Friend and I travelled from Peoria over to Ottumwa on Saturday March 3rd to
train show and some railfanning along the way. Caught a westbound coal train
and paced him on Cameron Road between Cameron and Monmouth (two Grinsetin 70
Macs). Stopped in Mt. Pleasant to see the station and toured Threshers
grounds (2.5' gauge track with mainline rail is a funny sight!). Stopped in
Fairfield, IA when we saw some Mopac transfer cabooses and Soo wide vision
cabooses. Went around to front of line of cabeese and discovered a '32
Hiawatha baggage car and one from '38 train. One Milwaukee postwar coach and
a big modernized heavyweight car (these were purple and probably from
Atlantic, IA). Along line to Ottumwa the searchlight signals are being
replaced with hooded signals mounted closely side by side. It looks to me as
if this is for true bi-directional signalling(?).
Ottumwa show was nice. Bought some goodies from the company store and Q
Connection. Enjoyed seeing Dave L.'s Sam Clemens Zephyr and NZ on the
Burlington Model RR club's nice modular layout. After show scoped out the
impressive Milwaukee Road grade north out of town. Made pilgramage to the
Hudson at the station and it's really nice to see an example with boiler
sheathing (I'm use to seeing Galesburg's which looks nekkid without the
sheathing!). Explored the station as well. Stopped by shops in Burlington
(lots of dead C30-7s) and watched two coal trains screech down the hill. CZ
picked up two people and set out two people for the BPD to take into custody!
Caught the IZ in Galesburg and headed home.
I enjoyed the day quite a bit since everything west of Burlington was new
terrirtory for me. Especially liked seeing Dayman and the Iowa "boom-boom"
Plant. Anyone know the story behind the Ottumwa station (why it is almost a
twin to Burlington's?). I know the Burlington station was destroyed in a
fire but what's the story behind Ottumwa?
Mike Martin / Peoria Heights, IL
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
|