(whistle blowing) (theme music) Announcer: Support for Tracks Ahead is supported in part by Kalmbach Publishing Company and its on-line video magazine, Model Railroader Video Plus.

And by Walthers.

(theme music) Spencer: Hi, I'm Spencer Christian.

On this episode of Tracks Ahead, An Arizona garden railroad baked in the sun and shaded by nearby mountains--- and a inside look at the narrow gauge Iowa slim princess.

But first, we join the national railway historical society as they ride, explore and enjoy the celebrated Iowa interstate railroad.

Let's get started.

(music) Narrator: It's 8:00 on a Tuesday morning in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

While locals hurry to work, a small group of travelers wait alongside a dusty track interchange.

The spot is called Smith-Dows yard, and for the next two days, this is the starting point for a celebrated excursion along the Iowa Interstate Railroad.

From across the country, members of the National Railway Historical Society have traveled here to add miles and make new memories.

With more than 13,000 members, the NRHS is the largest rail preservation organization in the United States.

(music) Tony White: My name is Tony White, I'm from Stanford CT. A lot of the lines that we ride with Amtrak passenger service.

But on the freight lines, you don't get to ride on that often, so that's rare mileage for ya.

Andy Brown: I'm Andy Brown, I'm from Osco, Iowa... ...and from what I hear we're going to do a couple photo run-bys, which are great cuz when you're riding the train you don't get to see the train, so it gives us a chance to see the train from the outside that way.

Bill Crawford: I'm Bill Crawford from Boston, MA.

I'm what we call in the railroad fan hobby a mileage collector, meaning, I want to ride every mile of track in the world before I check out.

Now that's not going to happen, but I'm going to get a slug at it.

(music and natural sound) Narrator: A spin-off of the abandoned Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railroads, the Iowa Interstate is a well-maintained, thriving regional railway.

The line moves more than 125,000 carloads of freight a year, and stretches over 500 miles between Council Bluffs, Iowa & Chicago, Illinois.

Narrator: For part of today's trip, the train's headend is a diesel engine painted to commemorate the Rock Island freight locomotive that carried grains, livestock and coal between farmland and urban centers from the 1850s to the early 1900s.

Communities relied on this line to help build towns and support new cities.

Nowadays, the Iowa Interstate relies on a growing customer base and forward-thinking visionaries to carry their freight into the future.

Henry Posner the third took controlling interest of the railroad in 2004.

Henry Posner: Iowa Interstate railroad is a completely different railroad than the Rock Island....Our market is serving local customers in Iowa and Illinois.

We don't compete with the parallel Class-1s.

You look at a map and say who needs a 4th railroad from Chicago to Omaha?

Our customers, or our online customers are virtually 100% of our business.

Jerome Lipka: We're a nice size railroad, were large enough that we can professionally handle anything that comes along, but were also small enough that with my staff we can get things solved fairly quickly.

Main commodities we carry our ethanol...corn syrup, gluten meal, we also carry a lot of straight grains, corn, soy beans, scrap steel, we have some paper business.

...we carry a whole gamut of commodities for different customers.

(train bells) Mick Burkart: Iowa Interstate is known for customer service.

...We do innovative things, we're not tied to one thing.

You tell us what you want to move and how it needs to move, and we'll figure a way to do it.

Narrator: Back in 2007, Interstate management forecasted a surge in freight traffic.

To handle the growth, and avoid a substantial investment in crew and facilities, they purchased a dozen, state-of-the-art General Electric diesel engines.

Jerome: The GE4400AC locomotives have done a couple things for us.

Number one they're 29% more fuel-efficient...

Number two, they have better traction efforts, so on a train that may have had to have five of our prior locomotives, we could just use two locomotives to carry the same amount of freight.

Number three, they're much newer, the emissions controls meet US standards to make a greener environment.

And they also have a higher degree of computerization to be much safer locomotives for our train crews.

Henry: We received 3 Harriman awards.

... we got 2 Gold Harriman awards for safety and performance relative to other railroad our size... Safety really is number one because if your running a safe railroad your more likely to have good service, if you have good service your more likely to have more business, if you got business you make a profit.

Mick Burkart: I've been in the railroad industry for 46 years.

Instead of working 5 derailments a night as a train master we don't have derailments, so it's very enjoyable The track is in excellent condition.

The equipment, a short line railroad like us being able to buy brand new locomotives is unheard of.

So it's nice to be on a railroad that is growing rather than one that was fading.

(music) Bill Crawford: The Iowa Interstate Railroad is spectacularly successful property... Henry Posner has made a tremendous success out of something others were not able to make successful.

