John Bock's Photo Collection
The Late John Bock was a long time Sparta resident and well known as
a custodian at Sparta High School and later when it became Sparta Junior High.   John's house was on Walrath Street, only a few blocks from the Milwaukee Road facilities at Sparta.   He had some really nice pictures, which he gave to a friend Gary Allen before his death.  Gary has generously shared these historical pictures with us.  Thank's Gary!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A Milwaukee Road Hiawatha from the Highway 16 overpass in Sparta.
The locomotive is a streamlined steam engine, an F-7 class 4-6-4, known
as a Baltic type on the Milwaukee Road, and a Hudson on most other railroads.


    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.


    John says 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.  The scene is at the
Walrath Street crossing.    The water tower was to the left of the picture.
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 were used up until about 1954, before being replaced by diesel power.
    The picture is taken with the old Sparta roundhouse in the background, and is near Clifton street and across the tracks from the present West Central Model Railroad building (then a gas company building).


    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.


    A heavy USRA Mikado type locomotive is starting up after a water stop near the Wolcott Street crossing.  This locomotive does not appear to look like Milwaukee's L-3 class heavy Mikado types, nor does the number #8601 correspond to Milwaukee's numbers.  Mystery Locomotive?????

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