Waupaca, Wisconsin — CN Neenah Subdivision
Two cameras on a 1907 sandstone depot, 25-30 CN freights a day
Waupaca, Wisconsin — CN Neenah Subdivision
Canadian National — Neenah Subdivision (former Wisconsin Central Railway, later Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie / Soo Line) · Waupaca, Wisconsin, United States
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Virtual Railfan's two cameras at Waupaca are mounted on the historic sandstone depot at 525 Oak Street, owned by the Waupaca Historical Society, overlooking Canadian National's Neenah Subdivision. The operator reports 25-30 trains a day, including through-freights at up to 60 mph and a mid-afternoon local switching coke cars at the Waupaca Foundry.
About this cam
The line under these cameras is Canadian National's Neenah Subdivision, which Virtual Railfan describes as "a key segment of CN's mainline from the Twin Ports of Duluth, MN, and Superior, WI, to Chicago, IL, and an extremely important modern route for freight". Waupaca sits at milepost 220.8 on that subdivision, which runs single-track under CTC between Fond du Lac and Stevens Point and was built between 1871 and 1882 by the Wisconsin Central Railway before passing to the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie — the Soo Line. Its last scheduled passenger train, the Laker, ran in 1965; today the traffic is freight. The cameras are mounted on the depot the Wisconsin Central built in 1907 after fire destroyed its predecessor — a sandstone building with three fireplaces and a Spanish tile roof, which Virtual Railfan measures at 28 by 70 feet. The Waupaca Historical Society bought it in 2004 and still owns it; the depot holds railroad artifacts and a G-scale model railroad, and is open for tours and event rentals. The Society states that Virtual Railfan installed two cameras there for 24-hour viewing. One camera is fixed, facing east towards Neenah; the other is a PTZ that, in the operator's words, "moves based on operator availability". Waupaca itself, known for the Chain O' Lakes, is a tourist town, and the operator notes plainly that "Railfans are welcome to visit anytime".
What to watch for
Canadian National road freight is the whole show — the Neenah Subdivision lost its last passenger train, the Laker, in 1965. Virtual Railfan counts 25-30 trains a day here and says the through-freights run at speeds up to 60 mph, so the fixed east-facing camera gives little warning. The set-piece is the daily local that switches coke cars at the Waupaca Foundry in the mid-afternoon, the one movement with a predictable time. Waupaca is milepost 220.8 on a single-track CTC railroad dispatched from Homewood, Illinois, so meets happen at sidings rather than in town, and the scanner frequency the operator publishes — 160.590 MHz, AAR channel 32 — is the way to hear them set up. The backdrop is the 1907 Wisconsin Central sandstone depot itself, still owned by the Waupaca Historical Society.
Best viewing times
Virtual Railfan states that a local switches coke cars at the Waupaca Foundry in the mid-afternoon, daily. The Waupaca Historical Society states the cameras run for 24-hour viewing. The depot building itself is open Saturdays and Sundays 12-5 pm from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend.
Explore around Waupaca
1 place on Spotatrain within 50 km of Waupaca — 1 spot.
- Stevens Point (Yards) 44 km