Western Iowa (Large Resolution Warning)
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Thanks for the photos. I grew up in Denison, one block from the main line. I barely remember steam power, but lots of good memories of GP7's, F units and other assorted diesel power. West of Denison, at the village of Arion, the Sioux City branch of the Milwaukee crossed both the CNW & the IC. When I was in High School, it was still a manual interlocking with tower and operator. On several occasions, I would pick up a pizza to entice the tower operator to let me "observe" operations. Communications with the CNW dispatcher was by phone with the chatter always going in the background. Communication with the Milwaukee was by telegraph (the operator was quite proud of the fact that he could use the key) or phone. Once I got to pull one of the levers to set a signal to get the Milwaukee train across the CNW tracks. It was the evening train coming out of Sioux City on it's way to Manning, where it would head east.
David
David
Funny you should mention the Freedom Train. I just got some 8mm footage converted to DVD of 4449 between Ute and Charter Oak, where the highway parallels the tracks. Unfortunately, I did not get any footage at Arion and the camera's spring broke at Buck Grove. This was my first encounter with 4449, but not my last. I have been fortunate to have worked on that locomotive twice.
In the C&WN67 photograph below, my great grandmother's house was just off the right edge of the photo. I remember sitting in her back yard and watching the steam engines taking on water when they stopped at the station. You can see the stand pipes on both sides of the three main tracks. The water tower was a block east of the station on the north side of the tracks. In the photo, look behind the left corner of the station and you will see it.
Thanks for the memories.
David
PS: by the way, the Freedom Train was southbound from Sioux City to Des Moines. And if you were on Highway 30, you did drive by my childhood home.
In the C&WN67 photograph below, my great grandmother's house was just off the right edge of the photo. I remember sitting in her back yard and watching the steam engines taking on water when they stopped at the station. You can see the stand pipes on both sides of the three main tracks. The water tower was a block east of the station on the north side of the tracks. In the photo, look behind the left corner of the station and you will see it.
Thanks for the memories.
David
PS: by the way, the Freedom Train was southbound from Sioux City to Des Moines. And if you were on Highway 30, you did drive by my childhood home.
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Some more history about western Iowa railroads.
More Than You Ever Wanted To Know About The Pumpkin Vine Route
The Pumpkin Vine Route was a part of the Sioux City division of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway. It was built in 1897 - 1899 and ran southwest from Wall Lake to Herring, Boyer, Kiron, Schleswig, Rickets, Berne, Ute, Soldier, Moorhead, Preparation, Pisgah, Orson and Mondamin. At Boyer, there was a branch line that went south to Deloit and Denison. The track from Denison to Deloit was removed in 1936 and from Deloit to Boyer in 1939. The track from Wall Lake to Mondamin was dismantled in 1958.
I recall my father telling me the reason it was called the Pumpkin Vine Route because there was no straight stretch of track - it was all curves. This was pretty much true for the part that was in Crawford County. The longest straight section of track in Crawford county was a section 1.77miles long east of Schleswig. The curviest section was between Kiron and Boyer. The longest straight section of track for the whole sub division was coming out of Mondamin at 3.65 miles long. And the next longest was going west out of Wall Lake at 2.4 miles long.
Most stations along the line had the C&NW standard #2 bay window depot. There were no signals on this part of the railroad. All trains ran on a schedule that was published in a timetable. According to the 1907 timetable, the first train of the day out of Denison was #54, a mixed train. This was a freight train with a passenger car at the rear end of the train. It would stop in each town along the way and drop off and pick up freight cars. It was scheduled out of Denison at 6:05am. It would leave Deloit at 6:26 and Boyer at 6:55. By 7:25 you would be in Wall Lake. The passenger train, #52, which left Denison at 2:45pm would get you into Wall Lake at 3:40pm, 25 minutes faster than the mixed train.
There was no direct train from Denison to points west of Boyer, If you want to travel from Denison to Ricketts, you would catch the mixed train #54 at 6:05, arrive in Boyer at 6:55, get off the train and wait in the depot for train #51, westbound from Wall Lake to Mondamin. It would leave Boyer at 8:44 and get you into Ricketts at 9:25. If you want to go back the same day, you had to be at the Ricketts depot to catch train #50 at 12:14. At 12:58, you would get off the train at Boyer and wait for the #53 Train to Denison leaving at 2:07. This would get you into Denison at 2:30pm. That is 3hrs, 20 minutes to travel to Rickets, a stay of 2hrs, 49 minutes and a return trip of 2hrs, 16 minutes. All that travel time, and you never left Crawford County.
