| As the tail end of a CN local traverses the west leg of the wye, GTW 6226 waits on the north leg of the wye at the north end of the former SOO yard at Neenah, WI on 15 Jun. '19. The local has just passed the remnants of the foundation from the ca. 1955 masonry SOO depot. The rail sections supported by concrete blocks and railroad ties rest atop the remnants of the foundation. The masonry depot was built to replace the wooden depot built in 1891 on Sherry St., about 850 ft. to the southeast, which was torn down soon after the new one opened. Beyond the train lies Arrowhead Park, a closed paper sludge landfill. Before the landfill was opened in the '50s, the south shore of Little Lake Butte des Morts came right up to the north leg of the wye. The Fox Valley Energy Center (formerly Minergy Fox Valley Glass Aggregate Plant) once dominated the scene beyond the trains, until demolition was completed in the spring of '16. Opened in Jan. '98, it stood idle since 15 Jun. '13. The P. H. Glatfelter Co. paper mill dominated the skyline in the background at right for 135 years, the oldest part of the original mill was constructed in 1874. Glatfelter purchased the mill from Bergstrom Paper Co. in 1979. Bergstrom had purchased the mill, originally Winnebago Paper, in 1904. Glatfelter moved the jobs to Ohio in June 2006, the mill stood idle for about two years until it was torn down, demolition was completed in May 2009. The corporate headquarters of Plexus, 1 Plexus Way, the ugly, black blob, occupies part of the site of the old paper mill. |