ROLL TRAINS. The Eau Claire Express announced a club first at the beginning of the new year: An overall logo refresh.

As the Eau Claire Express mark the 20th anniversary of their debut, a new set of logos has been unveiled by the team. Announced on Jan. 2, they mark the first overall logo refresh in club history.

Craig Toycen has owned the Northwoods League (NWL) team since 2022; he said that he and his family had discussed an image change since taking over the team, though they never considered a new name. “Although we really liked our old EC logo and the track logo that predated it, we wanted something that was easily recognizable as being from Eau Claire and shows our connection to baseball. This logo accomplishes that,” Toycen said. “We want someone who has never seen our logo before to instantly have an idea of who we are.”

Designing the new logos is Tony Horning, who has worked with other NWL teams. “We started with pencil sketches and worked in color as we started to finalize the look,” notes Toycen. Nine months of work was involved in the creation of the new imagery.

The colors have undergone a modification; Toycen believes the new palette brings a summer theme to their visual presentation. The prior “Texas Orange” is now a brighter “Tennessee Orange” (the states correspond to the universities that use those shades), and the blue originates from the Air Force Academy; black has been replaced in the color scheme with navy.

Toycen is a fan of the baseball stitching arrayed across the front of the locomotive in the primary logo, and observed that the word mark gives the impression of moving with speed. Meanwhile, Express caps will be fronted by the secondary logo featuring Eau Claire’s initials. “I really like the railroad spike that separated the E & C with the crossed railroad ties behind it.”

No worries, folks – Trax, the Eau Claire Express mascot, will return this season as well. (Photo via Facebook)

The public will see the new logos, colors, and cap make their game debut on Memorial Day as the Express open their season at Carson Park against Thunder Bay. The team’s full 2025 schedule is available online. “We hope people enjoy this new look, because we are really proud of it!” Toycen said.

For fans wanting to rep the new logo, merchandise is now up for grabs on the Express website. Oh, and don’t worry about dear ol’ Trax – he is still the Express mascot!

See the Eau Claire Express team’s press release on the logo refresh on their website • Keep up with the Express on Facebook