It was apportion of the Chicago and Rock Island Pacific, which unfortunately went bankrupt and went out of business in the early 1980s.

Jerome: If you would have looked at this company back when Henry did, you might have said, you know, it's on its death rows, it's not going to go anywhere.

But Henry saw differently he saw this company had the ability to grow and prosper....

The company, in essence, was steadied out back in early 2000 by gaining a very good relationship with our largest customer.

... Henry: Ethanol has probably been the single most important driver of the growth of the Iowa Interstate from a marginal regional railroad to the railroad that it is today.

We didn't plan on ethanol, we never heard about it... And we survived long enough to take advantage of the opportunity that ethanol represented when it literally appeared out of nowhere.

(natural sound) Narrator: As the train nears the Mississippi river, passengers scramble outside the railcars to get a peek at Government Bridge.

This two-tiered trestle has unique design.

Its' rail deck was built on top, while its' highway deck runs below.

It also provides a rich chapter to the Iowa Interstate story.

Henry: It's the 3rd bridge in that location.

The 1st bridge was in fact the 1st bridge across the Mississippi and at the time it was, shall we say, disliked by the steamboat interests.

And so it was rammed by a steamboat.

So we went out and hired a young lawyer by the name of Abraham Lincoln and he successfully defended the Rock Island against the steamboat company and that in turn had the effect of launching his legal career and ultimately his becoming president of the United States.

So there's a lot of very rich history there.

Narrator: Another important piece of railway history waits at today's final stop in Rock Island, Illinois.

The last leg of the National Railway Historical Society's excursion will be lead by the most unique member of the Iowa Interstate fleet: The Chinese QJ-class steam locomotive.

(Natural sound) Mick: Henry is a historian at heart.

When china decided to go to diesel locomotives, he purchased to QJ locomotives and brought them to the United States to keep them from a cutting torch.

He wanted to preserve our history.

Mick: One's pulling the trains today, the 6988.

We've kind of Americanized it a bit, a little different look, but the 7081, our other locomotive, pulled the last long distance passenger train in China.

That will be kept in it's original condition.

Bill: The last mainline steam locomotive in the US was off the rails by 1960.

So we that are interested in history, are able to turn back the clock via what the Iowa Interstate has done, and my daughters and other children will have the opportunity to see these absolutely fantastic machines at work.

These sights, the sounds, it's just spectacular.

(Natural sound) Henry: Think of the irony... By virtue of circumstance, we got to the point where the Iowa Interstate was formed, and then it survived, and then it began to prosper.

At the same time, Chinese railways continued to expand and are one of the world models of railroad development.

And the opportunity came to combine these Chinese locomotives, which never were intended to come to the USA, on this railroad, the Iowa Interstate, which was never supposed to survive.

(Music and Natural sound) Narrator: From an abandoned bankrupt railway, to a thriving, award winning regional carrier, one can't help but wonder what the future holds for the Iowa Interstate?

Jerome: I think our future is very bright.

Were looking at growth potentials between 10-20 percent a year, were looking at further bring up of traffic which would be better for the environment and in terms of less green house gas emissions, and were looking at adding jobs which will help the economy of the United States.

(Music and Natural sound) Mick: Iowa Interstate is going to grow.

We keep on adding business ... the fun part is trying to find ways to handle it.

(Music and Natural sound) Henry: If you can survive and run a safe railroad, and be there long enough for good things to happen, it will probably be better than it is today.

Because history has shown in the last decade or so, that you've got to make your own luck.

And it's more about being lucky than good.

But if you're good, than you can be lucky.

(Music and Natural sound) Spencer: Next, the hot, dry Arizona climate, with its almost constant sunshine, is a perfect place for outdoor garden railroading.

Let's visit with a husband and wife team who have built a wonderful testament to their desert home.

(Music) Narrator: The foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains, near Tucson, Arizona, hold a delightful surprise.

It is here that we will visit the Eagle Mountain Garden Railroad, a 20 plus year project of Peggy and Gary Martin.

Gary: In G gauge I started about twenty four years ago.

My wife wanted a train around the Christmas tree, so I went down and bought a Lionel G gauge And put it around the tree.

And then every year after that it got started more and more track around the house and eventually we said we need to take this out of the house.

And then I put my first thirty feet in out around one of the trees on the side of the yard.

Narrator: With the leap to the outdoors, the railroad started to expand.

Gary: Then I added the White Mountains.

And then from the White Mountains I decided I'd go into the desert part of this.

So I put the desert theme up there, trying to put in different mountains and configurations for different places in Arizona.

