I didn't really get out west to see the Milwaukee until 1980, and that was only in Bensenville, when it was already cut back, but the dead lines of power and wrecked cars were enough..... then later out to South Dakota, where the Rapid City line was moribund, and after that, out to the west coast to Elbe, Morton, and after that, right into Tacoma. Having grown up with Penn Central, it rapidly changed to weeds, but in SD and other places, it seemed like it just happened. Another one I missed, but the model certainly does it justice with the appropriate 'feel'.
That 'end of the line' is was plainly found to the Erie Lackawanna in Rittman, OH - my own catharsis of memory, the very western end of the remaining main line, now a trail past that point.
Had to check back, but from Google Earth, the long painful line to Rapid City 'up and dies' at 398 Brennan Ave. in Google Earth, dirt east of there toward the airport, which is what I remember, parallelling the road, abandoned in 1980 as the "Badlands Route" to Mitchell.
Well, I had to find it. It exists. The 'end of line' of the MILW main line (Pacific Coast Extension) is in Miles City, MT, on Water Plant Rd. Street view is obvous, car storage right up to last rail, and a paved crossing beyond the coupler. That literally is the west end of the MILW today.
