Several years ago, we reported in L&RP on a plan to turn the Green Bay & Western roundhouse at Green Bay, Wisconsin into a museum. Anyone know what happened with this project?

bobyar2001@yahoo.com

I just drove by Norwood Yard in Green Bay a couple weeks or so ago while vacationing in Door County. Unfortunately, the century-old GBW shops and roundhouse have been completely leveled. Too bad Wisconsin Central couldn't have donated the GBW facilities to the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay. The former CNW roundhouse at North Yard is still standing, but not nearly as esthetic or historic as the GBW buildings. It doesn't seem to be used for locomotive maintenance. Guess we can't cry over spilt bricks or history lost. Check out the "Green Bay Railroads" link below.

Green Bay Railroads
hcastle@rcn.com

That is indeed a shame. When we reported on it last, the building was in good condition and its use had just been discontinued. The GB&W was a proud little railroad that did most all its heavy maintenance (wheel boring, for instance), right to the end. The Wisconsin Central takeover has since obliterated much of the railroad's trackage and the careers of its former employees. Pretty sad.

Only one GB&W steamer still exists, so the site could not really have been turned into a "trip back in time" experience, but it certainly could have sheltered some equipment in dire need of it.



bobyar2001@yahoo.com

Th GB&W Shops are indeed history, but not before there was a strong effort to preserve it. Ed Burkhardt was very interested in having it preserved, and Ralph Justen, executive director of the National railroad Museum here in Green Bay, tried to crunch the numbers to make the project viable. There was also a movement afloat a few years back to have the Railroad museum in Green bay and the Mid-Continent Museum in North Freedom try to make it viable by operating it jointly. In the last conversation I had with Ralph, he believed that the money could be raised for the purchase of the property, but the cost of repairs,(Every window had been broken in the complex, for instance)maintenance and upkeep, would far outstrip the income that the property could generate, and it would eventually jeoperdize the financial future of the entire museum. Thus sadly, the decision had to be made not to pursue the acquisition of the property.


edselinsky@prodigy.net

Again, it's a shame Wisconsin Central couldn't see its way clear to at least conditionally donate the property. Had it been donated, perhaps money could have been raised to make restoration possible.

Does anyone know if GBW trackage east of Green Bay to Kewaunee is still in place? I followed it several years ago, and it seems plausible that it might make a good tourist line through the Wisconsin farmland. At the time I think the track was in place all the way to Kewaunee. Imagine ex-Via FA units in the old K&GBW red and gray as power.

Green Bay Railroads
hcastle@rcn.com