History

Duplainville Tower stood in the northwest corner of the crossing of the Milwaukee Road and Soo Line in Southeastern Wisconsin, north of the city of Waukesha.  The single tracked Soo Line ran north/south (railroad east/west) and the double tracked Milwaukee Road ran east/west. 

Constructed by the Milwaukee Road in 1929, it saw a progression of successor railroads on both lines until razed in 1990. In 1986 the Soo Line completed the purchase of the Milwaukee Road and at that time both lines were the Soo Line. Much of the traffic was diverted off the original Soo to the double track former Milwaukee line. Soon after the Soo designated a large portion of the original Soo Line in Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois, including the north/south line past Duplainville, as a subsidiary called “Lake States.”

On October 11, 1987, the Soo spun off Lake States to a brand new regional railroad the Wisconsin Central Limited. Later, the Canadian Pacific took full control of the Soo Line (of which they had owned a majority stake for decades) and in 2001 the Canadian Nation completed the purchase of the Wisconsin Central. 

Today the double track Canadian Pacific crosses the single track Canadian National. 

 SooParts’ HO Duplainville Tower kit is 3D printed in an ABS like resin. It has been designed from the original railroad plans and represents the tower as it appeared after it was painted white and the original tile roof was replaced with a shingle roof. 

Over the years, a number of windows were replaced with various different configurations. According to the plans, the original windows were all a five pane configuration. Some of those windows appeared to last until the windows were boarded up just before it was torn down. 

Four and six pane windows were also used. On the south side, there are three windows together. It appears that they were one of each design in the later years.