Western Railroad Discussion > LaCrosse, Wisc. railfanning?

Looking to find out if there's are any areas worth checking out for a bit of trainwatching in the LaCrosse, Wisconsin area. We may be there a few days next month for my wife's work so may have some time to explore. Most information I've found so far is quite old.

One great place to watch BNSF trains is in river town of Trempelau Wisconsin about 20 miles north of la crosse right on the Mississippi River also If you want to see CP rail actioin go across the river to La Cresent MN Also try Grand Crossing  in North lacrosse area and the Amtrak Depot in Norrth lacrosse Hope this helps you a little bit 

Look for many posts on here by rrartist, he lives in LaCrosse and is a prolific and premier excellent photographer of the area, and a great artist. His informative captions should guide you to a plethora of great locations. === === = === JLH
 

Lots of trains, lots of great spots.  Older information, has not changed that much. Actually too much to go over in a quick post.

Bob

 

vwood22 Wrote:
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> One great place to watch BNSF trains is in river
> town of Trempelau Wisconsin about 20 miles north
> of la crosse right on the Mississippi River also
> If you want to see CP rail actioin go across the
> river to La Cresent MN Also try Grand Crossing 
> in North lacrosse area and the Amtrak Depot in
> Norrth lacrosse Hope this helps you a little bit 

Lots to see agreed, but the Grand Crossing diamonds are now underneath an elevated Gilette Street and hard to access (and probabky in shadow quite a bit of the time).





 

Very rough summary: 
BNSF runs north-south through town, with pretty riverside/bluffside scenery for a 2 hour drive upriver, and probably the same downriver.  Lots of different vantage points with river, bluff, village or farm backdrops.  Double tracked, 20 to 30 trains per day?  
CP(Milwaukee) runs north-south on the Minnesota side of the river.  Mainline to the north, secondary line to the south.  Mainline crosses the river on an long, elderly swing bridge north of La Crosse/La Crescent.  And runs east to Milwaukee, across the north side of La Cross then into the hills/valleys of bluff country, crossing the watershed divide from the Mississippi to the Wisconsin River through a tunnel at Tunnel City (next to Tomah).  15 trains a day on the mainline, not sure about south of La Crescent.  
UP (CNW) has track rights on the CP (Milwaukee) from somewhere east of Tunnel City to Winona (CNW abandoned their own line through here decades ago -- 1960s?)  One local train out and back, a couple times a week?
Amtrak (Empire Builder) runs through on the CP, stops at the station in La Crosse.

Of the 5 rail legs out of La Crosse, BNSF to the north has the busiest railroad with the smallest highwah.  Wisconsin Highway 35 is a small highway and goes through quaint towns.  
North of La Crosse on the Minnesota side, and south on the Wisconsin side, you have US Highway 61, which was widened in the 1960s, bypasses towns, and made the overall landscape less scenic.  And south of La Crosse on the Minnesota side you don't have a big highway, but you don't have a lot of trains, either.    

Best railroad maps are on Open Railway Map
https://openrailwaymap.org/?lang=null&lat=43.8435654491906&lon=-91.27183914184569&zoom=12&style=standard

as stated above, see rrartists posts: 9000 photos of pretty much every point of interest on these lines, over 14 years (Plus the nostalgia posts for previous decades), all well labeled with location.  

Yesterday -- 
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,5197232

A few days eariler
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,5193755

And... 
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,5195911
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,5192332

And... 
https://www.trainorders.com/images2/index.php?start=152&category=0&search=rrartist&author=1&title=&description=
https://www.trainorders.com/images2/index.php?start=352&category=0&search=rrartist&author=1&title=&description=
https://www.trainorders.com/images2/index.php?start=752&category=0&search=rrartist&author=1&title=&description=
2013's pics 
https://www.trainorders.com/images2/index.php?start=5952&category=0&search=rrartist&author=1&title=&description=
2010's pics
https://www.trainorders.com/images2/index.php?start=7952&category=0&search=rrartist&author=1&title=&description=
2008's pics
https://www.trainorders.com/images2/index.php?start=9200&category=0&search=rrartist&author=1&title=&description=

Ted in OR
With family history to Buffalo County, Wisconsin, 40 miles upriver from La Crosse.  



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/21 04:18 by gobbl3gook.

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Thanks to all for the info on LaCrosse. Will be helpful for doing a bit of trainwatching. Sorry for the delayed response.