a
custodian at Sparta 
A Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 crosses over the Wolcott Street crossing next to
the
depot. The Highway 16 overpass is visible in the
distance.
This loco-
motive
is #201, a class S-2, one of Milwaukee's finest mainline freight
haulers.
The scene is
at the
Walrath
Street crossing. The water
tower was to the left of
the
picture. John said that this L-2 class 2-8-2
was used as a pusher to get heavy
trains
rolling upgrade after stopping in Sparta for water.
After
the train was rolling up to speed, the pusher backed off and returned
to
Sparta to await another assignment.
This is probably the pusher engine in the previous shot. It
appears
to be near the water tower between Walrath and Wolcott Streets in
Sparta
and waiting for its next assignment. The markings under
#603
show it to be a class L-2r, a light 2-8-2 Mikado type.
A Milwaukee Road Ten-Wheeler type steam locomotive #1169. This
locomotive
and an identical sister were used on the Sparta to Viroqua
branch.
Because of the very steep grade between Sparta and Cashton, one
locomotive
could not take all of the needed cars, so one train would go in the
morning
and the other one would take the afternoon train with the rest of the
cars.
Residents who lived near the Cashton hill reported that many times the
little steamers would get nearly up the hill and either stall or spin
out.
They would then have to back down the hill, break up the train and take
it up in two sections to Cashton. The 4-6-0 Ten-Wheeler was a
very
common branchline locomotive on the Milwaukee Road and was used up
until
about 1954, before being replaced by diesel power.
This
picture, taken near Clifton street and across the
tracks from the present West
Central Model Railroad building (then a gas company building), shows the
old Sparta roundhouse in the background.
A Milwaukee Road diesel streamliner on the Hiawatha at the Sparta
depot.
This appears to be an early E-7 unit, probably taken in the late 40s.
