Railroad, cooperative make their case
By Jeremiah Tucker, Sauk Prairie Eagle
Will an arterial biking trail stretching from Madison through Mazomanie into Sauk City and Prairie du Sac and eventually the Wisconsin State 400 Trail shape the future of the Sauk Prairie-area communities, or could Sauk Prairie’s future lie in additional rail service and a railroad museum aimed at children?
Or is some combination of all the above scenarios possible?
The first of likely many discussions to answer these questions took place last week when local officials listened to a pitch in favor of rebuilding the Sauk City rail bridge and establishing a new Mid-Continent Railroad Museum in the community.
Bill Gardner, CEO of Wisconsin and Southern Railroad, Don Meyer, manager of Mid-Continent and David Kramer, CEO of United Cooperative, tried to convinced members of the Sauk Prairie Joint Comprehensive Plan Committee that rebuilding the Sauk City rail bridge, expanding rail service to the United Cooperative plant on Highway 60 and opening an interactive railroad museum for children would bring economic prosperity to the communities.
Gardner said that if this happened, he would relinquish his operating rights for the rail through the villages, allowing them to be turned into a trail, and he would allow a trail to be built alongside the track from Mazomanie to Sauk City.
“Work with us and we’ll make sure you get your bike path from here down to Mazomanie,” Gardner said.
Many members of the nine-person committee had more questions than enthusiasm for the proposal, questioning the number of rail cars United Cooperative would need, the proposed route of the new track, what new rail museums in Mazomanie and Sauk City would mean for the existing Mid-Continent operation in North Freedom and the cost of the project.
Under the proposal outlined by the three men, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation would pay for 80 percent of the cost of rehabilitating the track between Mazomanie and Sauk City and rebuilding the Sauk City Rail Bridge under its freight railroad preservation program. Wisconsin and Southern, the local communities or United Cooperative could cover the remaining 20 percent.
Kramer said United Cooperative would pay for the new track and the numerous easements and property rights it would require using a 10-year WisDOT loan at 2 percent interest.
During the latest state budget passed in June, funding for the freight rail preservation program jumped from about $22 million for 2007 to 2009 to about $60 million for 2009-2011.
WisDOT rail supervisor Frank Huntington, who attended the meeting, has said Wisconsin and Southern and United Cooperative would need to have its proposals submitted by Feb. 1, 2010 to be eligible for funds under the current budget.
The route Gardner proposed would follow existing track until Dallas Street and then follow Industry Road through the new business park for about two miles to the United Cooperative plant.
Kramer said if United Cooperative’s Sauk City location had rail service, he would consider closing the Prairie du Sac operation that Wisconsin and Southern recently announced it no longer would offer rail service to via the rail through the Badger Army Ammunition Plant, and consolidate in Sauk City.
More freight from crops
Gardner said the cooperative most likely would pay 10 cents more per bushel and at an estimated 3.5 million bushels of corn going through the feed-and-grain facility in a year, that’s $350,000 more dollars for the community.
“And farmers spend their money in the community,” Gardner said.
Gardner batted away reservations about the possibility of Wisconsin and Southern storing rail cars in the villages, saying it wouldn’t be practical because the track will be active. However, in response to a question Gardner said that Sauk City and Prairie du Sac wouldn’t have a say in the matter.
“If you want an absolute guarantee, then we should just shut this meeting down because there are no absolutes,” Gardner said.
Members of the comprehensive plan committee pointed out that the communities planned for new rail south of Prairie Road near a proposed Highway 12 bypass.
“He mentioned it was just a preliminary route, but he seemed pretty stuck on that route when I mentioned moving it further south,” commission member and Sauk City Village Trustee Rich Marks said during a phone interview Nov. 16.
Gardner told the commission that locating the track further south would require a new rail bridge, which would be more expensive than rebuilding the existing rail bridge.
“There’s a lot less paperwork working on something you have to fix,” Gardner said during a phone interview Nov. 16.
He said a new bridge in the location commission members wanted would need to be longer, it would require greater involvement from the U.S. Corps of Engineers and WisDOT would need to acquire a new right-of-way.
Huntington said WisDOT also isn’t comfortable with its highway and railroad right-of-ways being close together.
Villages unsure about rail
“I think they’re going to need the cooperation of the village but quite honestly I’m not opposed to rail if it’s done right,” Marks said.
He said he also was concerned there could rail cars stored in the village and was unsure whether Gardner would allow a trail within the rail corridor between Mazomanie and Sauk City.
“Didn’t he make a lot of promises off the top of head?” Marks said. “I’d like to have it in writing.”
Commission member and Village of Prairie du Sac Trustee Ray Bolton said he thought Meyer’s proposal to open new Mid-Continent railroad museums in Mazomanie and Sauk City and running passenger trains between the two would mean the end of the museum in North Freedom.
“I think the county and county board needs to take a position,” Bolton said in a phone interview Nov. 17. He said opening a railroad museum in Mazomanie could mean the transfer of an asset from Sauk County to Dane County.
“My concern is anyone who doesn’t believe it means ultimately the closing permanently of (the) North Freedom (railroad museum) is mistaken,” Bolton said.
Meyer said there are no plans to close the North Freedom museum, but added that flooding problems continue to plague the North Freedom location and new museums in Mazomanie and Sauk City would guarantee Mid-Continent has a second life if North Freedom ever closed.
Bolton said what he took away from the meeting is that Gardner doesn’t want to run trains on the existing track through the village.
“I think we’re all agreed we don’t want the rail weaving through Sauk and Prairie like it did,” Bolton said.
Gardner said Wisconsin and Southern never intended to keep the current rail line through the villages as a backup to the rail line across the Merrimac bridge, should it fail.
“I said all that rail (from Mazomanie through Sauk Prairie) is crap,” Gardner said during the meeting. “I always said if the Merrimac bridge goes down for whatever reason, let’s fix it.”
Still, he said if the local communities don’t work with him on his proposal, he’ll have to run trains through the villages on the existing track.
“It’s not a threat,” Gardner said Nov. 16. “But you’ll be forcing me to go that way.”
Gardner said he’s preparing cost estimates for rebuilding the existing Sauk City rail bridge and one further south. He said the proposal he submitted during the Nov. 11 meeting was a starting point.
“I thought it was more of an informational get together and try and see if there was a way of making this work or if there’s no interest,” Gardner said.