How did it come about that CN has track in Iowa? Were these lines part of the Wiscounsin Central or Illinois Central?
Illinois Central.
It’s an interesting story.
The IC had a line from Chicago to Council Bluffs, Iowa. It branched to Cedar Rapids, Sioux City, and Sioux Falls, SD (long since gone).
Shortly before I left the ICG it was decided that things were basically hopeless. The ICG could not be operated at a profit given the then present circumstances. Nor could it be sold. (The Southern actually made a negative offer. They’d take the ICG only if they were paid to do so.)
So. They tried to sell it off piecemeal. That’s how the Indiana Rail Road, the Paducha and Louisville, the short lived Chicago, Missouri and Western, and the Midsouth (now KCS) came about.
One other sale was the Iowa lines. They became the Chicago Central and Pacific. The Iowa line had some financial turmoil but was running along when E. Hunter Harrison decided to buy it back.
I was talking to the late Doug Hagestad, who I knew from the ICG, when he said: “I’ll never understand why Hunter bought it back.” (Doug operated at the vice president level, I didn’t.)
The IC’s Iowa line(s) have been referred to as “The Main Line of Meat”. A play on IC’s claim to be the “Main Line of Mid-America”. They hauled a lot of dead cows and hogs. Meat was a core market for the line.
To this day, Iowa and neighboring Nebraska are the two leading states supplying our appitite for pork and beef. And the CN runs a very low volume rail line while refusing to go after the high volume, long haul meat business.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; I’d give a week’s pay to know why they let this line sit basically empty and don’t develop the available business.
While it makes no sense for the IC or ICG to hold onto it. Could it be with more online end destinations that CN
I would opine that in such cases the RR is looking solely at ROI. Busy mainlines have a great ROI. Sleepy branch lines, not so much.
The Class 1’s seem to love traffic that requires no real handling (ie, switching).
Which raises an interesting question - with the lessening of bulk traffic (specifically CBR and coal), will the big railroads start to look back toward loose car railroading? Will the branch lines that generate that traffic once again look attractive?
The Illinois Central reached north out of Iowa with a line running from Waterloo/Cedar Falls, IA to Albert Lea, MN. In conjunction with the Minneapolis and St. Louis through passenger and freight service to the Twin Cities was provided. That business dwindled long ago.
This line was in rough shape 20 years ago. CN pulled this branch to Albert Lea out of the mud. Evidently there is enough grain hauled on this branch to justify the expense of its rehabilitation and maintenance.
Maybe I was just lucky but I have railfanned the line a few times, mostly at or around Dyersville, and have seen a fair number of trains, including the branch local at Manchester. The line appears to be well maintained, although in more than once place I found those deteriorated “composite” material ties that either IC or CN experimented with.
Dave Nelson
I’ll vouch for that- while headed north to MN over the holidays, I passed a loooong CN freight of covered hoppers being pulled by four six-axle engines headed north out of Cedar Falls towards Janesville. Moving along pretty good, too…
I’ve been saying that for awhile. Ken (greyhounds) has talked up refrigerated trailer meat hauling. Maybe now both will get some consideration?
So have I. This is getting away from the original discussion but interesting nonetheless. What would happen if manufacturing ever did come back here from Asia in a big way? Suddenly that long container haul from Long Beach to Chicago turns into (for example) a Peoria to Chicago. Not so great for the rails. And once again we would need more branchlines, the capillaries that connect to the main arteries.
The Cedar Rapids branch has seen a rise in traffic, mainly the grain trains. Just a few days ago, I videoed a southbound grainer out on the branch.
All I can say is A-FREAKING-MEN to Greyhounds’
What was the Illinois Central’s logic in the 19th Century for pursuing the Iowa lines reaching the Omaha gateway? Did the Illinois Central generate much traffic on its own lines that interchanged there? Did the Illinois Central get much bridge traffic between Chicago and Omaha?
The Union Pacific’s primary historic partner between Omaha and Chicago was the Chicago Northwestern. Union Pacific now owns the Chicago Northwestern. What potential is there now for CN at the Omaha gateway?
[quote user=“Los Angeles Rams Guy”]
greyhounds
It’s an interesting story.
