WESTERN UNION JUNCTION RAILROAD MUSEUM

Established 1992 OPEN
Sundays from 10-3
May thru October

The opening/closing times may vary to the volunteers availability or weather conditions.
Volunteers are not paid to run the museum.
The money raised from donations are used for the upkeep of all the museum displays.

Caboose Facts:
Facts about the Caboose
This Bay Window Caboose was built in November, 1956 for the Milwaukee Road by the Thrall Car Manufacturing Company of Chicago Heights, Illinois.

Road Service - Eastern Minnesota along the Mississippi River, and in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Weight- 52,000 Pounds
Height- 12 Feet
Overall Length- 36 Feet
Length Inside- 28 Feet
Overall Width- 10 Feet, 8 Inches
Inside Width- 8 Feet
Milwaukee Road assigned road number - 992186, in a series of 992115 - 992214. The caboose was renumbered by the Soo Line to 179. This caboose was brought to Sturtevant on May 16, 1992 and was dedicated August 9, 1992.

The U28B Control Stand
Step into a mockup display with an authentic GE U28B Control Stand out of the Milwaukee Road Locomotive 5503. This display will show you what an average locomotive cab is like. If you have time enjoy a short video that tells you the operation of that locomotive, and also what it is like to be in the engineers seat.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION
The Fairmont Speeder
Take a look at railroads maintenance past. This equipment long since retired from the railroad is a real find in it’s self but look at the whole setup - the motor car, the flats (sometimes also called gondolas), and the real prize the crane. Come and see this equipment.

Real Operating RR Signals
Come and see the operating signals just ask us and we will show you how they operate. This one of the few museums that have an operating display of RR Signals.


Historical facts of the railroad in Sturtevant
The first railroad was built in 1852 and was named the Racine, Janesville, and Mississippi. It ran into financial difficulty and became the Western Union Railroad in 1879.
The Western Union later became part of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul. A town began to develop when the main link was built between Milwaukee and Chicago, and a major junction developed when it met the link from Racine to Beloit and points west.
Western Union Junction was re-named Corliss in 1901 when the Brown Corliss Engine Co. built a steam engine factory in the area. Then in 1902 the Milwaukee Road built the present station. By 1912 over 65 trains stopped at Sturtevant.
Corliss became a village in 1907. Corliss was renamed once more when the B.F. Sturtevant Company moved here from Hyde Park, Mass. in 1923.
Today their is no more B.F. Sturtevant Company in Sturtevant, in fact their old factory was torn down in the late 1980’s. Their is only a few dozen freight trains that go thru town. The only passenger trains that go thru are now run by Amtrak. Ten of those trains run between Milwaukee and Chicago , And Two of them run between Chicago and Seattle, Washington (these two trains do not stop in Sturtevant.)
Today CP Rail (Canadian Pacific Railway) runs thru town. The Milwaukee road went out of business in 1986 when the Soo Line bought the bankrupt railroad. In 1991 CP Rail took Control of the Soo.
Today only two segments remain of the old Racine, Janesville and Mississippi Railroad (the Milwaukee Road called this line their Southwestern Division). CP Rail still operates the line between Waxdale (SC Johnson Wax on the east end of Sturtevant) and Kansasville. While the Wisconsin Southern operates a section between Burlington and Beloit .