EAST TROY ELECTRIC RAILROAD MUSEUM

Wisconsin Power & Light Interurban Car 26
The Restoration Project

“Car #26” was one of the interurban street cars which belonged to the Sheboygan Light, Power and Railway Co. One of the founders was our great-grandfather, John M. Saemann. Glenn Guerra has been very dedicated to the restoration of Car 26, and his website has many interesting photographs of the street car from its days of regular use, as well as of the restoration project.

Built by the Cincinnati Car Co. in 1908 for the Sheboygan Light, Power and Railway Co. of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the car was in daily service for 30 years.

Car #26 is now owned by The Friends of East Troy Railroad Museum, at Troy, Wisconsin. The restoration is complete as it looked in 1908. The car was operated in October of 2005, the first time in over sixty years.

This website gives a short history of the streetcar industry.

Originally, “public transportation” in the urban areas was by horse-drawn streetcars. When electricity became available for public use, electrically powered cars replaced the horse-drawn vehicles. This allowed the transportation companies to improve their service, even expanding out of the cities to less urban areas. In Sheboygan, Wisconsin, there was the Sheboygan Light, Power and Railway Company. To many folks, they were always called streetcars; but officially these companies were known as interurban railroads.

Guerra states on his website:

Car #26 comes from the expansive years of the industry and gives us insight into the mood of that era. When times are good and the future appears bright, we tend to express ourselves with some degree of lavishness as in Car #26. When compared to other forms of travel in that era, Car #26 takes on the appearance of great comfort and convenience reflecting how the owners of the railroad felt about the future.

Following this beginning of great expectations, Car #26 had a life similar to the industry as a whole. When forced with austerity, the railroad modified the car so it could be operated by one person. This modification eliminated the conductor and also consisted of closing one of the entry doors in each vestibule. When the car was no longer needed by the railroad, the electrical equipment and trucks were removed and it was sold and became a vacation cottage near the shores of Lake Michigan where it remained for 53 years. During its stay there the car sustained very few further modifications but suffered deterioration from the weather.

One other thing to mention here as it pertains to my great-grandfather, is that this museum has an exhibit which goes into detail about the Sheboygan Light, Power, and Railway Company, including the corporate history and routes, and will include pictures, maps, text and videos including interviews of people who remember the streetcars.

Glenn Guerra
East Troy Railroad Museum, Inc.
P. O. Box 943
East Troy, WI 53120-0943
Telephone: 262-642-3263

DON’S DEPOT

Don’s Depot is a website devoted to the history of Sheboygan’s electric railway system.

The Sheboygan City Railway began horse car service in 1886. This company was started by our great-grandfather, John M. Saemann.

Don’s writes:

In 1894, the line was purchased by the local power utility and the Sheboygan, Light, Power & Railway was formed. Electrification of city service began on November 27, 1895.

Interurban service opened from Sheboygan to Kohler and Sheboygan Falls on November 30, 1899.

In 1904 it was extended to Plymouth, where it connected with a line to Elkhart Lake. This line was built by the Milwaukee & Fox River Valley Electric Railway. It was a subsidiary of the Milwaukee Electric and was part of a plan to build from Milwaukee to Appleton. It was acquired in 1913, three years after the Sheboygan, Light, Power & Railway had become Sheboygan Railway & Electric Co.

I do believe this is where John M. Saemann must have gotten out of the street car business as I’ve seen no mention of his association with the companies that Don goes on to discuss. More research is needed on exactly when he got out of the business. Don continues:

The Fond du Lac-Neenah Division began 1894 as the Central Wisconsin Electric Railway. They electrified the Oshkosh horsecar system and became Citizen’s Traction Co. of Oshkosh. The property was reorganized as Winnebago Traction shortly afterwards and built a line north to Neenah. In 1899 the Fond du Lac Street Railway & Light Co. completed a street railway system in Fond du Lac and built a line to Oshkosh as the Fond du Lac & Oshkosh Electric Railway. It was begun in 1902 and opened on January 28, 1903. In Oshkosh, Winnebago Traction built a line west to Omro in 1902 which was planned to reach Berlin. In 1903, the Fond du Lac lines were merged as Eastern Wisconsin Railway & Light Co. In 1908, Eastern Wisconsin Railway & Light purchased the Oshkosh property as Wisconsin Electric Railway.

In 1916, the Sheboygan and Fond du Lac-Neenah properties were purchased by Kelsey-Brewer and merged as Eastern Wisconsin Electric Co. The company changed its name in 1924 to Wisconsin Power & Light.

View Don’s Depot Photos
of the Sheboygan City Railway and its successors.

Email address: [email protected].

TRAIN WEB – WISCONSIN TROLLEYS

CEDAR GROVE was served by interurbans of Milwaukee Northern Railway (later The Milwaukee Eastern Railway & Light Co. = TMER&L) from 12 September 1908 to 23 September 1940.

SHEBOYGAN was at the north end of the Milwaukee Northern Railway (later TMER&L) interurban line. The service began 22 September 1908 and ended 23 September 1940.

SHEBOYGAN was also served by the Wisconsin Power & Light Co. interurban line.

Service from Sheboygan to Kohler and Sheboygan Falls began 30 November 1899, and was later extended to Plymouth and Elkhart Lake.
Service between Sheboygan Falls and Plymouth ended in 1926.
Service to Kohler and Sheboygan Falls ended 11 December 1938.
The spur to Edgewater power plant continued to be served by electric loco until 1941.

Same website, but featuring the Milwaukee Northern Railway, of which J. M. Saemann was President.

The Milwaukee Northern Railway was Milwaukee’s third interurban company, independent of the Chicago, North Shore, & Milwaukee and The Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Co. The headquarters was in Cedarburg. In 1922 TM acquired the Milwaukee Northern Railway and added their Milwaukee to Sheboygan interurban line to the system.

BRIEF HISTORY

28 October 1907 – Milwaukee Northern Railway begins interurban service between Milwaukee and Cedarburg.
2 November 1907 – Service extended to Port Washington.
19 November 1907 – Milwaukee Northern Railway begins local streetcar service on its line in Milwaukee.
12 September 1908 – Service reaches Cedar Grove.
22 September 1908 – Service reaches terminal in Sheboygan entering city on tracks of Sheboygan Light, Power & Railway.
1912 – Line double-tracked from Milwaukee to Brown Deer.
1922 – The Milwaukee Northern was acquired by TMER&L and operated as a subsidiary.
1925 – Cars share new Sheboygan terminal with Wisconsin Power & Light.
30 April 1928 – Officially merged into TMER&L system.

Train Web – Wisconsin Trolleys

There are some neat photos of different cars and local scenery on this webpage.

Email address: [email protected].

SHEBOYGAN COUNTY HISTORICAL RESEARCH CENTER
Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin

The Sheboygan County Historical Research Center maintains a speakers bureau which gives talks and slide shows.

There is a listing of available genealogies. Their list of genealogies doesn’t include Laux, who was a Brazelton descendant who knew alot about the Saemanns.

One of their many slide-show programs is entitled “Interurbans – Streetcars of Sheboygan County”, which covers the electric railways of the city and county from infancy to obsolescence (presenting 91 slides).

The Sheboygan County Historical Research Center

Email address: [email protected].

SUMMARY OF
SHEBOYGAN TRANSIT SYSTEM

The beginnings of the Sheboygan transit system was in 1886. John Michael Saemann was at the forefront of bringing the transit system to Sheboygan.