In La Crosse Wisconsin there is a C&BQ steamer on display in Copeland park, it is being fixed and repainted as a display piece not a running engine. It sits next to the Grande Crossing interlocking tower that was moved and restored there. On the back of the engine sat a Milw. Rd. wooden copula caboose that was to be restored also. Which it is except they are painting it for the C&BQ to match the engine. Hopefully one day this caboose will return to the Milw. RD. But on the same note, a Milw. Rd. bay window caboose that sits in New Lisbon Wisconsin, which has been painted red for a number of years has returned to it's original paint scheme!!!
Andy- Where've you been lately? Busy with the layout? I hope? This topic title had me worried. But at least it still survives. Some day, it will be properly restored. Until then, at least it's preserved. :sad: Boxcab E50
Wow, I don't understand people. Kinda like revisionist history isn't it? Gotta love rivit counters like me:shade: I'm glad the worst fate is just the wrong markings and colors, I was thinking someone in town wanted it scrapped or something. Reminds me of my honeymoon with the Mrs. BNSF. She had found this Caboose hotel in WI and wanted dearly to stay there. The ad showed nicely fixed up cabooses and a large N scale layout plus a library. Well it must of changed hands because when we got there, they had just ruined a bunch of Milwaukee Road ribside cabooses, painted them red and rivited some signs for different RR that they bought through a hobby shop or something. The "Large N scale layout" looked like 5 kids got five different N scale trains sets for Christmas, set them up and forgot about them and the newest magazine in the liabrary was Train 1987. Nice.
Kurt, It isn't a ribside it's a double sheath wood. If it were a ribside I don't think they could get away with it. I am kind of thinking about it Like Boxcab, at least it has fresh paint on it and it won't rot away. May be someday it can return! Sorry about the heading I guess it is miss leading now that I look back at it. Ken, I have been busy with the layout and hope to get some more pic's up. I also have been involved in getting another forum started, also work has been keeping me busy. I have been coming here just about everyday but haven't had much to say the topics have mainly been from out west and most of my studies have been back here in Wisconsin. Thanks for asking!!
Dear Andy, Au contrare, not misleading at all. You nailed it. As a person who has dealt with, "Historical Commisions" this is a VERY big mistake. The goal of any preservationist is to keep an object as close to its original state as possible. This includes requiring accurate paint, replacement of hardware with exact reproductions and record keeping of all work, which is to be passed on to the next generation of conservators. In theory. NOW, before I fly of the handle, lets take another look at this. This caboose is from a batch of woodside cabeese built around the turn of the century. It's in a photo in the book that the MRHA produced covering wooden crummies. At that time, the MILW was painting her cabeese good old Lake Superior Iron ore box car red. Have they actually put the CB&Q on the side? If yes, well a pox on them! It almost presents an opportunity for some, "positive grafitti". A can each of red and white barn paint, some pre-cut stencils, 15 minutes of time, and WALA!-histroical accuracy, even if it was illegaly procured. Or, I could be even more deviant, and paint it for the UP-heck, it was going to be absorbed/bought out/assimilated by them at some point in time anyway.......... Boxcab, I think Andy is trying to hide one of Wisconsin's dirty Summer secrets. With the high heat in July and August, its only natural that a certain percentage of the bovine (cows-to you'all city-slickers.) population goes insane from the heat related stress. They go mad, foam at the mouth, make rude comments about Brett Favre and in the finally stages of the disease, start to wear Vikings gear. No good Wisconsonite can let such atrocities stand. Therefore, the state recruits local citizens into the BS (Bovine Supresion) Squad. Please note, this BS Squad is not to be confused with the office of the Presidential Press Secretary or your avearge spokesperson for a large corporation. The BS Squad identifies and collars any insane cattle. They then ship the cattle out of state to special areas in the country where such lunancy is tolerated and supported, like Texas. Because of the sensitive nature of this process, agents cannot identify themselves..but there are those of us who know...... Mooo, Andy, moo!
Hmm..it was that way when I checked in on it two years ago. The website showed the MILW cabeese in barn red with PRR emblems. The person who answered their phone was rather rude and uncooperative. When I inquired if the had rooms, she said yeah. I aksed if they allowed dogs, as I had mine with me. Definitive NO! I then asked her to refer me to a local kennel I could board the dog at while I stayed. She said she didn't have any idea about one. I asked her if she could quickly look it up and was greeted with silence and then a, "well..we don't do that". As a Customer Service Rep/Supervisor for the past 7 years, I wished I could have recorded the conversation to play for clients later. I would call it, "How run your motel business into the ground". It sounds to me that the owners are in the wrong business. They sound uneducated and insensitive to their primary customer base. Note to those of you considering owing a business that makes money solely on the whims of the consumer to use your service, even if it is unique. There is never a "NO" in the conversation with a client, you can say it other ways. You also have to usually GOYA and make an additional effort to attract and RETAIN clients. They lost my business forever because a lazy owner couldn't reach over, open the yellow pages, and give me some names. A motel operator that does not have a list next to their reservation phone that has ready contacts for things that clients will need (IE-churches, cleaners, laundromats, local tourist attractions, KENNELS if they won't allow pets) is a moron and shouldn't be in the hospitality business. I was in Virqua, checking on the old Sparat line when I gave them a call. As I was planning on spending my last few nights of vacation in their, "establishment" they threw me for a loop. I ended up at the Bong recreation area. This was fortuitous, as a trip to a local town brought me face to face with one of the last sets of operating wig-wags on an ex-MILW line. Soap box vacated
Mark- Having once been active in historic preservation, and restoration efforts, I quickly learned how often those words are mis-used. The media also is ignorant of their proper application. Neither of preservation, nor restoration, allows for alteration. We can only hope, some day, for proper painting, etc. :sad: Boxcab E50
Definitely. Lousy customer service. And poor presentation of their facilities. Bleh. :thumbs_down: Boxcab E50
If anyone has the wooden caboose book put out by the MRHA, turn to page 21 bottom right corner, there is a picture of the caboose as it was delivered to La Crosse, It was yellow, dbl sheath, short copula with the red tilted rect. herald. no number was on the caboose. In the chart at the back of the book it is listed as preserved in La Crosse Wis. It is #0359, built in 1883 in Milw. 30' long.
