A listing of Model Railroad & Railfan Events
and News from around Southeastern Wisconsin

Welcome to the Schedule Board - a listing of model railroad and railfan news and events in and around Southeastern Wisconsin. Compiled and hosted by Joe Russ (a member, and former board member, of the WISE Div., NMRA) as a service to the model railroad and railfan community.

WISE Division Meets:
(updated 12/3/08)
The WISE Division's next meet is December 7. Hope to see you there.

Holiday Trains Everywhere!
Even though the economy might be a Grinch, there are a lot of holiday trains rolling around this part of the state this month. East Troy Electric Railroad, CP and WSOR will all have trains running in the area in December. Be sure to check out the December listing for the complete schedule.

The WISE Division's Trainfest 2008 was November 8 and 9, 2008. The news you won't find on the official site...

Trainfest set an attendance record for the third year in a row! Attendance was 21,621, up from 20,979 in 2007. The weather was just about perfect for an indoor show. Attendance was down 195 on Saturday the year before, but the best Sunday attendance ever more than made up for it.

Numerous new products were display at the 2008 show. For a complete summary visit Model Railroader's Trainfest 2008 show report.

For Sale: Ex-WC (ex-SOO) GP30 No. 715 and a bunch of other equipment
The National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, which earlier in the year scrapped some cars, including a wooden GB&W refer, is now selling the GP30 the Wisconsin Central donated to them in the 1990s. Price is a mere $25,000. The are also selling their Menasha Wooden Ware Co. box car, a caboose and a Northern Pacific baggage car. It sounds like nothing is sacred to, or appreciated by, the NRM management.

More For Sale: Union Station Kansas City Inc. selling off former Milwaukee Great Northern equipment.
It seems that almost half of the equipment the Union Station Kansas City Inc. bought for $650,000 from the former Milwaukee Great Northern Midwest Hiawatha bar in Bay View is now back on the market. Aside from the Milwaukee Road "Alaska" (now sold), Railway Post Office/Baggage #103, Milwaukee Road Baggage #104, Milwaukee Road Baggage #105, and Milwaukee Road Caboose #366 are available. The F7 No. 109A was enroute through Kent, Ohio on September 7 to Belington, West Virginia for service on the West Virginia Central Railroad (Durbin & Greenbrier Valley). So much for the collection being sold to KC to keep it together. See the page on the equimpent when it was in Milwaukee, and the August 6, 2004 Journal Sentinal article about it beind sold.

It Didn't Get Away: Mid-Continent Meets Goal for Wisconsin Fish Car Restoration
Despite major flooding in June (where fish were possibly swimming down the right-of-way), on Thursday, July 24, the Mid-Continent Railway Museum received a donation which put it over $475,000 for a matching challenge grant for the restoration of the Badger #2 fish-stocking car.
The donor of the challenge grant gave them a four-month extension, so they had until July 31 to raise the funds. The car, built by the Pullman Company in 1912 for the Wisconsin Fish Commission has a steel underframe and was fitted with steel tanks so it could carry fish to remote locations around the state to restock waterways. It was also the first car purchased by the Museum. For more information on the car, and restoration plans, see the article from the Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine.
Congratulations, Mid-Continent!

Connvetion Countdown: There are

If you would like to help with the convention, please print out the Help form and send it in. The NMRA was founded in Milwaukee in 1935 and in 1985 the WISE Division hosted a very successful 50th Anniversary Convention which drew over 3,000 modelers from around the world. Milwaukee has been the site of NMRA conventions in 1935, 1940, 1950, and 1985.

And down in the Valley...
A broad group of partners is working to restore the neglected river valley at the very heart of Milwaukee. For updates visit the Menomonee Valley Partners, Inc.

Other/Old Schedule Board News:
A few years ago a show was cancelled, unknown to me and others, months after the flyers were out. This resulted in me getting a few nasty emails about not making the correction - even though I didn't know about it. So, be forewarned that the information I post is taken off of flyers I have now and if the dates are on them I have no reason to assume they will change. Just like if you pick a flyer up in a hobby shop.

Want to have your group's event listed? Find out here!

+ 2,000 visitors have been here since 2/5/96. (The additional 2,000 accounts for when Exec PC's counters were reset a few years ago).

Pages designed, written, and hosted by Joe Russ, WISE Div., NMRA.
Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 & 2007 by Joe Russ