LS&W History?

[Noel]

Hey everyone, quick question.

I'm asking about the LS&W's past. A couple of questions I must ask here:

-Has the LS&W bought out any other railroads? If so, which ones?
-If the LS&W made it into modern times (like today) which railroads would it have bought out?
-Has the LS&W run any named passenger or freight trains?
-Has the LS&W had any special locomotives?

I would like to have some of this info, as I would like to start a small project, a group of drawings, very soon.

Thanks,
Noel.

[conrail1]

I came up with a theory about why they painted their rs-1s in just a simple black paint job if anybody wants to hear it.

[OldProf]

I came up with a theory about why they painted their rs-1s in just a simple black paint job if anybody wants to hear it.

Nope!

[OldProf]

Noel, have you checked the users' manual for this information?

[Jostrep]

This is a post originally put up in March, 2016 On the Virtual Railroad Engineers' Association site. I'm posting it here to provide a little bit of a backstory on the Lake Superior and Western and Riverside, Waterton, and Atlantic. If anyone want to use it for their versions of either of the routes covered, feel free to do so. And if anyone cares to add to it, fantastic. The piece itself is as fictional as the two lines, but it has a basis in the real world to make it plausible. Have fun!

The Railroads Of The Lake Superior and Western (LS&W RR)

1. The Lake Superior and Western: This is the main name of the company that handles most of the route, but is, in reality, one of three major components. The LS&W covers what I consider as the western third of the route, but its locomotives range freely through the entire system. The Michael Stephan Yard at Burtonsville is the largest on the route, and needs to be, as most outside roads interchange with the LS&W here. The LS&W has the highest gross revenue thanks to the Big Three Business concerns found in the area. Minnesota Power and Light, The Swift Premium Meat Company Stockyards and slaughterhouse, and the North Woods Farmer's Cooperative provide a steady stream of income and require a constant flow of freight into and out of this region. While the LS&W is mostly a freight road, they provide for a round trip commuter service between Burtonsville, Grand Lake, Saginaw City, North Woods, and Groutville twice daily. Primary power for the LS&W are Also RS1 and GM-EMD F7 A&B units, both of which handle freight and passenger duties with equal ease. The LS&W ranges far on the route, so its costs of operating are pretty high.

2. The Riverside, Waterton, and Atlantic: Covering the middle third of the route, the RW&A is basically a short line that mainly stays at home. This means that its operating costs are relatively low. Gross revenue is Pretty small, but steady. Major industries on the line are the Michigan Paper Plant, Gogebic Ore Mine, and the South Shore Power and Light plant. These industries are supported by North Adkins Logging (timber and woodchip), UP Coal, and the Johnsson Quarry. The RW&A handles all the track repair work for the three major roads. Like the LS&W, the RW&A offers just basic passenger services. The primary train runs outbound from Waterton in the morning, with a flag stop in Adkins and stops in Ridout, Riverside, and Burtonsville. The evening train runs in reverse order, taking passengers home. A midday commuter service runs from Waterton to Riverside and back. Finally, the RW&A runs a diesel electric railcar (doodlebug) frem Riverside to Watertown for the few folks that head to Hog Island for work for most of the year. During the peak shipping season on the lake, this service may swell to two coaches behind Old #5, the RW&A's HH660 switcher. The RW&A is a bastion of Alco power, with the HH660, RS1 and S-2 being the main power. Recently, though, the RW&A has been expanding its units into the other areas, and are thinking of adding a few of the newer RS3 and RS11 locomotives that Alco has manufactured to help shoulder the freight load. The road does have a F7 A&B set that it purchased when the LS&W bought theirs, and a couple of GE 44 ton switchers are also present, but the Alcos are the favored power with the oddball units seeing duty on Hog Island or in LS&W' western area. They also have three Lima built 2-8-0 steam locomotives on hand as insurance, in case this diesel novelty doesn't quite pan out.

3. The Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic: Considered by many to be the poor cousin of the group, the DSS&A handles most of the operations on Hog Island, including Hog's Head Yard, the second largest of the three main yards (Waterton's is the smallest). Revenue comes from the Bessemer Steel Mill and D. P. Horton and Sons Lumber, plus a few smaller businesses. The main duty here, though, is to keep a fast and steady flow of rail movements into the shipping companies that line the shores of Chequamegon Bay. Bringing in loads to be shipped by lake freighter and empties to be loaded with off-loaded freight from those ships keeps the DSS&A busy. They also share some time switching the ore docks in Waterton and have a dedicated unit serving the Minnesota P&L generating plant. This pretty much ties up the company's supply of Alco RS1 locomotives, so it is quite normal to see units of the LS&W and RW&A handling trains in the area bound for their main home territory.

These three roads make up the primary roads along the LS&W route, but are by no means the only ones. The Duluth, Missabe, and Iron Range supplies high quality ore to the Bessemer Steel plant by interchanging with the LS&W near North Woods. The Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Sault Ste. Marie (SOO Line) has track rights throughout the system to help handle things when it gets extremely busy, and it handles its own freights to interchange with the yards throughout the system. The SOO also provides passenger service to Minneapolis and St. Paul via the Laker, which makes daily stops in both directions at Burtonsville. All manner of freight comes in from the northwestern U.S. states via a connection with the Northern Pacific Railroad in Hammerville. The NP's North Coast Limited provides the LS&W with a connection to points west on an infrequent basis with an extra section service stop at Burtonsville. The Pere Marquette Railway has fallen on hard times, but through an operating agreement with the Chesapeake and Ohio, provides coal and eastern freight to the roads with a connection at Hog Island. The Bessemer and Lake Erie handles its moves within the confines of their steel mill on Hog Island.

No short line road lasts long without having connections to outside class 1 carriers, and the LS&W/RW&A/DSS&A lines are no exception. In addition to the lines already listed, the Great Northern Railroad; Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific; Chicago and Northwestern Railroad; and the Canadian Pacific Railroad all provide freight loads into the region and haul empties and loads out. The C&NW is the major link to freight from the northeastern and southern U.S., especially the vital coal loads that come from western PA via the PRR. The GN's Western Star provides passenger service to the Northwest on a more reliable basis that the NP's tarin, while the CRI&P (Omaha) and C&NW (Chicago) get folks outside the region via the CRI&P's Cornhusker and the C&NW's Duluth - Superior limited. The Milwaukee Road (Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Pacific) interchanges freight with mostly the RW&A and DSS&A. While the Morning and Afternoon Hiawathas buzz past the station in Waterton, they rarely stop here, as Waterton is listed as a flag stop on the line.

[ET44C4]

I love your write-up about the routes and operations for the LS&W and RW&A. Thank you for sharing!

[boyerm019]

This is a post originally put up in March, 2016 On the Virtual Railroad Engineers' Association site. I'm posting it here to provide a little bit of a backstory on the Lake Superior and Western and Riverside, Waterton, and Atlantic. If anyone want to use it for their versions of either of the routes covered, feel free to do so. And if anyone cares to add to it, fantastic. The piece itself is as fictional as the two lines, but it has a basis in the real world to make it plausible. Have fun!

The Railroads Of The Lake Superior and Western (LS&W RR)

1. The Lake Superior and Western: This is the main name of the company that handles most of the route, but is, in reality, one of three major components. The LS&W covers what I consider as the western third of the route, but its locomotives range freely through the entire system. The Michael Stephan Yard at Burtonsville is the largest on the route, and needs to be, as most outside roads interchange rachat crédit trésorerie with the LS&W here. The LS&W has the highest gross revenue thanks to the Big Three Business concerns found in the area. Minnesota Power and Light, The Swift Premium Meat Company Stockyards and slaughterhouse, and the North Woods Farmer's Cooperative provide a steady stream of income and require a constant flow of freight into and out of this region. While the LS&W is mostly a freight road, they provide for a round trip commuter service between Burtonsville, Grand Lake, Saginaw City, North Woods, and Groutville twice daily. Primary power for the LS&W are Also RS1 and GM-EMD F7 A&B units, both of which handle freight and passenger duties with equal ease. The LS&W ranges far on the route, so its costs of operating are pretty high.
I think I've been guilty of this in the past. I'll make sure to keep an eye on this in the future.