UPDATE: Photos Posted Below Show the New Sturtevant Amtrak Station.
An important junction point for the Milwaukee Road's Racine & Southwestern Line was Sturtevant, WI, where it crossed the main Chicago & Milwaukee (C&M) line. Sturtevant was an interchange point for both passenger and freight trains. Even today this town sees passenger service at its historic, turreted depot as well as local and through freight service on Milwaukee Road successor CP Rail.
Following the 1980 retrenchment by the Milwaukee Road that severed the R&SW in several locations the line was worked as far west as Burlington. The switch patrol was referred to as the Thirteenth Sub and it was based out of Sturevant, lasting up until the Soo Line/Canadian Pacific took over after 1985.
Freight service goes as far east on the old Southwestern Line as the Waxdale plant of Johnson Wax which receives carloads of chemicals off both CP Rail and the UP (ex-C&NW). Carloads destined for Kansasville and Union Grove customers to the west are also added to local patrols. Right in Sturtevant Case IH ships out red tractors on flatcars from their Racine plant and a local lumber yard receives boxcars.
On a cold, damp late winter day in 1993 a CP Rail GP-9 in Soo Line colors and lettering is hauling several tank cars to the Waxdale plant of Johnson Wax which is located about two miles to the left or east of this setting. Waxdale is the end of the line for the former Racine & Southwestern which once went into downtown Racine.
This view looks east along the former Milwaukee Road tracks from near the C&NW's line at Waxdale. The diamond is now gone and this remaining industry is served today by C&NW successor UP via a connecting track.
Interior of historic depot, with a glimpse of a GP-9 still in Milwaukee Road colors in the background. This view and the others of the Milwaukee Road/Amtrak station date from 1997.
On a rainy August day in 2009 a group of apparent railfans inspects the old Sturtevant station as a CP Rail freight train blasts north.
The new, replacement Amtrak station features styling cues from the original depot. The new Sturtevant station is on Hwy 20, a few miles north of the old location."
Part of the new Amtrak station includes a tower with stairs and elevators to allow passengers to safely cross the busy CP Rail mainline. The tower is a great spot for watching trains.
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