ELROY, Wis. — A documentary film premieres October 15 on the rail-to-trail conversion movement, focusing on the first successful project in the United States — an old Chicago & Northwestern shortcut from the Wisconsin River to the Mississippi. What remains is a 32-1/2 mile biking and hiking trail between Elroy and Sparta. It opened as a recreational venue in 1967, complete with the three original tunnels. The film is based on the 2021 book “From Rails to Trails: The Making of America’s Active Transportation Network” by Peter Harnik, a co-founder of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. Harnik produced the film to chronicle the political, legal and cultural battles to create the growing and interconnected national rail-trail network. The premiere is on PBS. The time varies locally.
Such a climb. The route had a 3% grade in places. It was a tough task for steam locomotives that hooked together to make the 819-foot climb on one side and 659 feet on the other. Without tunnels, the grade would have been even more of a struggle.
High-balling on a flat stretch. The line was built in 1887.
Heavy traffic. C&NW’s Dakota 400 was among the last trains bound on the route for LaCrosse, Winona and points west. Passenger service ended in 1963. Even then an alternate route, longer but easier, was in use. At its peak, the Elroy-Sparta section carried 50 freight and six passenger trains a day.