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Iowa Interstate Steam for Flood Relief

On August 14th, 2008, I saw this posted on Trainorders.com and looked at it with great interest.

Iowa Interstate to Operate Steam for Flood Relief Cedar Rapids, Iowa -- On October 18-19, 2008 the Iowa Interstate Railroad (IAIS) will operate Railroad Development Corporation's (RDC's) 2 QJ-type steam locomotives on 2 days of special events for the benefit of The Salvation Army's efforts to assist communities through its territory impacted by June's flooding. A variety of rail-oriented events will be held, with the City of Rock Island acting as host and coordinator of the event.

On Saturday, October 18, a double-headed freight train will leave Iowa City for Rock Island, with the objective of setting "a new record for steam-hauled revenue tonnage in the 21st century." Upon arrival at Rock Island, the locomotives will then be split to operate passenger excursion shuttles east to Silvis, Illinois, and west to Walcott, Iowa. The day's events will culminate with a private evening dinner trip for special guests, with catering to be provided by RDC "celebrity chefs" from Pittsburgh, Cedar Rapids, Peru and Guatemala. Finally, on Sunday, October 19, a one-way limited excursion train will operate from Rock Island to Iowa City, accompanying the QJs back to their home in Newton, Iowa. RDC and IAIS Chairman Henry Posner III commented, "By October, the economic impact of the flooding experienced in June will have been long forgotten. Iowans do not like to complain, and it is their nature to deal with problems in a spirit of self-reliance, but in this case we would like to remind the greater community that there have been thousands of lives disrupted, and that they should not be forgotten."

IAIS President & CEO Dennis Miller commented, "Although it has taken us some time to recover from our flood damage, we have not forgotten the many people who also suffered losses and were assisted by The Salvation Army. We hope these events will help to replenish their much needed funds in order to continue their valuable service to our communities. All proceeds from the events will be donated to The Salvation Army." Additional details, as well as ticketing information, will be available at the end of August via the City of Rock Island's website, www.rigov.org. At that time a joint press release will be issued by the City of Rock Island, IAIS and RDC. Founded in 1984, IAIS is a regional carrier operating over 550 miles between Omaha, Nebraska, and Chicago, Illinois, with connections to all Class 1 carriers. In May 2008, IAIS won the Gold Harriman award in recognition of its performance as the safest Class 2 (medium- size) railroad in the USA in 2007. IAIS is a subsidiary of RDC, a privately held Pittsburgh-based railway management and investment firm, focusing on "Emerging Corridors in Emerging Markets." For more information on IAIS and RDC, please visit: www.IAISRR.com and www.RRDC.com.

After reading that, I really wanted to go and I had never had the opportunity ride behind Chinese steam engines. I had to wait for tickets to go on sale and watched the Trainorders steam page to get tickets once they went on sale. The day they did, I tried to get them online but they did not have my hometown listed so I called the City of Rock Island and purchased tickets for the Walcott trip and the return trip to Iowa City. Bob and Elizabeth contacted me and thought we should do the dinner train together so they bought me that ticket, as well as a room for two nights at the Ecoline Motel in Moline.

We tried to get a flight into the Quad Cities or Cedar Rapids but could not get there from Santa Ana. Steve Grande suggested flying to Chicago, and since Bob and Elizabeth had the same problem from Seattle, decided to fly to Chicago as well and our flights would arrive within five minutes of each other. Bob reserved us a rental car and all I had to do was wait for the day of the trip to arrive.

I worked half a day at Jefferson Elementary before going home and finished packing. Steve's friend Randy picked me up and on the way to the John Wayne Airport, we stopped by the Santa Ana Amtrak station where I picked up my tickets for the Coast Starlight Detour Trip on October 26th from Sacramento to Los Angeles down the former Southern Pacific Valley Line then over the Tehachapi Mountains and down through Soledad Canyon. Randy then drove me to the airport and I was through Security in eight minutes then waited at Gate 10 for American Airlines Flight 1262. The 737-700 left the gate at 3:02 PM and took off at seven minutes later. The movie was "Swing Vote" and I did Sudoku puzzles the rest of the way to Chicago. We touched down at 8:35 PM CDT and taxied the long way due to gate traffic and reached the Gate A5 at 8:52 PM.

After I deplaned, I was putting on my sweat pants and jacket when here came Bob and Elizabeth. After they collected their checked baggage, we walked out of the airport and waited eight minutes for the Hertz bus to take us to the off-site rental car area. Bob picked up the car and soon we were driving west down Tollway Interstate 88 towards the Quad Cities.

