On the same flight that started with The Cities in darkness and ended with Chicago at sunrise, my flight glided over Madison, Wisconsin, which I shot in the dawn’s early light. The shot above leads to the whole series. I need to go back and correct the botched tags on many of them. Meanwhile, locals can fill me in on what I got right and wrong.
One of these years I’d like to actually visit Madison, on the ground. Meanwhile, this will have to do.
Spent five of my formative years on the Isthmus. Some info on the striking X embankments in the west end of Lake Monona (upper left of the pic): The near horizontal one was the Milwaukee Road’s Chicago-Madison line heading for the depot on West Washington (still standing and renovated) and vest-pocket switching yard (where I used to spend hours watching the action from my fourth floor dorm window in Sellery Hall) between there and Park Street where all passenger and frieight service terminated. It’s still active as the Wisconsin and Southern’s Madison entry. The other leg is the former Chicago and North Western’s line through Madison, beyond to Elroy and connection with the Omaha Road, bound for the Twin Cities. That depot was on the isthmus at Blair and Wilson (gone for years) and had through passenger service from Chicago through Madison and beyond. If this line is still in service, it’s for local freight bound for Oregon, WI south of Madison.
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