Then I started looking at the mining area and I put in the pit mine which as far as I know, is the only G gauge pit mine in the country.

From there on I went on down and put in the final section which was really put in a raised section so that people could come and drive their trucks in and load their trains.

Narrator: Plantings reflect the area.

Gary: I used a lot of cacti and a lot of the natural plants that come with this area around here.

Desert Broom is one.

We don't like Desert Broom, but we use it because it grows naturally here and it's easy to maintain.

Narrator: One area that Gary loves is the Copper Queen Mine.

Gary: The Copper Queen Mine really is a mine in southern Arizona.

Now the difference is most mines people know, do not have trains running to the bottom of them.

However, I decided after going to the Copper Queen Mine and looking at the pit mine that the nice, the real way to do it would be to show a train going into the bottom of it.

I went ahead and built it that way.

Narrator: Just like a real railroad, the Eagle Mountain has to deal with environmental issues.

Gary: The main problem in southern Arizona, I'd say not only in Tucson, but all southern Arizona is the heat.

Your track, if it's a five-foot section, expands at about a quarter inch for every 90 degrees.

So if you don't tie the track down well, it will expand.

It will break out ballast.

I learned a long time ago that the best way to do this was put a lot of expansion joints in and concrete my ties, not my track into place.

The other item that is pretty prevalent here as far as having major problems with it again on the heat is just the buildings, the structures, keeping them together.

If you do leave them out they will deteriorate very quickly.

Narrator: Visitors have to look closely, but in doing so, will find all sorts of special scenes and hear special sounds.

Gary: Some of the buildings here that you'll see for instance ah would be the sawmill.

It totally operates.

Once it's turned on the log car moves back and forth, all of the saws turn.

All the loading operation turns.

I have also many small vignettes around with sound systems in it.

There's a mine blast... (sfx "Clear the mine, clear the mine, fire in the hole, fire in the hole") there's mariachi music, there's hoedown music, so all round the railroad there's little vignettes where children can push the button and hear what's going on.

Narrator: Mountain construction on this railroad required the development of special techniques.

Gary: The technique I used for the mountains varied all the way from rebar and styrofoam, all the way down to a chicken wire base.

Over the top of that is a big holed burlap that can really be purchased just about any Lowes or Home Depot,, And then cut into strips and they're dipped into wet stucco and then draped over the base, just like you would do in an HO layout where you're using other types of materials.

Many other ways were tried, but that was the only one I could find that worked well outdoors.

Narrator: Gary's wife Peggy has some special thoughts about the railroad.

Peggy: Gary was an art major in college and I really feel this is an extension of art.

When he thinks about it an does it it's an extension of his art.

We try to incorporate things that we, that are important that we care about and over here we have five houses that are dedicated to our granddaughters.

So that's probably one of my favorite parts.

Narrator: Garden railroads are never completed, and the Eagle Mountain is no exception.

Gary: The future really is automation.

I'm starting to do a lot more of that just to make the train a little more interesting.

I've got several other items around there, stamping mill, that type of thing, that will give a little more action to the railroad.

Narrator: It's plain that Gary and Peggy have crafted a perfect example of an Arizona garden railroad.

(music) Dave Baule: Hi, I'm Dave Baule.

Our final Classic Trax stories of this season takes me back to my home state: Iowa.

Narrow gauge railroads weren't just found in the mountains and the western U.S.

There was a little known line that struggled in the heart of the midwest- Iowa's slim princess: the Chicago, Bellevue, Cascade and Western railroad.

Narrator: It was an exciting time in 1879 Cascade, Iowa.

The railroad was coming.

With two mills on the Maquoketa River, Cascade was booming, and the town was looking for a gateway to the outside world.

A spiderweb of steel started to make it's way across the United States.

Each and every town was convinced that their survival depended on the railroad connection.

And this little eastern Iowa town was no exception.

Jim: It really brought them up to the forefront in this part of the country.

Remember that Galena, Illinois, 18 miles to the east of Dubuque, was at one time larger than the city of Chicago.

And then the flow of traffic coming out to that area, crossing to Dubuque.

And everybody wanted a piece of the action.

So they would start their towns.

And there was a lot of granaries, a lot of different things that they manufactured.

The problem was getting the product out of their town and into the main stream.

Narrator: So the Chicago, Bellevue, Cascade and Western Railroad was formed to connect the towns of Cascade on the west, and Bellevue on the east, where the 36 mile line would connect with the great Milwaukee Road.

The philosophy of many small railroads of the time was that construction of a narrow gauge operation was the best way to start.

John: You could build a narrow gauge railroad for about a third, maybe a fourth of what it would take to build the same thing in standard gauge.

