A close friend rode this NRHS fan trip from Batesville to Grenada, MS last Saturday, and graciously gave me permission to share his trip report with all y'all. Iowa Pacific Holding is a company in Chicago that has bought small short line railroads in ten different states, including the Grenada Railroad that operates on part of the old IC line between Memphis and Jackson. Apparently their CEO likes the IC, for they are painting their engines in the IC passenger colors of brown and orange, complete with the ‘Green Diamond”. This run from Batesville to Grenada and return was sponsored by the Iowa Pacific and the Memphis chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, and was not highly publicized. I found out about it from a friend in Tupelo. It was pulled by a pair of E8’s with ten matching brown and orange passenger cars. It was called “City of Grenada”, and I think they plan to make it an annual event. They run a Christmas train called the ”Polar Express”, and also announced plans to run dinner train(s) in the summer, hopefully from Memphis to Grenada. The IC logo on #4035 was a magnetic sign that someone had made, notice the locomotives are lettered Iowa Pacific. E8 #518 that was in the lead northbound did not have the IC logo. The Grenada depot was locked up tighter than a clamshell when we got there, but they had some food trucks there selling hot dogs, sandwiches, jambalaya, gumbo, etc.. They announced that there would be a run-by at the old historic depot, with a photo line set up, but they didn’t have the section roped off and couldn't keep the crowd from in front of the photographers, so the run-by never took place. They had a night shoot Friday night, but it was an extra $50, so I didn’t go on it. Here is a link to one of the nice night shots on the Tallahatchie River bridge. http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4395614 It was a very good trip, I rode in the second dome car (6th car back),
Glossy, shiny. Nice! I recall reading about a previous operator which had embargoed a fair chunk of this line. I wonder if they'll ever re-open that track?
From what David said, Iowa Pacific operates all of the ex-IC paralleling I-55 from Memphis to Jackson. This originally was IC's mainline from Chicago to New Orleans. Amtrak's City Of New Orleans used this route until IC sold it more than 20 years ago. Amtrak then moved to what used to be a secondary further west through Greenville and Yazoo City. I rode the CONO on the original route in '73, then again on the new route in '98. The old route was more circuitous and slower through lots of old towns with small customers that now ship by truck. Whereas the current route is through Delta cotton and rice farms with few towns, thus faster for freight traffic between major cities and container terminals. Sadly, where the Class-1's couldn't see past big shippers and dumped those lines, companies like Iowa Pacific can make a profit reclaiming the "old" customers by giving efficient reliable personal service.
Ken, I think this article in Railway Age will answer many of your questions. Also, this Iowa Pacific Grenada Railway website has a list of communities it serves and a map which may help locate some your IC flimsies
Hank- That helps a lot. I notice there is only shown interchange at the north end. But down down at Canton on the south end, nothing. That must be the part of the line which is out of service.
One URL I gave you stated an interchange with CN at Canton which is the southern end just northeast of Jackson, also the site of the Toyota assembly plant.
Ken, it's in the first link with Post #4, the word "article" in the first sentence of the post. The reference to Canton is in Railway Age, third paragraph.
Oops. Sorry. I could not distinguish the blue and black mix. Might be the migraine I've been fighting for two days now.
