I arose at 5:30 AM and after picking up some doughnuts, obtained the keys to the Depot Inn & Suites van and took off for Mount Pleasant, Iowa, driving US Highway 63 north to Ottumwa, where I turned right ont US Highway 34 east. I spotted an eastbound BNSF coal train and after getting petrol in Fairfield, caught up, passed it and managed to get far enough ahead of it to take Benton Avenue to a bridge across the tracks, where I could see the headlight approachings.
The eastbound BNSF coal train with a Grinstein SD70MAC leading and CEFX 1015 as one of the DPUs. I continued to Mount Pleasant, following the signs to the 60th annual Midwest Old Threshers Reunion Grounds and parked then walked across the street to the gate where I bought my entrance ticket for a single day visit and went inside.
60th annual Midwest Old Threshers ReunionThe operation known as Midwest Old Threshers is located in Mount Pleasant, a community of approximately 9,000 located in the heart of southeast Iowa. While small, every Labor Day weekend, Mount Pleasant hosts more than 100,000 visitors during the annual Old Threshers reunion. The Old Threshers Reunion dates back to 1950 and pays tribute to the agricultural heritage of the region. It includes interactive, live-action exhibition-style displays centering on restored mechanical equipment, particularly steam engines, farm tractors, stationary gas engines, antique and classic cars, the narrow-gauge Midwest Central Railroad and electric trolleys. Besides the action, there are numerous country music shows, a huge campground and lots of food. The Heritage Museum is open year-round and features a variety of exhibits that celebrate the rural heritage of the Midwest. For the steam fan, the stationary steam engine exhibit features three large Corliss engines as well as a number of smaller engines. The Midwest Central Railroad and the Midwest Electric Railway both operate on this property.
In 1959, a railroad was added to the site when a group of Midwest Old Threshers board members purchased a Davenport 0-4-0 and a depot from Hillsboro, Iowa. The following year, the organization attended the Argent Lumber Company auction in Hardeeville, South Carolina. There they acquired an 1891 2-6-0 Baldwin Locomotive, former Surry Sussex and South Hampton Railroad 6 of Virginia. They also acquired a 1906, 2-6-0 Baldwin locomotive. Numbered 2, this was former New Berlin and Winfield Railroad of Pennsylvania. The railroad also added a Model T motor car, a four man pump car and a section car. A full circle track around McMillan Park, approximately a mile-and-a-quarter, was built in less than two years. By 1966, the railroad had added a caboose and several coaches built from scratch. A water tower from the Bevier and Southern Railroad in Missouri was moved and reassembled east of the roundhouse. A small trestle bridge was built from scratch by a group of Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad volunteers on their evenings off.
In 1966, the railroad acquired West Side Lumber Shay 9, now leased to the Georgetown Loop. In 1982, the Midwest Central Railroad obtained 16, a 1951 Henschel, built in Kassel, West Germany, that was sitting as scrap for 20 years in a Detroit rail yard. The MCRR has owned and sold various other locomotives in its history. These include an 1897 outside frame 2-8-0 engine 1,originally brought up from Mexico, and 12, a 2-6-2 Prairie engine built by Baldwin and originating in Hawaii.
The Midwest Electric Railway Museum also operates on the grounds of the Midwest Old Threshers Reunion. During the event, it provides transportation on a loop around the RV campground. The loop is reportedly 1.75 miles long, with some sources saying 2.5 miles. The electric line is managed by Old Threshers, using volunteers for most of the operations. Its fleet includes several Iowa cars. This includes Car 9, a wooden combination passenger and freight car built in 1909 for the Albia Interurban Railway. This line became one of the last electric interurban lines in Iowa, the Southern Iowa Railway, which survived as a freight carrier until 1967. A second Iowa car was built in 1930 by Perley Thomas for Knoxville, Tennessee. It later became Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern Railway 381, and was the last streetcar to run in public service in Iowa (1958). The collection also includes Car 1100, a motorized flat car from the electric railroad that once ran on the Keokuk Dam on the Mississippi River, and former Chicago, Aurora & Elgin 320, a wooden interurban coach was built in 1914 by the Jewett Car Company. Filling out the collection are two open-bench cars built in 1911 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a 1927 "Peter Witt" type car from Milan, Italy and former MBTA line car 3279.
This imposing tractor from Peoria, Illinois was my welcome.
One of the many threshine machines I would see today.
There were many historical farming equipment displays.
The water tower is from the Bevier and Southern Railroad in Bevier, Missouri, while the tower is from Washington, Iowa and was Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific. Both now serve the Midwest Central Railroad.
The Midwest Central North station, formerly the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy station Hillsboro station built in 1900.
Looking towards North station.
Cars on display as I went in search of steam engines.
