Oelwein (iowa) became the hub of the CGW system, with lines to Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha, and St. Paul. It was decided that this central location is where the shops were to be built. So, CGW erected the "best and most well-equipped" shops in the US (at that time). In the early 1950s, a concrete block 2 stall shop was added to the main shop to accomodate running repairs. With the conversion to diesel power over half of the main shop was leased to a warehousing company. when CNW merged with CGw they saw these shops had an advantage- they could buy used and worn out motive power and rebuild it. (CNW- Cheap & Nothing Wasted). But, in 1981 CNW abandoned the line to St. Paul. Part of the Chicago-Oelwein line was abandoned soomtime around then as well. In 1948 the Oelwein-Clarion line was abandoned. The line to Kansas City had been abandoned so it didnt even make to Des Moines anymore. CNW was still using the shops tho. but change was coming. The shops closed in '93 and Oelwein died. (UP had control of CNW at the time so...) Today, the Iowa Northern Railway operates the "Oelwein branch" From Waterloo to Oelwein. Transco Railway products uses the yard to store cars awaiting rebuilding. And now, some pics of the shops taken on June 24,2006 The Coach shop North end of the running repair shop south end
South side of the main shop The yard tower was restored a few years ago The mueseum is the 2 story building behind the tower (the old yard office) The roundhouse was a 40-stall, built in the early 1900s, but most of it burned in the 1930s and there were only about 6-8 stall left after that. Transco uses this as a paint shop now (I think) and there are 15 stalls
Standing in the driveway that would take you to the roundhouse,looking Southeast toward the tower same place, looking north-north east (the red thing is the bug shield on our truck)
FP7 #116-A was donated by CNW (it became CNW 217 after the CGW-CNW merger) and it was cosmetically restored around 1995. It is missing traction motors and most of the controls but Ed Raye (engineer of the IANR Oelwein turn) has located a donor engine.
Several freight cars sit on the same track as the FP7 There are a few cars in this line that are in bad shape and awaitng restoration, so I didn't get pics of them. There are 2 cabooses next to the mueseum and here's one of them On June 24 IANR brought the mueseum an Alco S1
Nice shots......and sad, in a way. I was in Oelwein only twice- once, in the summer of 1968 after the CNW merger, when Dad was remodeling a house just 2 blocks from the tracks. I remembed seeeing quite a few trains with the usual string of F-units heading north to the Twin Cities and arriving at Oelwein. The second time was in May 1981. I was making a week-long Midwest railfan blitz and visiting relatives in Nebraska & Iowa (I lived in Ft. Smith at the time). I had followed the CNW main from about Ft. Dodge east to somewhere east of Ames, and went north to Waterloo I caught ICG action. From there I went up to Oelwein, which by that time was a storage yard for locomotives from CNW, CRIP, Frisco (old GP7s they picked up) and others. I shot 3 rolls of film on just the diesels. The time I was there, the shops were quite busy, and I saw a string of ex-RI Geeps, in fresh CNW paint, being fired up for testing & eventual service. Sad to see the shops and adjacent buildings abandoned, but at least they're still standing- shortly after UP (well, actually MP) bought the Katy, they razed the roundhouse & took up all the engine tracks at Ray Yard in Denison, and tore down the car shops near downtown Denison. We oughta be lucky they didn't take down the office buildings and pass. depot.
I don't suppose you could post some of your pics from '81 here on the forum? 1981 was just before Oelwein began to die. It did become storage for dead engine tho. quite sad, actually. Most of the pics of Oelwein from around 1990 are just plain sad. The old CGW passenger station in Oelwein has been the Oelwein city hall for quite some time now.
Boxcab, There are grain elevators at Armour, Dewar, Dunkerton, and Oelwein. There's another decent sized industry at Armour but I can't remember what it is. (BTW, UP still owns the line from W'loo to Armour) And Oelwein is home to the largest industry, Transco. They ship out as many as 100 newly rebuilt freight cars each week. Anyway, UP was considering abadoning this line (before Dewar and Dunkerton elevators shipped grain BTW) but D&W (transco subsidiary) bought it and has the Iowa Northern run it. It was in bad shape, with a speed limit of 10MPH. Then, an ethanol plant was to be built at Fairbank (just a few miles before Oelwein). IANR upgraded the entire line, it now has a 30MPH speed limit (IANR only runs 30 fo fuel savings) The eth plant ships 14 cars of ethanol each day and IANR runs a daily train on this line for the plant. IANR does also bring some grain in, but I don't know how much. Previously, IANR only came to Oelwein on Thursdays, but now they come 'as needed' which is usually 3 times a week (Thursday, Saturday, and one other day I'm unaware of) Ed, has located a donor engine, Dan Sabin (IANR president) has offered use of IANRs Waterloo shop to change the trucks, all we're waiting for is labor, I imagine.
Hope they have a drop pit. That would be the fastest, simplest way to get it done. Let's hope..... Boxcab E50
This is a similar scenario, to what we've seen too many times in the USA. After the CGW was merged into C&NW, July 1, 1968, the new owner did what usually happens. To recover "costs" of this action, they almost immediately began laying off employees. Closing supposedly redundant facilities. And scrapping/selling off assets. In the end, usually this is more like rape and pillage. As a lot of money fattens the new owners bank accounts, feeds investors, etc. Note my last sentence above. Which is the reason why you've seen all the big mergers. The end problem therein, is they're running out of merger partners! Then what? Guess they'll need to learn how to run a service business again..... :sad: Boxcab E50
Very sad. I was there only once in 91. Can you say sd45 dead line. Everything from CNW,BN, even found a PRR nose on a flat car, i'll try to scan some pics.
I wonder if any of those BN SD45 you'd noted, possibly ended up going to Montana Rail Link? Boxcab E50