If you lived in Kiron and wanted to travel to Denison, it would not be a day trip. You would have to leave at 12:43 and arrive in Denison at 2:30. Your trip back to Kiron would be the next day, leaving at 6:05am and arriving in Kiron at 8:58.
David
More Than You Ever Wanted To Know About The Pumpkin Vine Route
The Pumpkin Vine Route was a part of the Sioux City division of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway. It was built in 1897 - 1899 and ran southwest from Wall Lake to Herring, Boyer, Kiron, Schleswig, Rickets, Berne, Ute, Soldier, Moorhead, Preparation, Pisgah, Orson and Mondamin. At Boyer, there was a branch line that went south to Deloit and Denison. The track from Denison to Deloit was removed in 1936 and from Deloit to Boyer in 1939. The track from Wall Lake to Mondamin was dismantled in 1958.
I recall my father telling me the reason it was called the Pumpkin Vine Route because there was no straight stretch of track - it was all curves. This was pretty much true for the part that was in Crawford County. The longest straight section of track in Crawford county was a section 1.77miles long east of Schleswig. The curviest section was between Kiron and Boyer. The longest straight section of track for the whole sub division was coming out of Mondamin at 3.65 miles long. And the next longest was going west out of Wall Lake at 2.4 miles long.
Most stations along the line had the C&NW standard #2 bay window depot. There were no signals on this part of the railroad. All trains ran on a schedule that was published in a timetable. According to the 1907 timetable, the first train of the day out of Denison was #54, a mixed train. This was a freight train with a passenger car at the rear end of the train. It would stop in each town along the way and drop off and pick up freight cars. It was scheduled out of Denison at 6:05am. It would leave Deloit at 6:26 and Boyer at 6:55. By 7:25 you would be in Wall Lake. The passenger train, #52, which left Denison at 2:45pm would get you into Wall Lake at 3:40pm, 25 minutes faster than the mixed train.
There was no direct train from Denison to points west of Boyer, If you want to travel from Denison to Ricketts, you would catch the mixed train #54 at 6:05, arrive in Boyer at 6:55, get off the train and wait in the depot for train #51, westbound from Wall Lake to Mondamin. It would leave Boyer at 8:44 and get you into Ricketts at 9:25. If you want to go back the same day, you had to be at the Ricketts depot to catch train #50 at 12:14. At 12:58, you would get off the train at Boyer and wait for the #53 Train to Denison leaving at 2:07. This would get you into Denison at 2:30pm. That is 3hrs, 20 minutes to travel to Rickets, a stay of 2hrs, 49 minutes and a return trip of 2hrs, 16 minutes. All that travel time, and you never left Crawford County.
If you lived in Kiron and wanted to travel to Denison, it would not be a day trip. You would have to leave at 12:43 and arrive in Denison at 2:30. Your trip back to Kiron would be the next day, leaving at 6:05am and arriving in Kiron at 8:58.
I always loved Ft Dodge. We traveled through there once a year to go to a family reunion in Humbolt. I always wanted my dad to stop at the big IC roundhouse but he never did. I have a 1909 map of Ft Dodge on my train room wall. It was quite a railroad town. My earliest memories of a steam engine was being lifted up to the cab of an IC loco on which my uncle (who lived in Ft Dodge) was the fireman. When he was on the route to Omaha, my mom and grandma would go to the station to give him lunch when he stopped in Denison for water.
Any pictures of the FtDDM&S? I discovered it when I went to college at ISU and could see some tracks out my dorm window. Wrote a paper about it for a writing class. Somewhere I have a few pictures.
David
Any pictures of the FtDDM&S? I discovered it when I went to college at ISU and could see some tracks out my dorm window. Wrote a paper about it for a writing class. Somewhere I have a few pictures.
David
Since this is a Trainz forum, I guess I should mention that I am modeling the FtDDM&S. I am doing it historically. I started with the Boone Valley Coal & Railway Company. It then became the Marshalltown & Dakota for a few months, then it was the Boone, Rockwell City & Northwestern, the Newton & Northwestern and finally the Ft Dodge Des Moines & Southern. I currently have the Newton & Northwestern completed. I had the pleasure of meeting a conductor that lived in Ft Dodge that started on the Newton & Northwestern and retired from the FtDDM&S. He sure had some sweet stories to tell. The one about the crew falling asleep on the hill coming west out of the Des Moines River valley west of Fraiser was one he told. When he was still new, I think it was when it was still the N&NW, he tells about a run-away on that hill. Some day I'm going to try to create a session of that event in Trainz.
David
David
MeowRailroad
CKRail
Allthoseelectricsaresimplyamazing. SoamazingIcan'tpunctuate.