New London Junction was the location of the crossing of the Green Bay Route
and the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western (later
Chicago & North Western).
A
large two-story station served passengers and freight from both railroads. The
station was built in the late 1870s after the MLS&W tracks reached
New London and had to cross the Green Bay Route.. Besides serving as a passenger and freight depot for both
railroads the station agent operated the interlock at the crossing, which
prevented trains from both railroads attempting to use the crossing
simultaneously.
In 1946 the structure outlived its usefulness and was razed, replaced
by an automatic interlocker which controlled train movements on the two rail
lines. New London had an additional smaller station within the city limits
which was abandoned and moved from the tracks at the same time.
A thanks goes out to Brian Mathu and Tom Schampers for helping obtain a copy for the Green Bay Route web
page.
The photo also appeared in Stan Mailer�s book �Green Bay and Western.� The
caption in the book reads:
New London Junction in the 1880�s. GBW&StP engine No. 7 is eastbound
with an MLS&W Rhode-Island-built 4-4-0 headed for Kaukauna. The large depot
was a meal stop. The junction interchange was busy during Manitowoc�s
ascendancy as a grain port in the 1880�s.
Engine No. 7 shown in the photo was a hard-luck locomotive. It was damaged in two fires, a May 1879 fire
in the Grand Rapids (Wisconsin Rapids) enginehouse that damaged No. 2 and No.
7, and then again in an early-morning fire on December 10, 1881 which damaged ten of the
GBW&StP�s eighteen locomotives.
Related Material:
- New London - 1944
- In 1944, the crossing in New London with the Chicago & North Western
was a busy place. Here are the trains scheduled to pass through in a
typical day.
- New London - 1948
- Similar information from a few years later.
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