Portage County Historical Society

Local Railroad History

After viewing these articles visit our RR History of Portage County web page.

Railroading in Stevens Point

Railroading in Stevens Point began in 1872 with the arrival of the Wisconsin Central Railway. "General" Albert Ellis talked of having a railroad in Point as early as 1857 with his publication "The Handbook of Stevens Point". In this publication many railroads are mentioned as "planned". An example of this planning was the proposed 4, count them 4, railroads that were to travel through Springville Pond (none ever were built through what is now Springville Pond).

The following articles were published by the Soo Line Historical and Technical Society in its "The Soo" magazines: Spring 1998, Summer 1998, Fall 1998. PCHS wishes to thank SLHTS for permission to publish these articles here.

"The Many Faces of Stevens Point; From Wisconsin Central to Soo Line and back again." By Andrew Roth

• Part 1:   --  THE WISCONSIN CENTRAL COMES TO TOWN in three sections.
• Part 2:  --  Railroading in Stevens Point Part 1, Section 2the Soo Line Years.
• Part 3:  --  On to section 3 of Part 1.Back to the Future, 1998 style.
• Yard plans:  --  Schematic and Aerial View.

• RR Passenger Service and Population Distribution -- Prof. Maurice Perret.
• Bancroft Depot -- by Don Kottke, story of the restoration of this depot.
• GBW Caboose 617 -- by Don Kottke, story of the restoration of this caboose.
• The Pine Line -- Ray Pendergast Jr., recalls 20 years of being a Soo Line engineer on the Stevens Point to Park Falls line.
• Plover gets a RR
• Wisconsin Central RR -- a brief history.
• RR Memories -- some railroad memories from Plover.
• A history of the Wisconsin Central Railway.