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C&NW Railfan Guide
The Last Granger Railroad
text and photos by Brad Joseph, MMR
originally published in the Caboose Kibitzer
With the 1995 Mid-Continent Region Convention in Des
Moines, Iowa, I had given some thought to spending some
time on the Chicago & Northwestern mainline. All
winter I looked at maps, read stories, and looked at
photos of locations in the hope I could devote a day or
two before or after the Convention to photography. Then
came what Pacific Railnews called the "stealth
merger" - Friday, March 10, 1995. With that news,
the MCoR lost an old friend. While the C&NW was
headquartered in Chicago and served ten states, it was
Iowa's railroad.
This was the last granger railroad in the United
States, excluding new regionals spawned by the past
decades' consolidations. It was the Chicago Great
Western and Minneapolis & St. Louis incarnate, and
for me it would always conjure up images of endless
grain trains crossing the Hawkeye State, much like they
had for the last one hundred, thirty-six years.
So as the spring of 1995 wore on, the MCoR meet in Des
Moines became the secondary reason for my visit to Iowa.
First and foremost was now the opportunity, perhaps my
last, to record the C&NW on film and tape. Leaving
after work, and driving all night long from St. Louis, I
had lots of time to reflect on why the C&NW had such
a unique personality. The all night trip was necessary
to get to the Kate Shelley Bridge near Boone at dawn
when light would be best. Perhaps the Kate Shelley story
was one of the reasons for the inordinate following this
railroad enjoyed.
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Westbound stack train at
the Kate Shelley bridge west of Boone, Iowa,
crossing the Des Moines river. South of here
was the original bridge washed away in the
flood. To get the proper lighting, an all
night drive was necessary from St. Louis.
6/15/95.
Click any of these photos to see the
larger, high-resolution version. |
Many of you know the story - I had it read to me
countless times as a child, and I don't know how many
times I have read it to my daughters Whitney and
Carolyn. In 1901, a twelve year old girl saved a
passenger train from running off the flood-ravaged Des
Moines River bridges near Moingona, Iowa, a spot several
miles south of the high bridge on today's mainline. How
many railroad bridges that you are aware of today have
such a story behind them?
Perhaps it was the never say die attitude the
railroad displayed in their determined entry into the
big money Power River Basin coal game. During a mid-70's
bid to reduce reliance on seasonal grain traffic, the
C&NW inked an agreement with the BN to build a new
railroad to tap the low sulfur coal deposits in Wyoming.
The BN tried of waiting to see the cash. The
Northwestern just could not raise the funds needed to
renovate their line across Nebraska (the "Cowboy
Line") to handle the traffic, but they did not give
up. In a move that today seems ironic, they formed a
partnership with the UP and began hauling almost 50% of
the coal, much to BN's chagrin.
Of course, the UP has been important to the C&NW
for a long time. In fact, their fortunes have been
intertwined ever since the city fleet was shifted from
the rails of the Milwaukee Road along with UP's Chicago
bound freight business. Lots of people forget that the
UP did not directly serve Chicago until the MoPac
merger, but had run from Council Bluffs over the CMSTP&P
or C&NW.
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Eastbound Powder River
coal train at Scranton, Iowa. 6/15/95.
Click any of these photos to see the
larger, high-resolution version. |
I feel that one of the most interesting things about
the Northwestern was its recent motive power moves. They
operated a beautiful executive F-unit fleet for several
years. They maintained and shopped their GP7s and GP9s
unlike most Class 1s, and they also fielded the world's
most modern power, the AC4400CWs - what a combination!
In fact, it was such a combination that I photographed
on the "Spine Line" during the Des Moines
meet.
The "Spine Line" was the Chicago, Rock Island
and Pacific's route from the Twin Cities to Kansas City,
and in 1980, when they shut down operations C&NW
leased, then purchased it. On a hot June day at
Marshaltown, train MTMCA-Marshaltown to Mason City local
rolled west out of the yards for the junction with the
"Spine Line" in Nevada with an AC unit
sandwiched by two geeps. Now that is homespun
railroading for a Class 1! I would sure like to know
what the engineer of that train thought having to ride
in the geep with that million dollar unit right behind.
| Douglas Wessling cutting
the grass at Grand Junction, Iowa, as the
"Rolfe Branch way freight" passes.
He is still using his 1947 Farmall at the
Lions Park. 6/15/95.
Click any of these photos to see the
larger, high-resolution version. |
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The Chicago & Northwestern always had a backroads,
small town friendliness to it that I can't describe any
better than the photo of Douglas Wessling. I came across
him cutting the park at Grand Junction, Iowa, while the
"Rolfe Branch way freight" rolled by. The
combination of tractors and C&NW power looked just
right. Grain elevators are never too far from trackside
in Iowa either, witness the scene at Scranton. Even
though the eastbound train was hauling Power River coal,
I couldn't resist the shot.
Like I said earlier, the MCoR has lost a friend. If
you get the opportunity to spend some time trackside
before they go away forever, take it! The new mega
railroads created in the past years somehow are much
more impersonal than those warm Iowa days this past
summer near Des Moines.
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Northbound MTMCA just
about to cross under the C&NW mainline.
It is coming off the "Spine Line"
junction at Nevada, Iowa. How about that
lashup! 6/17/95.
Click any of these photos to see the
larger, high-resolution version. |
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