10/18/2008 We arrived at the Ecoline Motel in Moline and were in bed by 12:17 AM. After a short night, it was time for this excellent adventure to start and I was in the lobby at 6:00 AM and checked e-mail on their computer since their wireless Internet did not work. Bob and Elizabeth arrived and we were off to Iowa City on a very foggy cold morning. It did not take too long to get there and soon we were at the Iowa City freight yards.

There was a local freight waiting to depart sometime this morning.

Iowa Interstate GP38-2 713, ex. Locomotive Leasing Partners 2320, exx. Union Pacific 439 2001, exxx. Union Pacific 1939 1997, exxxxx. EMD Leasing 796 1987, exxxxxx. Conrail 7996, nee Penn Central 7996 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1972.

Iowa Interstate GP38-2 718, ex. Locomotive Leasing Partners 2330, exx. Union Pacific 455 2002, exxx. Union Pacific 1955 1997, exxxxx. EMD Leasing 820 1987, exxxxxx. Conrail 8020, nee Penn Central 8020 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1972.

We made our way out of Iowa City but stopped at a petrol station and convenience store for some snacks then continued down US Highway 6 to the Cedar River bridge.

The view was nothing but fog. We returned west to the grade crossing but it was cramped so we went back east into the town of Atalissa and waited for the Chinese QJ's to arrive.

I was using a new Olympus camera, as well as my old Mavaric camera that Steve Grande gave me, hence the difference in photographs.

The first views of QJ's 7081 and 6988 were caught storming through the fog in Atalissa. The train came out of the fog and went right back into it like something out of the "Twilight Zone". Did we really just see a steam train go by? Back into the car, off we went through the fog to our next photo location off the Highway 6 bridge in Wilton.

The steam engines made for an impressive scene as they stormed underneath the bridge at Wilton. We took off again, drove the road that ran along side of the tracks and soon we were getting near the engines when I had an idea. Why not try some pacing shots?

A pair of pacing pictures before we got ahead and go for our next shot.

We next caught the QJ's at a grade crossing. After that, due to a highway closure on the road that ran along the tracks, we had to go out to Interstate 80 and drove east to the Walcott exit then went into town and set up near the grain elevator, waiting for the train to arrive for its watering and servicing stop.

The QJ's steamed to a stop at Walcott. There I ran into Keith Schmidt, the excellent videographer.

QJ 2-10-2 7081 built by Datong in 1985.

QJ 2-10-2 6988 built by Datong in 1985.

The QJ's and the Walcott grain elevator.

The fire box of QJ 6988 caught my eye and made a unique picture. From here we went towards Davenport to find another photo location, but spotted an Iowa Interstate freight sitting in the Walcott siding.

The Iowa Interstate freight train.

Iowa Interstate GP38-2 718, ex. Locomotive Leasing Partners 2330, exx. Union Pacific 455 2002, exxx. Union Pacific 1955 1997, exxxxx. EMD Leasing 820 1987, exxxxxx. Conrail 8020, nee Penn Central 8020 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1972.

We drove towards Davenport and passed underneath a bridge with a Rock Island Railroad emblem then kept going and found a nice spot at Central Park Avenue where we waited. After a while we heard a whistle and soon here came the QJ's out into the bright Iowa sunshine.

These pictures were worth the whole trip and soon we were off once more. We drove into Davenport and set up at the east side of town in a parking lot and the QJ's put on quite a show.

The QJ's surprised all of us by blowing down as they passed our cameras. We drove beneath the train on the lower level of the Government Bridge and made our way to the Rock Island station.

The QJ's cut off the freight train but did set the 21st Century Steam Tonnage Record. The Iowa Interstate freight had 66 cars that had 6,252 tons from Iowa City to Rock Island, setting a 21st-century record. The QJs then reversed down to the yard near downtown Rock Island and we drove down and parked. One of them went across the river to wye while the other was prepared for the first of the Shuttle Trains to Silvis.

We moved the car to the Rock Island Casino parking lot and crossed the street to pick up our tickets for the trips. Bob bought each of us both T-shirts of this event, but the Tonnage Record Shirt was not going to be ready until after 4:00 PM. Elizabeth went to a Subway for lunch while Bob and I enjoyed hamburgers under the tent.

The first train to Silvis departed the boarding area across the street. After putting our T-shirts in the car, we went to wait for our QJ-pulled excursion to Walcott.