Chapter 17

Main Line Progress

A decision was made in 1886 to reestablish the mechanical headquarters of the railroad. Choice settled on Waukesha, Wis., 97 miles north of Chicago and at the west door of Milwaukee. The Central received several acres of level ground within city limits. By 1887, the "Great Waukesha Shops" neared completion -- five miles of switching and storage tracks were laid and a twelve stall roundhouse, built at a cost of about $300,000.00.

Removal of main line division headquarters from Stevens Point began in 1881 and was completed in 1887, leaving a skeleton crew of shop and repair men at the Point to service emergency repairs and breakdowns. The Rip Track remained the major freight car repair point until removed to North Fond du Lac in 1900. When the city fathers of Stevens Point were approached in 1870 to provide funds and donate lands for the benefit of the Wisconsin Central, a contract was drawn up and all of the conditions plainly specified. One of the conditions specified that the division point, the shops and the roundhouse would remain in Stevens Point forever. In writing up the contract the financiers, Gardner Colby & Company, found it expedient to omit that portion of the contract and the omission was not discovered until 1886 when the first move was made to transfer the Shops to Waukesha, Wisconsin. The town of Stevens Point then entered a vigorous protest, and officially informed the Railroad that their contract was ironclad; the shops could never be removed. But when the city fathers came to scrutinize the original contract, they found, much to their consternation, the very important item had been omitted. By 1890 all the Operating offices and shops had been taken away and installed at Waukesha.

Chief among Finney's worries in 1886-1887 was the track and right-of-way between Abbotsford and  Mellen, laid by Phillips and Colby in 1874-1877. The miles of corduroy base over marsh land and swarms sank with each spring and fall season. The pile trestles built by Phillips had grown wobbly and unsafe;  the track an the shallow cuts disappeared beneath the mud under engine weight every rainy season -- track now too far gone to bolster with first-cut wood log slabs driven under the tie ends.

During 1887 Finney practically rebuilt the Ashland Division, 132 miles in length. His work trains widened and deepened cuts, built up low fills, filled in miles of old pile trestle work, strengthened some of the old Howe truss bridges and replaced others. Between Mellen and Abbotsford the old ties and 57-pound iron were ripped out to be replaced by new ties and 60 pound steel.