Now the rails were 36 inches apart.

As a result, you didn't need as much banking, and grading, because the locomotives weren't as heavy, the cars and equipment were a lot lighter and cheaper, lower cost, if you will.

Narrator: The builders of these smaller railroads held the firm belief that once completed, they would be swallowed up by the larger, standard gauge railroads, who would then upgrade the line to standard gauge.

In 1880, the plan seemed to be working for the little CBC & Western.

Right on schedule, the Milwaukee Road bought the line.

The citizens of the area were overjoyed.

The future was bright indeed.

But the Milwaukee Road engineers determined that the terrain was too hilly and that an existing 2.8 percent grade would present expensive problems for converting the little line.

So expensive, that the line would never be profitable.

As a result, the railroad remained narrow gauge, much to the frustration of the local patrons.

The railroad had only one major accident in it's history.

John: In 1907 Mary Rowan was riding in the combine, half passenger, half baggage, and she was talking with another lady, and she said how happy she was to get home to her children, she'd been away for a few days.

And they came into the Washington Mills Bridge.

And the last car, which was the combine, jumped the tracks.

And that car went over and fell to the bowl, about 30-40 feet, and closed like a book.

She died, the conductor ultimately died and there were a few other injuries but not that severe.

Narrator: By the early 20th Century, trouble was brewing.

The growth of Dubuque to the north, and Davenport to the south, overshadowed little Bellevue.

Shippers could get their goods to the banks of the Mississippi, but items still had to be transferred to the standard gauge cars for the final run to the larger markets.

By 1932, with the Depression in full force, the Milwaukee Road was ready to abandon the little line.

But before the line could be torn up, a savior appeared in the form of Minnesota businessman Earl Bradley.

Bradley purchased the line in 1933, and once the ink on the contract was dry, revealed his plans.

Bradley was eager to test a new concept in railroading - rubber tired wheels riding on steel rails.

The rubber tired vehicles had already been pioneered in France, and were in use by the Texas and Pacific, and Reading Railroads.

But instead of resembling the sleek, chrome cars of the larger railroads, Bradley's first vehicle, painted a bright yellow and dubbed, "The Canary,."

looked like a milk truck.

Not only did it look clumsy, it was underpowered to the point that it could only move one or two freight cars at a time.

Bradley was confronted with incredibly bad luck.

The Canary was irreparable damaged by a cracked block in the winter of 1935, when an employee failed to drain the engine.

Record snowfalls hobbled the line in the mid 1930's as well.

By 1936 Bradley had had enough.

A government loan designed to bail out the little line was denied, and Bradley contracted with short line experts William Bell and William Schoenthal.

The were to make the line profitable, or scrap it.

After heavy snowfalls in 1936, and with the snow plow broken beyond repair, the experts opted to scrap the line.

And by 1937, with the rails torn up, the engines and equipment sold or abandoned, the little line became only a memory.

Little remains today of the Chicago, Belleview, Cascade and Western.

There are a few repurposed buildings, and some railway embankments.

The original depot at LaMotte houses a museum dedicated the line.

Rick: Well, the depot is the original depot, in the original location.

And we restored that about 14 years ago.

And we just picked up the box car about two years ago and we plan on restoring all that.

Matt: The caboose was built around 1880 by the Ohio Falls Car Company.

It was built for the Belleview and Cascade and was the only operating caboose on that line until 1936 when the line shut down.

The caboose was then purchased by one of the engineers that used to run on the Belleview and Cascade, and used as a storage shed on their farm until Jim Schroeder bought it in Belleview, Iowa.

When Jim purchased the caboose it was in very bad disrepair and started sort of a meticulous restoration, restoring it from the ground up.

We finished the restoration on the car to make it road worthy to pull behind the train to be in use here on the grounds ever since.

And we're happy to have it.

Narrator: Presently, Cascade, Bernard and Zwingle are becoming a part of the urban spread of Dubuque.

Of the little line, which held on for better than half a century, the only notable statement is that the railroad was 36 by 36 by 36.

It was 36 miles long, it was 36 inches wide, and sometimes it 36 hours to get there.

Spencer: Preserving rail stories and history is close to all rail fans.

Restored pieces of the railroad are still on display, while artifacts of the original line can still be seen at the Lamott museum.

Well, that's all for this episode.

Please join us next time for more, Tracks Ahead.

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Brought to you by: Kalmbach Publishing Company and its on-line video magazine, Model Railroader Video Plus.

Walthers.

Manufacturer and supplier of model railroading products, serving the hobby since 1932.

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