Fanello Retires After 21 Years

From left to right: Trainmaster Kevin Krueger, Engineer/ Conductor Carl Fanello, and Trainmaster Gavin Burrell. Carl Fanello joined the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad (WSOR) at the Milwaukee terminal back in 1989 as an engineer/conductor and after 21 years in the railroad industry, he retired on September 30. If the math isn’t quite working out, it’s because he took a 10-year break to follow one of his life goals of cabinetmaking. However, railroading was his real passion, and he returned to the WSOR to finish out his career.

Fanello was working at WSOR’s Horicon depot as an Engineer/Conductor at the time of his retirement.

WSOR Trainmaster Gavin Burrell said, “Team members at the depot will miss Carl coming in for beans (his lunch break), grabbing a can or two of soup, slapping his knee and saying, ‘soup time’ with a big ol’ smile.” The cold weather was Fanello’s favorite type of weather, because his fellow team members would get on the bandwagon of bringing in soup, slapping their knee and saying, ‘soup time’. It would make his day when his colleagues and trainmasters brought in cans of soup for himself and the others on the team.

As a nod to Fanello’s affection for that particular food, the team presented him with a cake decorated to resemble a can of Campbell’s soup.

As he embarks on retirement, Fanello will be spending some of his free time working on a number of wood working projects that his wife, Sue, has in store for him. Sue plans on retiring next year, and they will travel to a few places on their bucket list, seeing extended family along the way and spending endless amounts of time with their grandson.

“Carl’s presence at the WSOR will be missed,” noted Burrell, “but the team will continue the legacy of slapping their knee and saying, ’soup time’ for many miles down the tracks.”