Past News Reports
(Yesterday's News is Tomorrow's
History)
Iowa Interstate
Allan Hunt
March 2007: Getting Bigger
… Iowa Interstate is poised to experience significant growth during 2007, as
several new on-line ethanol and biodiesel plants begin production, as well
as other industries expand their operations. A move is underway to replace
older power, hire more train crews, make improvements to the physical plant
and acquire more trackage to better control IAIS' destiny.
Three new interchange tracks were constructed at Silvis,
Illinois during 2006, where unit trains will be exchanged with BNSF. These
tracks do not replace the traditional interchange at Rock Island. The first
train to use the new tracks was a loaded feed train, interchanged to BNSF on
December 8, 2006.
A number of the older locomotives departed the roster in
2006, with several new units joining the roster. IAIS GP38's 600 through
604, less the 601, are to be sold and were replaced in the short term by a
pair of leased GMTX GP38-2's. IAIS 601 will be mated with a slug, made from
GP10 466 and is expected to be completed in early 2007. Four SD38-2's, IAIS
150 through 153, currently make up the power set which cycles between Cedar
Rapids, Iowa and Rock Island, Illinois. Two more SD38-2s, former LLPX, will
arrive in early 2007 and will be supplemented by two more in the future.
April 2007: IAIS has received the fifth
SD38-2, IAIS 154, off interchange from the Iowa Chicago & Eastern at
Davenport, Iowa, on January 18, 2007, and it made its first run on January
22 on the daily Iowa City to Cedar Rapids turn. IAIS 154 was put into
service still wearing patched LLPX colors of solid blue with a white nose,
and will be repainted later. With 154's arrival, the solid consist of IAIS
150 to 153 was split up and 150 used for a time in service other than the
Cedar Rapids to Rock Island circuit. At the end of January, IAIS 152 was
sent to Council Bluffs for a three-month test while the other four handled
the Cedar Rapids trains. IAIS 155 is expected to emerge from Mid American
Car in Kansas City, Missouri during early February.
On January 11, 2007, IAIS operated a passenger special dubbed
the "Inaugural Express" from Des Moines, Iowa, to Iowa City, Iowa, and back
for Iowa Governor-Elect Chet Culver's pre-inauguration celebrations. BNSF
supplied seven passenger cars, with IAIS supplying GP38-2s 710 and 721 and
business car 100, the "Hawkeye." After the train deadheaded from Council
Bluffs, Iowa, passengers boarded at the former Rock Island depot in downtown
Des Moines, and passenger stops were made at Newton, Grinnell, and Marengo
before arriving in Iowa City later that afternoon. While passengers attended
festivities in Iowa City, the train was turned at Yocum Connection and
returned to Iowa City for a departure at 10:40PM. After passengers were
returned to Des Moines early the next morning, the train deadheaded back to
Council Bluffs where the borrowed passenger cars were returned to BNSF.
May 2007: Winter Woes … A pair of winter
storms affected IAIS operations twice during late February and early March,
the first being an ice storm which directly impacted the eastern half of the
railroad, and the second a snow storm which closed down the western half of
the railroad. On February 24, an ice storm in eastern Iowa made operations
tricky at best, but also knocked out commercial power to a good portion of
the state, including railroad headquarters at Cedar Rapids, Iowa. By 5:00pm
that evening, the IAIS staff in Cedar Rapids was working in the dark, with
no communications other than cellular phones. The railroad was closed down
that night, and by mid-day on February 25, generator power was established
at the Cedar Rapids office, and operations could begin.
A blizzard then crippled the west end of the IAIS on March 1,
when most roads west of Des Moines shut down. On the morning of March 2 IAIS'
snowplow, wedge plow 9511, ran west from Newton to Council Bluffs. This
extra job encountered large drifts and some hard going between Earlham and
Council Bluffs. The same power was used the next morning coming east from
Council Bluffs, busting drifts after crews were not able to turn the plow at
Council Bluffs. The east end of the railroad was largely unaffected by the
second storm and continued running as normal.
IAIS' last SD38-2, number 155, was released from Mid America Car in Kansas
City, Missouri, on March 5, and was pressed into service after being set up
upon arrival. The last of the older units, GP38 602, was delivered to UP at
Council Bluffs, Iowa, on February 16, following sisters 600, 603 and 604.
All locomotives were moved to Omnitrax's facility in Loveland, Colorado,
after being sold to leaser GATX.
