This Fairmont MT-19 speeder is painted in the GB&W's classic
red-and-gray paint scheme.
Fred Hoeser has been a Green
Bay & Western fan for many years -- since 1976 to be exact, when he
had the chance to ride of the Trempealeau Valley Limited.
He lived in Independence, Wis.
from 1979 to 1990 and got to know many GB&W employees and railfans
during that time.
In the 1990s he had the chance to buy an ex-Milwaukee Road
Fairmont MT-19 speeder. Being a true-blue (or is that
true-red?) Green Bay Route fan, there was no way he could let the speeder
remain in plain maintenance-of-way yellow. So he painted his speeder
as a GB&W speeder should have looked like.
Fred operates his motorcar with the Chippewa Valley Motorcar
Association, which runs on ten miles of ex-Milwaukee road track south of Durand, Wis.
which the group leases from Xccel Energy.
Fred chose the car number from the 1960s TV show, "Car 54,
Where Are You?"
So if you are ever in southwest Wisconsin and see a red-and-gray Green
Bay and Western speeder go by -- now you know the story! |