ClassicTrainsMag.com 59GB&W as perhaps the friendliest railroad
we’d ever encountered.
The “Green Bay Route” carried a lot of
bridge traffic between Chesapeake &
Ohio’s and Ann Arbor’s ferries at the port
of Kewaunee and western connections,
but GB&W also served several paper
mills and other customers. East of Green
Bay, the line was 37-mile subsidiary Ke-
waunee, Green Bay & Western, with some
freight cars and locomotives, including
the road’s two remaining FAs, so lettered.
West of Norwood, manifest freight
trains 1 and 2 ran daily, and there were
local freights 7 and 8. The midway divi-
sion point was Wisconsin Rapids. On
the KGB&W end, a “boat train” turn op-
erated in daytime. If night sailings ran, an
extra turn would be called, as no switcher
was kept at Kewaunee. Train 1 headed
west from Green Bay in late afternoon,
making for a popular chase, and met
train 2 at suppertime.
The system’s road power was in transi-
tion, with FA1s 502 and 503 remaining
from a fleet of five. Complementing them
were 1960 RS27 310, 1963 C424 311, and
1964 C424 312. The only RS11, 309,
would be changed by Norwood shop
forces from long- to short-hood-forward
operation, with the nose being chopped.
The balance of the roster consisted of
RS2s 301–304, RS3s 305–308, S1s 102–
103, and S2 201. The smaller road-
switchers handled the locals and the boat
trains, plus some switching at Green Bay,
and one worked at Wisconsin Rapids. All
three switchers were assigned at GreenBay to work customers there.
Our first Norwood visit, at 9 a.m.,
found engines 310 and 311 just in off
train 2, delayed by heavy rains during the
night. Ready to leave for Kewaunee were
RS3s 306 and 307. RS2 303 was turned
out for local switching, a duty already oc-
cupying RS2 301 at the riverfront yard
east of Norwood next to GB&W’s
two-story general offices. (This building
would burn down and be replaced by a
new one-story office on the city’s west
side.) Both S1s were in the roundhouse,
while 201 was across the river working.
GB&W religiously parked engines inside
the sparkling-clean roundhouse until
they were called for duty. We went back
in the afternoon and found the S1s out,
307 and 306 returning from Kewaunee,C&NW’s two-car Flambeau 400 picks up passengers at Rhinelander, Wis., on September 3.C&NW 1204, one of the road’s 32 Alco S1s, ambles south near the
Green Bay depot beneath a state-appropriate sign.
Milwaukee Road SW1 968 works at the MILW yard’s east throat,
crossing the C&NW diamond at Tavil south of downtown Green Bay.