The IC had a line from Chicago to Council Bluffs, Iowa. It branched to Cedar Rapids, Sioux City, and Sioux Falls, SD (long since gone).
Shortly before I left the ICG it was decided that things were basically hopeless. The ICG could not be operated at a profit given the then present circumstances. Nor could it be sold. (The Southern actually made a negative offer. They’d take the ICG only if they were paid to do so.)
So. They tried to sell it off piecemeal. That’s how the Indiana Rail Road, the Paducha and Louisville, the short lived Chicago, Missouri and Western, and the Midsouth (now KCS) came about.
One other sale was the Iowa lines. They became the Chicago Central and Pacific. The Iowa line had some financial turmoil but was running along when E. Hunter Harrison decided to buy it back.
I was talking to the late Doug Hagestad, who I knew from the ICG, when he said: “I’ll never understand why Hunter bought it back.” (Doug operated at the vice president level, I didn’t.)
The IC’s Iowa line(s) have been referred to as “The Main Line of Meat”. A play on IC’s claim to be the “Main Line of Mid-America”. They hauled a lot of dead cows and hogs. Meat was a core market for the line.
To this day, Iowa and neighboring Nebraska are the two leading states supplying our appitite for pork and beef. And the CN runs a very low volume rail line while refusing to go after the high volume, long haul meat business.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; I’d give a week’s pay to know why they let this line sit basically empty and don’t develop the a
When you consider the current service levels on the Iowa lines, going after meat traffic from Iowa to points east (presumably for interchange) may not be worth the effort. Is the volume large enough to justify its own schedule and would the various roads east of Chicago be willing to handle it as a priority schedule? What kind of service is the competition providing and at what rates?
The traffic source is there but would it be profitable?
Well, that would be the question. It used to be the profit center on the Iowa line. Greyhounds has done some detailed analysis in the past. But imagination is not a valued skill set with most railroads.
I certainly don’t think this is anything unique to the railroad industry. In my industry- building materials- there is an inordinate amount of emphasis on big numbers and easy targets, less on the details that put money to the bottom line. It’s frustrating.
There are six Shuttle Elevators west of Fort Dodge, IA. Alden is just west of Fort Dodge, Alta is on the Souix City line, Knierim and Yetter are on the Omaha line, and Odebolt and Ida Grove are on the Ida Grove Branch off the Omaha line. These Shuttle elevators load Chicken feed destined for Mississippi and Alabama providing a long haul for the IC. Combine that with the Ethanol traffic and that is why the IC reacquired the CC&P. None of that traffic was there when the line was spun off.
Any discussions of Illinois Central are of interest to me and the Iowa line has been intriguing since I began travelling to Dubuque area 25 years ago…particularly when IC purchased the line in the 90s.
Greyhound provided very detailed analysis of the meat market moving by intermodal last year. I disagree with him on it, but it sure was an educational discussion. IMHO, for meat to be viable on IC/Iowa, it must move to Chicago for processing and the east coat movements will not work. West coast would involve extremely short haul for IC to Omaha.
Interesting note from beaulieu regarding the 6 new shuttle elevators. Those 6 elevators appear to be in an area of about 20 miles x 50 miles…giving a heavy concentration of grain movement. That certainly can explain why CN is hanging onto the line.
Question…does CN run those grain trains thru Chicago or on the BNSF to Peoria before reaching the “Mainline of Mid-America”? If each of the shuttles runs 2 loaded trains per month…that is really good volume on that line.
Regarding why CN didnt handle more automotive on the line. I do not believe there are any auto plants on the line. Most of the auto routings are controlled by the auto manufacturers and that business is usually consolidated at the IHB yard in Hammond into long distance trains for BNSF or UP. CN really couldnt handle that and then hand off to either carrier at Omaha. No advantage to the shipper.
Lets face it…this is an agriculture line with some manufacturing in the mix. The trump card as I see it is if the BNSF line from East Dubuque to Chicago reach capacity (oil) then this line could be used as trackage or haulage rights.
Ed
In the end it makes as much sense as the Canadian Pacific owning the old Milwaukee Road track along the Mississippi river in eastern Iowa.