Wabash Steam - More Info, Please

[potlatcher]

I really got caught off-guard by the Wabash photo spread in the new Steam Safari special edition.  Never thought I would get excited by wheezing Moguls on an obscure branch in Illinois.  Can anyone fill me in with more info on how long the steam operation on the Bluffs-Keokuk branch continued?  Did the bridge at Meredosia ever get reinforced for use with diesels or did the branch die along with the steamers?

Just curious - Thanks in advance for any answers.

Tom

[nanaimo73]

Sometime before February 1969 the Wabash or N&W arranged rights (trackage or haulage?) over the CB&Q from East Hannibal through Quincy to Golden, IL, to reach the issolated Versailles-Keokuk line. 

[bobontroy]

It was more like 1959-60 when those trackage rights were acquired.  The Keokuk branch bridge at Meredosia and the original mainline bridge at Valley City were replaced by a new bridge at Valley City about that time.  I believe steam on the branch was retired in late 1955.

[AltonFan]

If memory serves, the Wabash eventually replaced the moguls with GE 44-ton switchers.  However, the whole operation came to an end when the bridge in question burned, and was not replaced.  I don't remember the exact date the steamers were retired, but I don't believe they lasted to 1960.