At this small town in Iowa there is a nicely preserved depot, as well as a preserved Illinois Central steam locomotive and caboose. The depot is said to be Illinois Central, but it is located at 90 degrees from the former IC main line, now CN. I assume it is along the Rock Island abandoned ROW main line that crossed the IC there.
So - is that depot IC? Or Rock Island? Or was it a joint depot? There are references to the depot having been both restored and moved.
Dave Nelson
Illinois Central. The station was moved and turned 90 degrees in 1996.
The steam locomotives is actually GTW.
Thank you Bartman. If the 0-8-0 is former GTW and not IC that makes me wonder if it came from Northwestern Steel & Wire which was still running ex-GTW 0-8-0s into the early 1980s -- the day I went in 1980 there were four in steam, and I think they had 7 or 8 in total.
Yes, the steam engine came from Northwestern Steel & Wire. Somewhere I have pictures of the engine and tender on flat cars when they arrived at Independence.
The depot, while moved and turned, isn't on the former RI right of way. From what I remember, the RI (line abandoned in 1976) crossed a couple blocks or so to the west of the original IC depot site.
Jeff
You are correct. The Rock Island grade was several blocks to the west, and the steamer came from NW Steel & Wire. The station was visited as part of a tour at the 2012 NRHS Iowa Convention, and its history was included in our convention trip guide book that I wrote.
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