SLHTS Publications

Spring 2009 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
David Leider

News Editor
Galen Fromm

Wiconsin Central News
Galen Fromm

Associate Editor/Modeling
Chuck Derus

Production Consultant
Rick Johnson

Technical Consultants
Stuart J. Nelson, Dennis Storzek

Commercial Accounts
Emory Luebke

Advertising Manager
Burnell Breaker

Back Issues
Roger Wurtzel

Editors Emeritus
Larry Easton & Rick Johnson

Spring 2009 Issue Hightlights

The Nekoosa Line- Part II

The Port Edwards, Centralia & Northern, 1890-1896.

by Jim George

Marshfield, because of its connection with the Wisconsin Central, was selected as the operating headquarters of the new line. A 22 x 60-foot two-story depot and office building was constructed on the south side of South Depot Street just west of Cedar Avenue. The main floor contained a ticket office, a passenger waiting room, and a freight room. W. N. Elmore was the first depot agent in Marshfield, but was replaced by Patrick M. Halloran a few months later. The general offices of the railroad were on the second floor, and Alfred A. Hopkins was hired as Superintendent. There were two tracks on the north side of the building and one track on the south side. The building was conveniently located a block east of the Wisconsin Central depot, and an interchange track connected the two railroads....

The Last Run of the
Copper Country Limited

BY CARSON WILDER

Jim Alain remembers the last run of the fabled Copper Country Limited as if it had only happened yesterday.
Alain, a Detroit-area native, moved to Chassell, Michigan in 1964 to take a position as a school teacher at the E.L. Wright Elementary School in Hancock, Michigan. Like so many downstaters, Alain took to the Upper Peninsula and stayed, capping a teaching career that ended in retirement in 1985 and developing an abiding love for the railroads of the Copper Country. As a fifth grade teacher in the winter of 1968, Alain hit on the then rather novel idea of taking his class on a short field trip aboard the Soo Line’s leg of the Copper Country Limited, knowing that many of his students had never been aboard a train before. As it turned out, for many of these students, it would be their last chance to ride a train in the Upper Peninsula....

Modeler's Roundtable

How To Make A Replica Soo Line Station Sign

BY DAN MACKEY

Why make a replica? Well, for me it was first to help out the historical society in Moose Lake, MN so they would have an accurate sign to hang on their restored depot, Fortunately, one of the original depot signs was donated to the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in Duluth, so obtaining dimensions was relatively easy, I have copies of the Soo Line Standards from the SLHTS but can’t seem to find my copy of Volume I right now. Not that the information I need is in there, but it's handy to have around nonetheless.

50 Years Ago In The Soo-Liner

Another Museum Piece:

2718 Goes to Green Bay

The feature story in the April-May-June 1958 issue of the Soo-Liner was about the Smathers Bill, otherwise known as the Transportation Act of 1958. It’s a bit dry, so rather than feature that, this issue of 50 Years Ago will feature some of the other gleanings from that issue and the July-August-September issue as well–Editor

Take Me Out to the BALLGAME…

The Wisconsin Central's Amateur Baseball Team of 1909

by Dr. Howard Bannister

Formed in 1902, the Wisconsin Central team consisted of young apprentices from various trades working in the railroad's vast North Fond du Lac shop complex. An accomplished group of talented amateur players, the Wisconsin Central team excelled on the ball field on Sunday afternoons (remember, this is the time of the six-day work week), handily beating most of the fellow sandlot or semi-professional teams they faced with a combination of slick fielding, great
pitching and timely hitting.

Questions about the content of the SOO? Contact:

Reid Van Sluys, Editor
W61 N327 Washington Avenue
Cedarburg, WI 53012-2404
or E-mail.

Questions about reselling the SOO in your store? Contact:

Emory Luebke, Commercial Accounts Manager
2124 N. Locust St
Appleton, WI 54914
or E-mail.

Questions about Back Issues of the SOO? Contact:

Roger Wurtzel, Back Issues Manager
910 Chandler Avenue
Plover, WI 54467
or E-mail.

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