| A CN local emerges from behind the depot/yard office as it prepares to set out a string of cars at the former C&NW yard at Appleton Junction, WI, on 26 Jul. '20. Usually they stay on the main line and pass in front of the depot/yard office while making their setout, but this isn't the first time I've watched them do it this way. Local would continue on to Little Chute and Kaukauna. There used to be a diamond in front of where the depot/yard office sits, about where the sidewalk leading to the front door crosses the tracks, from ca. 1874 until at least 1968, where the MLS&W crossed the C&NW. When the MLS&W was absorbed by the C&NW on 1 Sep. 1893, their line became the Ashland Div. of the C&NW. The white building behind the depot/yard office is the former home of the Harry H. Long Moving and Storage Co., 1001 S. Douglas St., Appleton, WI. This building dates to at least 1953, when it was listed in the local directory (it was not listed in ’51). The building has a spur, but it hasn’t been used for quite a while (except for occasional MoW equipment). Now called Harry H. Long Moving Storage & Express, Inc., the company, founded in 1917, is still family owned. It moved to a larger facility in Town of Clayton, Winnebago Co., WI in 2001. To the right, a stack of new, concrete railroad ties has recently appeared. I've never seen concrete railroad ties around here before. |