Well it takes me a while to do the research, but here is a little that I
could put together on this line:
Des Moines to Cainsville, MO
The Des Moines Osceola & Southern RR was organized in Osceola Iowa August
18, 1879 to build a narrow guage RR south from Des Moines to Osceola and Van
Wert to Cainsville, MO a distance of 111.1 miles. Construction commenced
at Osceola June 24, 1881.
The Des Moines and Kansas City Rly was organized on April 11 1888 and
purchased the assets of the DM&O RR. They completed widening of the road
to standard gauge in 1887. On April 1, 1898 they conveyed all it's
property to the Keokuk and Western. This line was deeded to the CB&Q on
Jan. 1 1901.
Albia to Des Moines
This line was completed in Jan. of 1880, and was under CB&Q control from the
beginning.
Des Moines Structures
>From a map in the CNW Historical society magazine 2009 #1, the CB&Q used the
Union Depot, which looks like was pretty close to where the county jail is
now. The CB&Q tracks like most of the other railroads ran east-west on the
flats south of downtown. The CB&Q was the furthest south as best I can
tell, running on the north side of Elm street where MLK parkway is now.
There was a roundhouse with an 80ft turntable north of Tuttle between 9th
and 11th. The roundhouse structure was still there in the early 1990s.
Part of some building supply business I believe.
>From there the CB&Q turned south and crossed the Raccoon. At least in
later years this bridge was a steel truss visible from the SW9th viaduct.
>From aerial photography it looks like this bridge was removed in 2000.
The CB&Q crossed the CGW just to the east of Bell Ave yard, and had their
own track that roughly followed what is now Bell Ave on the way out to
Burch. According to the CNW historical society magazine the CB&Q
abandoned their track from Burch to Bridge Jct. in 1937 in favor of trackage
rights over the CGW.
>From a January 4th, 1914 ETT
There were 3 first class passenger trains going south out of Des Moines.
#3 left at 8am and arrived at Cainsville at 12:45 pm
#9 left at 12:39 and ended at Leon at 4:15pm
#13 left at 4:14 and ended at Osceola at 6:25
There were also 2 second class trains out of Des Moines
#79 left at 8:15 pm and ended in Osceola at 11:20
#91 left at 7am and arrived in Cainsville at 6pm
There were equivalent north bound runs.
In addition there were a couple of short runs.
#15 ran from Osceola to Van Wert early in the morning and then back in the
evening as #14
#93 ran from Leon to Cainsville in the later afternoon after coming north in
the late morning as #94.
CGW trains ran from Des Moines Union Jct to Bridge Jct on the CB&Q track
which had block signals for it's .4 mile distance.
Stock extras could be run 1 hour ahead of #91 and #92.
A 1900 ETT for the Albia to Des Moines line shows 2 passenger trains each
way and 1 freight. The first passenger train arrived in Des Moines at
12:15pm so it would have been possible to transfer to #9.
1929
A 1929 ETT shows two first class passenger trains each way. One all the
way to Cainsville, and the other to/from Leon, Iowa.
There is a daily freight between Des Moines and Osceola, and then there is
listed separately Monday Wednesday Friday freights between Des Moines and
Osceola, then Osceola and Cainsville. The schedule is such that the same
equipment may have been used for both segments.
1940s
By the time we get to a 1941 ETT only Des Moines to Osceola shows up.
There are 2 daily except Sunday passenger trains each way, and a freight.
The Albia and Des Moines has the same number of trains plus a daily M&StL
train.
The 1947 ETT is virtually the same.
Flooding and abandonment
>From copies of a couple of newspaper articles from 1947 it appears that the
CB&Q filed to abandon from Burch to New Virginia in 1945. This would have
left only a spur from Osceola to New Virginia.
In June of 1947 Iowa was inundated by rains. State average rainfall was
second only to June of 1993.
The Middle river in the Martensdale area washed out the CB&Q. The CB&Q
renewed it's push to abandon the line, but the state commerce commission
pushed back that repairing the tracks as far at St Marys would be feasible.
After going to the ICC it appears that CB&Q agreed to repair and operate as
far as Truro.
In these articles it is stated that the CB&Q was running it's trains over
the CGW between Des Moines and Talmage, and preferred this arrangement.
Talmage is between Osceola and Creston and just south of Hwy 34. The
Burlington crosses over a valley on an impressively large steel bridge.
The CGW follows the west side of the waterway below the bridge. I can
remember seeing the interchange track between the CGW and the CB&Q/BN when I
was young. It was visible looking south from Hwy 34, and appeared to be
quite steep. The track came off the CGW going southbound and curved to
the west to meet up with the Burlington.
1950s
The 1957 ETT just lists the Truro spur from Osceola to Truro.
Some Depot notes
In Martensdale the CB&Q and RI shared a depot where they crossed. The RI
agent handled the business of both roads. Before 1920 Martensdale was
listed at Yaggy in the timetables.
Van Wert was crossing of 2 CB&Q lines. The Des Moines to Cainsville ran on
the south side of the depot, and the Keokuk and Shenandoah ran on the north
side.
-----Original Message-----
From: CBQ@yahoogroups.com [mailto:CBQ@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Eric
Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2012 8:00 AM
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
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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