I have been hearing alot about this ‘I&M Railink’ and was wondering what it was. It looks identical to many of the MRLs. Also, what does the I & M stand for? Thanks
alstom,have a look at this-
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=47871
I know, I had just looked at your thread several minutes ago, and that was what got me wndering. But I’m especially curious of what the I & M stands for.
P.S.)- Maybe I’ll have to email one of the workers like I did CSX to find out.
Wasn’t I & M short for Iowa and Minnesota?
IMRL operated in IL,IA,MO,and MN and I never did figure out what I & M meant. IMRL used to have some of the MRL units on long term lease to them, but were returned to MRL when IC&E bought IMRL.
They probably didn’t want to show any favoritism, just cover the bases with two initials.[;)]
The “I” stood for Iowa and Illinois, the “M” stood for Minnesota and Missouri. Thats is what was said when the company was formed.
All pretty much useless now anyways, since the railroad was sold to Cedar American Rail (parent of Dakota Minnesota & Eastern) who renamed it Iowa Chicago & Eastern – ICE – the coolest railroad in the midwest… groan…
Did any of the ex-SOO GPs get painted in IMRL colors?
A quick search of rrpicturearchives says yes…
I did see a ‘red’ I & M Railink unit out here in Ravenna, Ohio on NS a couple years ago. Though I didn’t catch it on film etc.
Ummm… that would say “no” to me… What I meant was, were any of the SOO GPs painted into the dark blue paint scheme…
Oh… I didn’t realize that they’ve had two different paint schemes. My life was too busy back then to go watch them much.
The only Soo line locomotive I have seen a picture of in I&MRL paint is SW1200 16
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=13626
IMRL 16 was the only SW1200 painted and it was sold to Diesel Supply Co. of Hudson, WI. There is only one ex-IMRL SW1200 on the ICE roster now and it is stored in Nahant, IA. There were no GP9’s ever painted, just patched. Now most are patched to ICE.
IC&E IS the coolest Class 2 railroad in the midwest.
I have read that I&M stood for Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Missouri(not including Wisconsin), but like what was said by FuzzyBroken, it soesn’t matter now that it became the IC&E.