Railroad Day takes Alberton by storm

ALBERTON - The celebration known as Railroad Day stormed like a runaway locomotive into Alberton on Saturday featuring a full day of activities and performances designed to celebrate the town’s railroad heritage.  

The day began with a parade followed by children’s games complete with a petting zoo and ending with live musical performances by popular musician Rob Quist, his band Great Northern and his daughter Halladay Quist.

In between were tours of the two train cars behind the town museum and the museum itself, Wild West reenactments featuring a stagecoach robbery gone bad, educational activities for children and food and refreshments.

Organizer Richard Werst said Railroad Day was a way for the community to come together and honor the industry that established the town.

“This is a railroad town and people need to remember their heritage,” Werst said. “If you don’t, you’ll lose it. Preserving what’s here is important. This was a place where the crews would get off and other crews would get on the trains. It was kind of a way  station. A lot of the buildings here were built by the railroad.”

Werst said were it not for the railroad industry, the town of Alberton may never have existed in the first place. He said it was the only industry supporting the community.

“A lot of people may not understand what the railroad industry meant to this town,” Werst said. “Back in the day it was the only way to make a livelihood in Alberton. It’s important to know where we came from. We need an identity for this community.”

Alberton historian and museum curator Fran Rogers said the relationship between the town of Alberton and the railroad industry was a symbiotic one. In other words she said, without one, there wouldn’t be the other.

“The railroad industry started this town,” Rogers said. “They decided to build a terminal here and that meant a huge complex was built. In order to support that, they needed a town and they needed one quickly. They bought all the lots and built everything.”

Rogers said Alberton was a railroad town for over 70 years before the company running the line went into a period of decline. In 1980, after a desperate effort by workers to revive the ailing company, the Milwaukee Rail Line dissolved, leaving Alberton without a railroad.

“When they pulled out that was it, no more railroad,” Rogers said. “Most of the people that lived here were railroaders. Now, we just have the memories and we have the museum.”

One Railroad Day attendee said he was at the event to remember the days when he worked for the railroad. Noel Schilz said, as he walked through the caboose behind the museum, the living conditions weren’t much different from his time.

“I was switch man and a brakeman,” Schilz said. “Most of the cabooses were built the same. They all had stoves and tables. The old Burlington Northern cabooses had an upstairs were the guys could sit and lookout for the curves and fires and things. Once you work for the railroad, it’s always with you in a way.”