Re: [CBQ] Osceola-Des Moines branch?

[STEVEN HOLDING <sholding@sbcglobal.net>]

Eric
The best publication so far is the North Western Lines  from the CNW HS  came out in 2009 and is all about Des Moines(Sometimes you have to cross over to get the info you need)
The most direct route for the CB&Q was over the CGW from Talmage Jct just east of Creston to Des Moines
The line from Osceola went north then hooked west to Truro before again heading to Desmoines
The line was abandon in three sections with trackage rights over the CGW and Q trackage removed 10/29/37 Des Moines to Burch 2.48 miles
Truro to Burch was removed 12/1949 with the ok for abandonment all the way to Osceola but the Truro to Osceola was not removed until 7/57
My track charts do not go back that far being the last set the Q put out in 1966 the above dates are from the Ottumwa Div Chart dated 1/6/60 and may not be the same as the ICC Abandonment date approvals were oked. 
With the building of the Red Rock Dam the Albia to Des Moines lines of the Wabash and the Q were put together by the government with the dispatching swapped every three years.  And the Wabash train crews were not happy with their own dispatchers.  While working the Ottumwa Desk in Galesburg for about 7 years second trick we converted the branch from train orders to track warrants and the NS gave the line to BNSF in return for line haul by BNSF between Hannibal and Des Moines but they kept a switch eng at Des Moines.
Retired and do not know how the job works now 
Steve in SC

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From: Eric <eric_d_hopp@yahoo.com>
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sun, July 1, 2012 9:05:14 AM
Subject: [CBQ] Osceola-Des Moines branch?

 

Could anyone tell me the history of the branch line from Osceola, Iowa to Des Moines?

I grew up in Des Moines - 1968-1986 - and although I spent a lot of time exploring the CGW, the DMU, and the Rock Island I wasn't aware that the Q had ever had a presence Downtown. That it once served Des Moines with a through 'arc' which left the main at Albia and rejoined at Osceola was news to me.

Yesterday I was looking at old aerial photos and topo maps and was able to locate the Osceola-Des Moines route.

Who built it and when? Was it the same company who built the branch from Albia? Who built the bridge across the Racoon River at the CGW yard? Who built the bridge across the Des Moines River, which was the southern-most of the four railroad bridges crossing the river downtown, each a block apart?

How did the Q operate the two branches? Were they ever considered a through route? Perhaps a secondary main so that passenger trains could serve the Capitol City?

Did either have a depot in Des Moines?

When was the Osceola-Des Moines segment taken up? Was it at the same time as the Q's downtown bridge across the Des Moines River?

Does anyone have pictures or track charts?

Eric

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