It was gone in 1968, way before I was born, but I sure do miss it. I want it back! But sadly, it's long gone. But I miss the CGW more than IC. CGW was the first to run trains in excess of 100 cars. They ran ABBBBBA lashups of F units. May it always live on in our hearts.
Dingoix - I sure do, trouble is my life-long love for local roads, gets in the way of modelling the ~100 "Class 1" railroads of the 1950's/1960's. The only way I can begin to commemorate these roads is to have some car(s) with their road names - time to add a couple of those CGW 1929 ARA boxcars!
I remember when I first found out the CGW existed. The article in Railroad Model Craftsman during 1967. Believe I have most of those books published about the Great Weedy. Have always thought that if I lived in that area, I'd have modeled a combination of M&St.L plus CGW. Boxcab E50
BTW- Although sadly overlooked by too many people, I have a nice little collection of CGW train orders. If anyone is interested..... Boxcab E50
How may books were published on the Great Weedy? I only know of- -CGW in iowa in the merger decade -CGW in color -The corn belt route: A history of the CGW -steam locomotives of the CGW: 2-8-0 consolodation (that may not be the exact name)
CGW Color Guide To Freight & Passenger Equipment (MSB) CGW Scrapbook (Ed Gardner) Six Units To Sycamore (CGW In Illinois- R.P. Olmsted) Granger Road (Garnhart-Pyfer: NWIC-NRHS) Our American Railroads; The Way It Was." (C.W.Finch) The Chicago Great Western In Minnesota (Bee-Browne-Luecke: Blue River Prods.) CGW- Depots Along The Corn Belt Route (Pierson-Huddleston: C&NWHS) Boxcab E50
Ops! Forgot one! This is a combination with several RR's. "Four To Remember." R.P.Olmsted B&W pix. CB&Q, CGW, CMSt,P&P, GM&O. Sold my copy a few years ago. Probably made a mistake. Boxcab E50
I completley forogt "color guide to freight & passenger eqipment". I'll have to be getting some of those books. I just got "CGW Iowa in the merger decade" today and it's the most informative 80 page book I've ever read. BTW, am I the only CGW modeler here?
Mike Skibbe stops by now and then. He models in N scale. You've seen photos of the layout in both RailModel Journal, and Great Model Railroads. Some of those books are long out of print. So may take a little searching. And a bit of cash. That depots book can be found via the C&NWHS web site. The one I noted by Chuck Finch was published by him. Ordered directly. It's been years. And I can't confirm his address. Chuck was a well known CGW agent/operator. Stayed on after C&NW. Was the last agent anywhere on the Illinois trackage, before C&NW chopped it back to a short branch. It's essentially his personal memories, and some tidbits of history. I found it quite fascinating. Good luck! Boxcab E50
Yes. Mike and his dad. That issue of RMJ I mentioned, was the August, 2005. Beautiful photography. Boxcab E50
Well, that was a little work. I'd misplaced my copy. Finally found it. Yes. In that specific issue of GMR. Boxcab E50
We lived in Des Moines, IA in the mid-to-late 1960s, and in August of 1968 Dad had to go to Oelwein, IA to work with a siding installment firm. The jobsite was just 3 blocks away from the CGW yard, and even though it was already CNW property, strings of F-units were still used to haul trains in & out of this town. Dubious CGW story- in 1968 a train of phosgene gas was run thru Des Moines, 6 blocks from my house, on the CGW main. Given there were a rash of derailments on Midwestern rails that year (some with disastrous results- two words, Crete, Nebraska), this movement created a lot of controversy. The CGW was never in the greatest of shape, and God only knows what woulda happened if the train derailed IIRC, there ain't very much of the CGW left these days, except maybe for a stretch from Waterloo to Oelwein- the tracks north, east & west are long gone, and all gone from Waterloo south to St. Joseph, MO.
I think there is still a little track in the Chicago area. Perhaps some around the Twin Cities. And maybe a short segment in the Fort Dodge-Eagle Grove, Iowa vicinity. C&NW pretty quickly erased a competitor. And used the assets to temporarily prop up their bottom line. Boxcab E50
Waterlo-Oelwein is still there. The Oelwein yard is still there, but in bad shape. A local freight car rebuilder, Transco, uses what's left of the yard and Tso uses the car shops in the middle of the yard. The huge brick shops are there, but they aren't used for anything. The Waterloo-oelwein line is owned by D&W (subsidiairy of Transco) but the Iowa Northern runs it. IANR brings 1 train every Thursday of cars for Tsc to rebuild and IANR takes rebuilt cars back to waterloo. D&W only owns the line from Oelwein to dewar, from dewar to Waterloo, I think it's owned by UP.
Theres a CGW caboose in Chicago on the UP property. At the M19A diesel shop. Its painted MoW grey. I think the C&NW did that a lot, becouse I've seen a few transfer cabs and flat cars mated with Ohio cranes that were CGW.
If I could ever get my landlord & fellow HO modeler John Markl to post again on Trainboard.......he models CGW as well. He's also dabbled in Clinchfield back in the day. If I had to model a railroad tht used primarily F-units, it would be the Great Weedy.
good to know some people model CGW. I will be getting plenty of F units over the next year or 2. That will be my primary power, as it was on the prototype. Of couse, there will be a few GP30s and SD40s.
