| Wisconsin & Southern Railroad | |
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A Wisconsin & Southern train passes the Middleton, Wisconsin depot eastbound toward Madison. |
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| Reporting mark | WSOR |
| Locale | Southern Wisconsin, Northern Illinois |
| Dates of operation | 1980–Present |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge) |
| Length | 700 mi (1,100 km) |
| Headquarters | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
The Wisconsin and Southern Railroad (reporting mark WSOR) is a Class II regional railroad in the southern portion of Wisconsin and the northeast corner of Illinois. It operates former Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road) and Chicago and North Western Transportation Company (C&NW) trackage, mostly acquired by the state of Wisconsin in the 1980s.
Within Wisconsin, WSOR connects with four western Class I railroads: BNSF Railway, Canadian National Railway, Canadian Pacific Railway and Union Pacific Railroad. Through trackage rights over Metra, WSOR accesses Chicago to connect with the two eastern Class I railroads, CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway. WSOR also has access to harbor facilities in Prairie du Chien, and transload facilities are located in Milwaukee, Janesville, Madison, and Oshkosh. 22 grain elevators have located rail load-out facilities on the WSOR system.
For train operation purposes, the WSOR system is divided into two divisions, the Northern Division and the Southern Division. The Northern Division is essentially the original WSOR trackage from 1980, with a few new lines that have been added around the Milwaukee area since the 1990s. It includes the line northwest from Milwaukee to Horicon, where it splits into branches to Cambria and Oshkosh, as well as a line from Milwaukee north to Kiel. The Southern Division includes the lines acquired from the Wisconsin and Calumet Railroad in 1992, centered around Madison and Janesville, as well as several lines acquired in the 1990s in the Madison area. The two divisions are not physically connected with WSOR owned trackage, but trackage rights over a short section of Wisconsin Central Ltd. from Waukesha to Slinger provide a link between the two divisions.[1]
WSOR is headquartered in Milwaukee, where all dispatching duties are carried out. Locomotive maintenance is centered in Janesville; WSOR's Horicon paint shops often do contract work on both rolling stock, for railroads such as Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad, and locomotives, including Union Pacific Railroad. and a major freight terminal is operated in Madison, WI
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WSOR began operations in 1980 when the state acquired several Milwaukee Road branch lines, and signed a 50-year agreement with the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad, organized by the FSC Corporation, which also owned the Upper Merion and Plymouth Railroad. In August 1992, WSOR gained control of the Wisconsin and Calumet Railroad, which had been created in 1985 to replace the Chicago, Madison and Northern Railroad's operations on state-owned lines formerly part of the Milwaukee and Illinois Central Gulf Railroad. (The latter has since been abandoned except for a short stub at Madison.) WSOR thus gained access to Chicago (through trackage rights over Metra from Fox Lake), Janesville, Madison, and Prairie du Chien. Further expansion came with a lease from the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) of Madison-area ex-C&NW trackage in 1996,[1] and of an ex-Milwaukee line between Madison and Watertown from the Soo Line Railroad in 1998 (sold outright in 2003).[2] The most recent acquisition was north of Milwaukee in 2005,[1] when the state purchased the ex-Milwaukee line between Saukville and Kiel, which Wisconsin Central Ltd. was going to abandon.[3] Soon thereafter, WSOR leased in part and bought in part an ex-C&NW line to Sheboygan from the UP.[4]
In 2005, WSOR celebrated its 25th anniversary by painting engine number 4025, an EMD SD40-2, in a special anniversary paint scheme, and holding "open house" parties in Janesville on July 9 and in Madison on July 23. In 2011, WSOR turned 30 years and in celebration of that, WSOR painted their 25th Anniversary unit, 4025, into 4030, in commemoration. Open House parties and such are scheduled for later this year.
WSOR was named the 2009 Regional Railroad of the Year by Railway Age Magazine.[5]
On April 11, 2011, WSOR's president and chief executive officer, William Gardner, was charged with two felonies after he was accused of funneling more than $60,000 in illegal campaign contributions through WSOR employees during the 2010 gubernatorial election in Wisconsin.[6] Gardner agreed to plead guilty to two felony counts. Under a deal, prosecutors agreed not to seek jail time but instead would seek two years of probation. In a statement, Gardner acknowledged his mistakes and said he took full responsibility. The vast majority of the contributions were to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.[7]
On November 29, 2011 it was announced that WSOR will be acquired by Watco Companies, with the deal to close on January 1, 2012.[8]
| Preceded by Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad |
Regional Railroad of the Year 2001 |
Succeeded by Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad |
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