The Wisconsin and Southern Railroad, Serving Rural Wisconsin

The Wisconsin and Southern Railroad has been a vital transportation resource for the State of Wisconsin since it began operations in 1980 from former Chicago & North Western and Milwaukee Road branch lines.

Today the W&S operates over 700 miles of tracks, jointly owned by Wisconsin and the counties in which the railroad serves. Over the last 20+ years of operations the Wisconsin & Southern has gained an excellent reputation and has worked hard at not only providing superb quality service to its customers but also upgrading its property in conjunction with the State of Wisconsin for better and more efficient operations. This reputation has not gone unnoticed and just within the past few years the railroad has won a number of awards for its services and business practices.

Not surprisingly the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad also effectively maintains its fleet of locomotives which are rarely, if ever, dirty. While its roster currently consists mostly of six-axle SD40-2s and SD20s it does maintain a few Geeps and even two first generation E9s.

To give a brief history of the railroads that make up the WSOR the Milwaukee Road was a Midwestern regional (where the WSOR's trackage is located) for many years until it embarked on an ambitious plan to build to the Pacific Northwest and Puget Sound in the early 20th century. Unfortunately for the employees of the CMStP&P their inept management team of the 1970s and 1980s caused the railroad to disastrously fall apart which resulted in the transcontinental system to be abandoned and what was left eventually sold to the Soo Line in 1985.

Of all the many granger roads, which sprawled out across the Midwest, the Chicago and North Western is likely the best known of all. When the railroad was merged unto the Union Pacific in 1995 it was one of the oldest railroads in the Midwest, its name unchanged since 1859. Not surprisingly then, it was the first railroad to operate a train out of Chicago, the Pioneer, and its main line into that city is a key link in the UP’s empire today. While its eye-catching green and yellow paint may no longer adorns locomotives its legacy certainly continues to live on.

The Wisconsin and Southern Railroad, in upholding its commitment to quality service and serving the communities it operates through recently announced intentions to grow even more by restoring yet more abandoned trackage in Wisconsin that has not seen trains for over fifty years!

For more reading on Regionals like the W&S consider the book Regional Railroads of the Midwest by Steve Glischinksi. Along with featuring the W&S other Regionals the book covers include the "Chicago Central Pacific; Dakota, Minnesota Eastern; Escanaba Lake Superior; Iowa Interstate Railroad; Iowa, Chicago Eastern; Indiana Rail Road; Kyle Railroad; Red River Valley Western; Twin Cities Western; Toledo, Peoria Western; and Wisconsin Central" with plenty of photographs and information about each. If you have an interest in smaller carriers like Regionals, and/or are interested in learning more about their operations, you will almost surely enjoy the book.