I just spent the better part of two days constantly in sight and sound of the IAIS main just west of Iowa City, Iowa. From 5 PM on Tuesday June 8, 2021 through 10 AM on Thursday June 10 (41 hours) I saw ten freights, two on Tuesday, three on Wednesday, and three on Thursday. Eight were big, really big, road freights, two were small locals (one each way on Thursday). There was a 19 hour gap between trains at one point. A set of doublestack cars appeared in two of the big trains.
From the looks of things, there are the two main road freights daily, one each way, augmented by a local turn some days and by a less frequent, non-daily road freight (or extra), meaning only two freights on some days, three or four or five on other days, on this part of the railroad.
- Ed Kyle
Sounds like fun. IAIS is one of my favorite RRs.
I've been watching Iowa Interstate regularly at Blue Island for some years now. It has been interesting to see the motive power evolve from mostly ex-IC GP7's and GP9's to secondhand GP38-2's and new ES44AC's. They were among the first regionals to purchase new AC power.
I used to visit Atlantic, IA regularly years ago to see family. I often spent time down by the old Rock Island Depot along the IAIS main. There was a switcher based out of Atlantic I believe to serve nearby industry and elevators. There were the daily road freights between Council Bluffs and Blue Island, IL...BICB and CBBI. Both usually had a cut of stacks in as part of the trains...and generally were good sized. There were also occasional grain or ethanol extra freights tol fill out the traffic for the day.
My college dorm room for a couple years used to overlook the IAIS yard in Rock Island, IL back in the early 90s...so I grew attached to the Iowa Interstate, and have always enjoyed watching their operations from afar.
Mark in Utah
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