Thanks to everyone for the treasure trove of information.
I can still picture in my mind's eye the bridge across the Racoon which - as I
understood it - connected the DMU to the Bell Ave yard - or perhaps it
connected the Bell Ave yard to the industrial park on the flats on the north
bank.
The last time I saw that bridge was around the time (?) the UP pulled out the
yard and it's river crossing. There was a red flag between the rails on the
north approach.
If I dig I should have a few pictures. Bell Ave and the DMU were two of my
favorite haunts.
Eric
--- In CBQ@yahoogroups.com, "Stephen Craven" <scraven@...> wrote:
>
> 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
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
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