"The Only Waunakee in the World"
WAMX 4223 is at the head of this Sunday evening edition of the Wisconsin and Southern's train L467, the Madison to Baraboo turn. There are only 3 cars to take northbound today that will be forwarded to their final destinations by another crew, the L867 that works out of Rock Springs to service the Reedsburg Sub industries from Baraboo to Reedsburg from Monday to Friday. The train is crossing Main Street in downtown Waunakee on this beautiful and warm summer evening on the last day of June. Downtown has a fair number of people people stopping into restaurants, the Lone Girl brewery, and a few stores that are still open, plus a few kids out enjoying their summer peddling their bikes came rushing over to the tracks when they heard the train horn south of town.
Waunakee, Wisconsin for a lot of years (and they might still) used the marketing tag-line of "The Only Waunakee in the World." The name - pronounced by most people kind of like "waa-nuh-kee" - is a Native American word (as are many Wisconsin town names). Depending on the source you reference it either means "fair and pleasant valley" or was derived from the name of a Native American who lived in the area who's name meant "he lives in peace."
This rapidly growing and pretty well-to-do suburb of the Wisconsin state capitol of Madison owes a large part of the reason for it's founding in 1871 to the Chicago and Northwestern when the railroad built it's Chicago to St. Paul line that was once the Route of the 400s. The 1896-built depot at right is still well cared-for by the community, though the railroad hasn't used it for many decades now. The C&NW line was severed as a through route between Reedsburg and Wyeville in the 1980s, but 142 years after the city's founding on this particular Sunday it is still seeing the passage of WSOR trains, typically once in each direction three days per week.
"The Only Waunakee in the World"
WAMX 4223 is at the head of this Sunday evening edition of the Wisconsin and Southern's train L467, the Madison to Baraboo turn. There are only 3 cars to take northbound today that will be forwarded to their final destinations by another crew, the L867 that works out of Rock Springs to service the Reedsburg Sub industries from Baraboo to Reedsburg from Monday to Friday. The train is crossing Main Street in downtown Waunakee on this beautiful and warm summer evening on the last day of June. Downtown has a fair number of people people stopping into restaurants, the Lone Girl brewery, and a few stores that are still open, plus a few kids out enjoying their summer peddling their bikes came rushing over to the tracks when they heard the train horn south of town.
Waunakee, Wisconsin for a lot of years (and they might still) used the marketing tag-line of "The Only Waunakee in the World." The name - pronounced by most people kind of like "waa-nuh-kee" - is a Native American word (as are many Wisconsin town names). Depending on the source you reference it either means "fair and pleasant valley" or was derived from the name of a Native American who lived in the area who's name meant "he lives in peace."
This rapidly growing and pretty well-to-do suburb of the Wisconsin state capitol of Madison owes a large part of the reason for it's founding in 1871 to the Chicago and Northwestern when the railroad built it's Chicago to St. Paul line that was once the Route of the 400s. The 1896-built depot at right is still well cared-for by the community, though the railroad hasn't used it for many decades now. The C&NW line was severed as a through route between Reedsburg and Wyeville in the 1980s, but 142 years after the city's founding on this particular Sunday it is still seeing the passage of WSOR trains, typically once in each direction three days per week.