Local Abandoned Railroads

Arlyn Colby grew up in Trempealeau County, Wisconsin. After graduating from Eleva-Strum Central High School and UW-Eau Claire, he pursued a career in teaching high school mathematics and coaching. Upon retirement, he found time to pursue his interest in railroads – specifically, abandoned branch-line railroads throughout west central Wisconsin. In 2008, he published his first book, The Mondovi Line, about the railroad that ran between Fairchild, WI and Mondovi, WI, near where he grew up. The book was so well-received that he decided to write The Chippewa Valley Line, about the Milwaukee Road track between Wabasha, MN and Durand, Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, and Menomonie, WI. After five years of research, he finished The Blueberry Line and in 2015 he completed The Chippewa Valley Line. The Cornell Line is the fourth book in the series. The Park Falls Line, The Spring Valley Line, and The Ellsworth Lineare now also available. Any of these volumes can be purchased after his talk.Colby, who currently resides in Barron, will discuss these abandoned branch-lines on November 17th, as part of the Thursdays at the U Lecture Series on the UWEC-Barron County campus. Each session in this series is 12:30-1:30 on a Thursday, in the Blue Hills Lecture Hall (Ritzinger 234) at the campus, which is located at 1800 College Drive in Rice Lake. Thanks to financial support from the campus foundation, the series is free and open to the public. Neither seating reservations nor parking permits are required for campus guests.