Sylvania, WI, is at the intersection of busy I-94 and Highway 11. As recently as the early 1990s it had two on-line customers served by CP Rail. One was a large warehouse which received boxcars of inbound shipments, the other an FS farm dealer just east of I-94. Now there are no longer any freight customers in Sylvania. Trains pass through on their way to Union Grove or Kansasville.
The long spur along the warehouse is still in place though unused. The former FS dealer's siding is used for storage of MOW equipment on occasion.
In the fall of 1995 a CP Rail train heads back east (away from the camera) towards Sturtevant after exchanging boxcars at the warehouse along Highway 11. In an unusual move, the locomotive is in the middle of the train. A crew member is perched on the first boxcar in front with a two-way radio to provide directions.
A remnant, native tallgrass prairie parallels the former Milwaukee Road right-of-way (ROW) in this stretch. A part of it can be seen between the tracks in this view. Railroad ROWs across the midwest, which were never plowed and made into farmland, later became important seed sources for restoration of prairies elsewhere.
On a summer day in 1994 a pair of covered hoppers are spotted at the FS dealer siding along Highway 11 in Kansasville. I-94 is in the background. Within a few years this building will be abandoned and fall into disrepair before finally being torn down. It appears that CP Rail's Maintenance-of-Way (MOW) crews were working the line and applying weed killer to the roadbed.
Compare this view against the one below from 2003-same location, nine years apart. The lesson is don't take things for granted! Photograph what's out there now on these branch lines since things disappear quickly.
A pair of gondolas is spotted at the former FS dealer siding in Sylvania on a late winter afternoon in early 2003. Highway 11 is to the left. It would appear they are in Maintenance of Way service from the pile of newer crossties to their side. Traffic passes overhead on busy I-94. This view looks west towards Union Grove.
A sign on I-94 indicates that Hwy. 11 is the exit for Amtrak-I wonder how many people passing over the track here think that it's where Amtrak service runs? The actual Amtrak station is a few miles east, in Sturtevant.
View a CP Rail job switch out the warehouse in 1995.