i just discovered from an old map that norfolk had service to southern iowa. anyone out there know what freight and what passenger service was offered? any history would be helpful.
These were the lines inherited in the Wabash merger. A line from Missouri throgh Iowa to Omaha and one to Des Moines. The joint UP/Wabash later N&W City of St Louis ran on this line.
Wow! Someone was digging through this forum! Interesting though. I didn't know wabash made it to Iowa until recently.. Sent from my Commando
Wabash even made it to Kansas City, and also had a branch off their line to Des Moines, which got them into Ottumwa.
I know for a fact that my mother used to ride the Wabash from Des Moines to St Louis (and back) as a young girl, on a train that was called the Des Moines Limited on that route. So, there was passenger service on the Wabash from DSM to STL, discontinued in the mid to late 50s from the research I have done. The one timetable I have found shows it to be an overnight train. I am actually quite interested in finding out more about this particular service, from both a family history perspective as well as potentially modeling the train in N Scale. I have no idea whether it was a mixed train or dedicated passenger, for instance. I read once that the Wabash used Alco PAs on their trains into Iowa (either Council Bluffs or Des Moines line), but I find this hard to believe on such branch lines, and it's uncorroborated. Any additional information on this would be welcomed.
To this day, NS tries to extend its line hauls by incenting shippers to use its Kansas City gateway instead of St. Louis. NS also maintains a sizable intermodal facility in Kansas City that provides parking for over 1000 units. For a distant outpost, it amazes me how important it remains to the road.
NS still provides service to Des Moines, but the traffic is handled in BNSF trains via haulage rights. That's since the line from Moberly MO to Albia IA was abandoned. The line between Albia IA and Des Moines is a mixture of exCB&Q and exWabash track. When NW/NS operated their own trains up from Moberly, it was used as a joint line. NS still maintains a yard engine, using either BNSF or NS power, in Des Moines. I heard they actually do the local and yard switching in the Des Moines area for both them and BNSF.
