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
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.
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.
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.