Wauwatosa, Wisconsin — CPKC Watertown Subdivision
The Empire Builder and the Borealis at a landmark crossing outside Milwaukee
Stream hosted by Steel Highway Railcams. Spotatrain links to the original feed and does not rebroadcast.
The camera watches milepost 90.6 of CPKC's Watertown Subdivision in Wauwatosa, from the Little Red Store, a designated landmark beside the tracks. CPKC freight shares the line with Amtrak's Empire Builder and Borealis.
About this cam
Wauwatosa sits on CPKC's Watertown Subdivision, the former Milwaukee Road main west out of Milwaukee, and the operator places this camera precisely: milepost 90.6. Steel Highway Railcams states that movements here include CPKC trains working between Portage and Milwaukee, alongside Amtrak's Empire Builder and the newer Borealis service. The host is the Wauwatosa Historical Society, and the camera is mounted at the Little Red Store at 7720 Harwood Avenue — a designated landmark that hosts historical programmes periodically. The building stands right at the tracks in the village centre, which is why the view is a tight one: gates, signals and passing equipment fill the frame rather than a long lens down the right of way. The operator runs a scanner at the site, a Uniden Bearcat BC355N, and publishes the channels it monitors: AAR 84 (161.370 MHz) and AAR 94 (161.520 MHz).
What to watch for
Two Amtrak services use this line, and they are different animals: the Chicago–Seattle/Portland Empire Builder is the long-distance train, while the Borealis is the newer Chicago–St. Paul day train added to the corridor. Both run past the Little Red Store rather than stopping. CPKC freight between Portage and Milwaukee fills the rest of the day, and this is post-merger territory, so watch for CPKC, legacy CP and legacy KCS paint working together. The crossing gates in frame give you warning before anything arrives, and the scanner audio on AAR 84 and 94 gives you more.