This is plenty to see on the Old Threshers Reunion grounds.
Westside Lumber Company three truck Shay 9 built by Lima Locomotive Works in 1923. At 140,000 lbs, it is one of the three largest narrow gauge Shays ever built. 9 worked in Tuolumne until the early 1960's and Westside Lumber was the last steam-powered narrow gauge logging railroad in the United States. In 1966, it was sold to the Midwest Old Settlers & Threshers Association to operate on its tourist line as Midwest Central Railroad 9.
Midwest Central 0-4-0T 16 "Erzbergbau Salzgitter" built by Henschel & Sons of Kassel, West Germany in 1951. It was shipped to Detroit in 1963 for use on an amusement park that never opened and the locomotive sat for 20 years until it was brought to Mount Pleasant in 1982. The engine was restored in just 11 weeks and operated for the 1982 Old Threshers Reunion, then rebuilt in the early 1990's as a diesel-hydraulic powered locomotive for the Six Flags Fiesta Texas Railroad by Shop Services.
Midwest Central switcher 14, nee Carbon Limestone Company Hillsville, PA built by Plymouth in 1965. The engine was originally 3' 2" gauge but converted to 3" gauge after arrival in Mount Pleasant
White Pass and Yukon caboose 903:2 built by the railroad in 1969 and operated in Alaska until purchased by Jim Machacek of Northfield, Minnesota and shipped to the Midwest Central Railroad in 1990.
Denver and Rio Grande Western flat car 6216 built by the railroad in 1918, with a tractor aboard.
Midwest Central flat car 1163.
Midwest Central motorcar 11 was built by West Side Lumber Company and used as a fire-car and section car. "Jitney" 11 (in West Side terms) utilizes a 1929 Ford Model A engine, transmission and rear end, though essentially everything else is scratch-built. It was purchased by the museum along with West Side Lumber Company Shay 9 and several log car trucks in 1966, inside the Midwest Central shop.
Midwest Central flat car 18 with the tender of Midwest Central 2-6-0 2, nee New Berlin and Winfield 2 built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1906.
Rio de Janeiro open-bench car 1779 built in 1911 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and operated there until 1965 when they became part of a group of cars that came to the United States. The design of these cars is called a Narragansett- style after a type developed by the Brill Company of Philadelphia. The interior woodwork is constructed of a Brazilian hardwood called Peroba de Camp. The cars joined the Old Threshers collection in 1970 and 1973.
Midwest Electric Railway Museum streetcar 1945 is "Peter Witt" type car from Milan, Italy built in 1927 and acquired in 2002.
Midwest Electric Railway Museum interurban car 381, ex. City of Waterloo 381 1958-1972, exx. Waterloo, Cedar Falls and Northern 381 1945-1958, nee Knoxville Power and Light 379 1930-1945, built by Perley Thomas in 1930. It carries 42 passengers and is still considered a modern car by today's standards. This car was the last streetcar to operate in Iowa, August 1, 1958 and was donated to Old Threshers in 1971 by the City of Waterloo.
The steam train made its way to the North station.
Westside Lumber Company Three Truck Shay 9.
After this picture, I went to the station, bought a ticket and boarded the train for my trip on this unique railroad.
Rounding the first curve.
A similar threshing machine is on display at the Depot Inn & Suites in La Plata, Missouri.
A second curve.
This steam tractor really caught my eye.
There was an amazing array of steam-powered tractors and other farming equipment which could be seen from the train as it made the loop around the grounds.
Afater stopping at the Midwest Central South station, we rounded this curve and the engine blew down towards the outside.
Yet another curve.
A wig-wag crossing signal.
The final curve back to the station.
We returned to where we started.
The train at the Midwest Central North station.
Westside Lumber Company Three Truck Shay 9.
The rear of the steam train.
I waited for the train to finish its next loop.
Along came Midwest Central 0-4-0T 16 "Erzbergbau Salzgitter".
I passed through the antique car/truck building on my way to the steam train's other boarding area.
Arriving at the Midwest Central South station, which is the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Yarmouth station.
Westside Lumber Company Three Truck Shay 9.
Denver & Rio Grande combine 201, informally known as the Quinn Coach, was built on top of Southern Pacific wood-frame gondola car 204 and was designed by partially copying an 1865 coach model.
Midwest Central coach 302 built from an East Broad Top Railroad hopper car frame.
Midwest Central coach 301 "Mt. Pleasant", history unknown.
Midwest Central caboose 011 was the the railroad's first caboose and grew from plans of a Florence and Cripple Creek caboose in the April 1959 issue of "Railroad Model Craftsman". It was built off Southern Pacific flatcar 201 and is faithful to the F&CC plans, though it was built slightly longer than the original to accommodate a higher passenger capacity.
I would now go and ride the trolley.
