy Roth

Associate Editor
Jason Korth

News Editor
Galen Fromm

Wiconsin Central News
Galen Fromm

Associate Editor/Modeling
Chuck Derus

Contributing Editors
Doug Fleming

Production Consultant
Rick Johnson

Technical Consultants
Stuart J. Nelson, Dennis Storzek

Commercial Accounts
Joe Lallensack

Advertising Manager
Burnell Breaker

Back Issues
Roger Wurtzel

Editors Emeritus
Larry Easton & Rick Johnson

Spring 2008 Issue Hightlights

Enderlin, ND - Part 2

Division Headquarters on the Prairie

by Jim Welton and Stu Nelson

The dispatching of trains is the heart and soul of the operating department at a division headquarters. Although many of the railroad functions of the early days have been eliminated or downsized, train dispatchers still perform that vital function today.

The Soo Line Standard Two-Story Section

by Ken Soroos

Aside from some of its depots, the Soo Line provided other housing for employees of some other crafts. One type of dwelling was the standard two-story section house. These evolved from boxcar bodies for housing laborers, commonly referred to on drawings of the period with the now-derogatory term ³dago houses.² Some smaller one-story section houses were built, followed by the two-story section houses shown here. These 24¹ x 28¹ structures had six rooms‹a living room, dining room, kitchen, and three bedrooms. The railroad provided a well, pump, and an outhouse. Many of the occupants added a chicken coop and even a small barn. ³Lean-to² additions were often added. These standard section houses could be found all along Soo Line and Wisconsin Central trackage at terminals, junction points, and other section headquarters.

Archives Photo Gallery

Soo Line Historical and Technical Society Archives Collection

Workmen are cleaning up a wreck at Allenton, WI on October 24, 1912. On the left is the wooden Pullman car Landseer, while the train on the right may be an extra that was called to transport passengers to points west while the wreck was being cleaned up. Note the passengers standing on the rear platform surveying the damage‹SLHTS Archives collection. Below: Soo Line Class L-2 2-8-2 no. 1011 waits on a ready track, date and location unknown. The 1011 was built by the American Locomotive Company at its Schenectady, NY works in 1920 and served into the early 1950s before retirement. This locomotive was later donated to the city of Ladysmith, WI, where ³Old Smokey² is on exhibit today‹Howard Peddle collection, SLHTS Archives.

All-Color North Dakota Gallery

Photo Essay by Lewis Ableidinger and Nick Olek

An All-Color Look at the Soo Line in the Peace Garden State. In this issue of the SOO we are featuring a unique photo essay by Canadian Pacific employees Lewis Ableidinger and Nick Olek. Both are CP conductors working out of Enderlin, ND.  We asked both to provide photos of what they thought was the quintessential essence of the Soo Line in North Dakota. Not surprisingly, both choose to depict the CP or Soo working the Peace Garden State¹s boundless prairies‹Editor.

The Archives, Research and You

by David Leider

Not everyone will need to research an article, but you may be interested in knowing how archive materials are used as the basis for an article. I will use the recent Chicago Freight House article (the SOO, Vol.
29, No. 4) as an illustration.

Archives Adventures: The Long and Winding Road to the SLHTS Archives

by Larry Easton.

One day in early February 1974 the phone rang. The conversation went something like this:
³Hello!²
³Hi Larry, this is Fran Wiener calling.² ³Hi Fran, Good to hear from you. What¹s going on in Fond du Lac these days?² ³I thought you would be interested in some news about a new historical society being formed by two guys in the Milwaukee area. It¹s going to be about the Soo Line. The dues are $2.00 a year.  I will send you the notice I got if you want to join.² So, I sent my $2.00 check off to Robert Weber and received a handwritten letter, dated February 15, 1974, stating: ³The Soo Line Hist. & Tech. Soc. is now being formed by Don Weege and myself.  We feel that there certainly is enough interest in the Soo to warrant such a group.²

Modeler's Roundtable: Using the Archives for Modeling

by David Leider.

How do you model something for which no photos are known to exist?
I had this problem and was able to solve it by using the Archives. Before I continue, let me explain what I am trying to do. I am modeling Waupaca, Wisconsin in 1947; just the town and only the northern portion where the railroads were centered. I chose 1947, as that was the last year that the Green Bay and Western served the town and was also the year that the old wooden freight house was destroyed in a spectacular fire. How does one faithfully reproduce a town as it appeared 60 years ago? With photos, maps and other documentation.

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