Central Iowa Railroad Photos and Stories

Central Iowa Railroad Photos and Stories

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CIRRP&S

Davenport Iowa Train Show

 The Davenport train show, Aug 09th at the Mississippi  Valley fairgrounds in Davenport.  The show had a great turn out. I got there when the doors opened at 9:30 AM and there was a fairly huge line of rail fans waiting to get into the building. Once inside, there were many sellers and vendors. I really liked that there  was a great mix of railroad collectables and model trains of all scales. I spoke to a lot if the sellers and they had a great morning of sales.  

          A locomotive headlight

Me at the show

Lots of layouts to see

Train Show; Sarpy fairgrounds Springfield Nebraska

 

                                             Photo by Gene Stevens

I attended the toy and train show at the Sarpy County Fair grounds in Springfield Nebraska on July 17th. The show was run by the Nebraska- Iowa Railroaders. It was a great show. People there were wonderful and there were many great deals on model train items and railroad collectables. This was my first train show since 2019. And I was super happy to be there talking to people. There were a ton of vendors and they filled up two buildings (one very large) with vendors and collectors.  Operation Life Saver (OLI) also had a trailer there that had a train engineers control (for lack of better terminology) position built into it. I volunteered with OLI in Illinois for many years, so I spent time talking to the nice lady who was OLI person running the exhibit. Nebraska OLI

Check out my facebook post at the Central Iowa Photos and Stories page Central Iowa railroad photos and Stories

Happy Trainspotting!

Gene Stevens RRVR

Train spotting, Iowa Hot Spots. By Gene Stevens

 Here's a list of several  good train spotting sites I've found in central Iowa;

First of all, let me say this, and most all train enthusiasts should know this. Always use a lot caution when train spotting. Stay off the tracks, keep a safe distance, use a zoom lens for good shots.. And Look, Listen and Live! 

           Area west of Nevada Iowa.

Hull Ave yard Des Moines IA

Snow plow.. Boone Iowa

  Union Pacific RR Grand Junction IA

The list;  Marshalltown Union Pacific Yard, White Pole Road Iowa (Interstate RR runs a long side White Pole rd), Grand Junction, Boone, Shortline junction in Des Moines and Hull Ave yard, Newton Iowa, Interstate RR yard and Nevada Iowa.

Iowa Interstate RR in West Des Moines IA

The following information is courtesy of Train enthusiast Mark Reno.

US30 from about Grand Junction to Ogden is good for railfanning. Especially as you can chase a train if you’re both going to same direction. Once you get to Ogden, you have to pull into town to follow the train further. Then near the Kate Shelley high bridge just west of Boone, there’s a humpback bridge on a gravel road that leads to the high bridge. You can stand on the humpback bridge and watch trains pass you underneath. Follow the gravel road that turns just before the humpback bridge, and you’ll find yourself heading downhill towards the high bridge, which is a sight to see. In Boone, there’s several places you could park and watch the UP mainline or even the Boone & Scenic Valley Railway on occasion. The same can be said for Ames and further east into Nevada where there are a few junctions and parts of the old Lincoln Highway follow near the mainline. Jumping back west, there is a golf course between Jefferson and Grand Junction that is right by the tracks with a paved road leading to the crossing. It looks like the track curves before crossing the road so I hope to get a nice photo of a train there one day. In Jefferson itself, one could find several places to railfan from, as with most any rail town. Going west from Jefferson, the track and US30 separates a bit, but you can take old highway to see any rail activity better. In Scranton, there is a park right by the mainline, or you could park in their business district near a crossing. I’ve had people look at me or even stop and ask questions there but they’re friendly. If you turn west at the Casey’s onto a gravel road, there is a crossing where I’ve parked and watched trains several times. Possibly another nice photo to be had there as the track curves and it’s in the middle of some fields. If you keep heading west on US30 to Carroll, you’ll spot some trains if you’re lucky, though the road and the rail isn’t always the closest. Continuing past Carroll and towards Denison, there’s a good amount of trackage right by the road. My memory is a little fuzzy beyond that, but I’ve taken a few road trips to North Platte, Nebraska, utilizing the old Lincoln Highway/US30 instead of I-80. It takes a lot longer but you’ll see more than enough trains to make up for it as you’re driving right by the rail for most of the trip.

Other spots of interest;

Newton Iowa; Iowa Interstate Yard. 

Minburn Iowa; Restored Train depot turned restaurant, really good food there.

Perry Iowa; Hotel Pattee, Railroad themed restaurant, really good food.

Dows Iowa; Old Rock Island station, very rustic and run down. But worth seeing.

Murray Iowa;  Very rural area, active BNSF freight line. 

Atlantic Iowa; Along the White Pole Road, Iowa Interstate Railroad, yards and other activity.

Ankeny Iowa Train Derailment

On Christmas day, 2020, it was reported that a train had derailed east of Ankeny Iowa in North East Polk County. The local news reported that the derailment was caused by a small bridge that had failed on the line that runs to the north.

 I drove out to the site and tried to capture some pictures. But the derailment area was located several hundred yards off of 102nd street on private property. So I managed to get some distant shots. There was maintenance of way (MOW) and heavy construction equipment staged in the area. It appeared that some of the cars, possibly tanker cars were on the ground north of 102nd street. There was also an engine further down the track.

Des Moines Streetcar Friends

 There are certainly a lot of railroad / railway webpages, message boards and Facebook pages out there. More enough to keep a railfan busy. I am a member of several. Pages like the Chicago and North Western Historic Society, Trains, Trains, Trains, railfans etc etc. My favorite pages are the more local pages that recognize and keep the history of railroads and particularly interurban lines alive. Many of these pages are filled with old train photos, railroad research and the priceless personal accounts of riding the rails.

One of my favorite railway facebook pages is the DesMoines Streetcar Friends a page which is dedicated to the interurban lines which brought transportation to the people who lived in central Iowa.

I have been doing my own research about the the Fort Dodge and Southern Line which ran from fort Dodge through the farm towns into Des Moines. some of the original track for that old interurban line is still in existence. And the members of the Des Moines Streetcar friends speak of the experiences of growing up along the old interurban trolley lines

Merry Christmas From Raccoon River Valley Railway

                        Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays 

                from Raccoon River Valley Railway Iowa