I've been hearing train horns from campus with no idea where exactly they're coming from for the last 2 school years, so I decided to spend a free Sunday afternoon on what will probably be one of the last nice days of the season to take a walk and locate the railroad tracks.
I found them about 1 1/2-2 miles south of campus (they curve north and south quite a bit, so it varies). It is the only track in the area, so it must be the source of the horns. It is a branch line from Green Bay to Luxemburg, which was originally built by the Kewaunee, Green Bay and Western Railroad and extended all the way east to Kewaunee. The segment from Luxemburg east to Kewaunee is now abandoned. After KGB&W, the line belonged to Wisconsin Central LTD and now Canadian National.
No trains came by, but I managed some scenic photography of the tracks and crossing signs with the help of the late-afternoon sun.
Huron Road, looking south. I was rather surprised to find this four-lane, divided roadway guarded only by crossbucks:
Closer to the crossing:
Looking east:
Looking west:
East crossbuck, looking north:
West crossbuck, looking north:
Northview Road, looking south. A quaint rural crossing
:
Someone or something has roughed up the east crossbuck:
Looking southwest. The tracks cross the road at a SW-NE angle. The next crossing to the southwest is Courier Road.
Looking northeast. The next crossing is Humboldt Road.
Humboldt Road, looking south:
Looking northeast. Humboldt Road runs NW-SE at this point so the SW-NE running tracks cross it at a perfect 90 degrees. The track on the left is a siding that dead-ends in the pile of dirt.
The west signal, looking south. These signals appear to be quite new with LED lights and an electronic bell. CN has been quite adament about modernizing their crossing systems, even on seldom-used rural branch lines such as this. I prefer WSOR which upgrades only when necessary, leaving lots of mechanical bells and pedastel-mounted gates and even a wigwag here and there.
The east signal, again looking south:
I found them about 1 1/2-2 miles south of campus (they curve north and south quite a bit, so it varies). It is the only track in the area, so it must be the source of the horns. It is a branch line from Green Bay to Luxemburg, which was originally built by the Kewaunee, Green Bay and Western Railroad and extended all the way east to Kewaunee. The segment from Luxemburg east to Kewaunee is now abandoned. After KGB&W, the line belonged to Wisconsin Central LTD and now Canadian National.
No trains came by, but I managed some scenic photography of the tracks and crossing signs with the help of the late-afternoon sun.
Huron Road, looking south. I was rather surprised to find this four-lane, divided roadway guarded only by crossbucks:
Closer to the crossing:
Looking east:
Looking west:
East crossbuck, looking north:
West crossbuck, looking north:
Northview Road, looking south. A quaint rural crossing
:
Someone or something has roughed up the east crossbuck:
Looking southwest. The tracks cross the road at a SW-NE angle. The next crossing to the southwest is Courier Road.
Looking northeast. The next crossing is Humboldt Road.
Humboldt Road, looking south:
Looking northeast. Humboldt Road runs NW-SE at this point so the SW-NE running tracks cross it at a perfect 90 degrees. The track on the left is a siding that dead-ends in the pile of dirt.
The west signal, looking south. These signals appear to be quite new with LED lights and an electronic bell. CN has been quite adament about modernizing their crossing systems, even on seldom-used rural branch lines such as this. I prefer WSOR which upgrades only when necessary, leaving lots of mechanical bells and pedastel-mounted gates and even a wigwag here and there.
The east signal, again looking south:
