FOXY's First Year
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Come experience the first year of operation of Watco's FOXY and GDLK-Newberry railroads in northern Wisconsin and upper Michigan. Operations began January 29, 2022. This montage of images was created to share with the FOXY and GDLK-Newberry teammates who were responsible for the operations success. It is a look back at the first year, in no coherent order. I apologize to those I did not capture; I wish I could have included everybody.
Great video! I have had good luck capturing most of the FOXY operations in both Appleton and a bit in Wausau and Green Bay. Still haven't had luck catching that Shawno Streak yet... I'm going to have to stakeout the Appleton yard one of these weeks.
Wow, nice. All they need now is a unique paint job.
They will soon.
Nice one year anniversary retrospective. Thanks for sharing!
Great to see all the investment preparing the rails for safe operations.
Great year photos in review Brian!
I remember the familiarization ride. I didn’t see much. Learned more from the seat than that truck.
That was a great pictoral documentary on the first year of FOXY.
Reminds me of another place many years ago where you had pride. Wish them much good luck. So hard to believe it’s a year already.
Great video, hope the FOXY is an excellent rairoad.
I remember doing that 2:14
So when is FOXY gonna do something with the Medford Subdivision?? The only thing they did for the line was take it out of service and let it sit. First time ever in its history the line was ever taken out of service and now it just sits!
Well, it is out of service probably forever, the line has a bunch of weeds and the track in is poor shape, even the crossings. Weathershield in Medford has picked the trucking option.
@@railfanning_wisconsin Seems to me that Watco didn't try very hard to do anything with the Medford line. Kinda reminds me of the C&NW when they had island branch lines that they had for a time then abandoned them.
@@loritobin2578Very disappointing considering even CN never took the Medford Sub OOS and ran big SD60 type road locomotives on it in final years instead of typical WC 4 axle powers years earlier. There used to be alot of business online, an asphalt plant in Abbotsford, Tombstone Pizza and Westher Shield in Medford and numerous small co-ops en route, like in Colby. I'm disappointed Watco hasn't made this and other OOS lines work, as of yet. CN really did a number on pissing away business over the years before finally selling them. Why did they keep Goodman-Powers, Powers to Quinnessec or the Manitowoc Sub?
Makes no sense to keep a line open for sentimental reasons. Memories don't help profits.
@@FOXYhogger There was always business on the Medford Sub, CN never embargoed it or took it OOS. Interesting that Watco did a couple years ago. I expected better from their marketing dept.
Hopefully the lines Rhinelander-Goodman and Fifield north to Ashland and White Pine will be reopened someday, not to mention the Medford Sub OOS for some reason. The crossing is ripped out and signals down in Mellen. Disappointed FOXY hasn't been more aggressive with this, but unless the copper mine reopens one day, I dont see the Ashland or White Pine Subs ever reopening again, 4 washouts north of Glidden, crossings removed in some areas, old bridges, extensive track work needed woukd take possibiy tens of millions to make safely operable again. There's not enough potential online cadloadings to justify this enormous expense in such a remote, rural area where forest products are basically the only commodity hauled. So sad. WC used to run monster trains up to 100 cars into Prentice and Wausau in the 90s and well into 2000s and north of Prentice was welded rail good for 40 mph! The paper mill closing in Wisconsin Rapids several years ago was the death knell for Ashland Sub and log loading on Superior Sub! Makes me angry...
It shows that the railroad doesn't always leave the customers...sometimes the customers leave the railroad. If you go way back to WC's early years, James River had the paper mill in Ashland that they shut down a few years into WC. There was the C Reiss coal into Ashland by boat that WC railed to Rhinelander and Park Falls. Park Falls went to fiber, eliminating that rail move, and I believe the Rhinelander mill eventually made a sourcing change in where they got the coal from. Bayside Timber had some issues, I believe? And even if the railroad had stayed in Ashland, the closing of the Rapids mill would have doomed the log move. Sometimes it is what it is.
@@killerbee6310 Yes, JR closed in 1998 in Ashland, the coal dock still got coal hoppers in 1998 when I qualified on that job in summer. I don't think the power plant was getting coal by rail then, but not 100% sure. I think the only hope for these lines north of Fifield is mining operations being restarted in White Pine or a new mine starting up. What's up with the Medford Sub embargo? That's really surprising and disappointing, even CN never embargoed that line, amazingly. Watco needs to buy Manitowoc Sub and Goodman-Powers in the future, no idea why those lines weren't included, as they're light density 1 train per day branch lines way off the mainline and CN would still get cars at interchange irregardless. Are you officially retired from FOXY? That was quick...
@@killerbee6310Kimberly had the Stora-Enso papermill that got two switches per day, every day (L521, L529). The whole Kimberly Spur was full of WC boxcars, slurry, latex, starch, and crushed limestone cars. There was so much work down there, we were lucky to make it back to Neenah. Expiring on HOS down there was a common occurrence. When that one papermill went bye-bye, so did at least 60% of the business down there (my guesstimation).
It's not ALWAYS the railroad's fault.