| A FV&LS (or FOXY) train, with a particularly unfriendly crew, feebly attempts to temporarily spot a boxcar as they service the Midwest Paper Group mill at Combined Locks, WI, via former CN, historically C&NW, rails on 22 Mar. '22. Unfortunately, this crew member failed to adequately set the brakes on this boxcar. As soon as the locomotives uncoupled, the boxcar obediently followed right behind them. Here the crew member helplessly watches it roll past him. It rolled far enough to foul the spur from which they intended to extract several other boxcars. I wish I had brought my video camera. I almost never experience schadenfreude, but in this particular instance, I did. This antagonistic train crew reported me the Outagamie Co. Sheriff's Dept. As I was watching them switch the mill, I saw a deputy pull up to a member of the train crew. The crew member pointed to me and then the deputy drove up to me. The friendly and professional deputy rolls down his window and says, "There is some concern down by the mill about what you are doing up here." I told him, "I'm just watching the train." He said, "You're OK. You can keep doing what you're doing." We wished each other a good day, and he drove away. I was standing on a public sidewalk 400' from railroad property. Founded in 1889 (some references state 1892) as the Combined Locks Paper Co., it became Combined Paper Mills, Inc. in ‘46 after it purchased a paper mill in PA. Acquired by the National Cash Register Co. in ‘69, it was merged with Appleton Coated Paper Co. in ‘71 to form Appleton Papers, Inc. Commonly known as Appleton Papers Locks Mill, it has been controlled by several different domestic and foreign owners over the years. It was separated from Appleton Papers in ‘00 and became Appleton Coated, LLC. Ten members of the mill’s management purchased the facility from France-based Sequana SA on 19 Dec. ’14. Forced into receivership, it was purchased by scrap dealers, Industrial Assets Corp. and Maynards Industries USA, in Oct. ’17. They bought it to shut it down and gut it. By some miracle, they changed their minds and restarted the paper machines. The facility was re-named Midwest Paper Group ca. 19 Apr. ’18. McKinley Paper Co., a subsidiary of Mexico-based Bio PAPPEL, purchased the facility ca. 3 Feb. '22. There are flashing blue lights on both sides of the driveway (at left) and a sign that says "Train in the area when flashing, proceed with caution". The RR crew turns on the lights when they arrive. There used to be crossing gates at both blue lights. |