A pair of Dakota and Iowa units work the south end of the small yard at Hawarden.

DAIR 3030 leads the Northbound road freight at Elk Point, IA.

Running with 2x2x2 distributed power, BNSF loaded coal train C ATMOTL0 13B grinds upgrade as it approaches Albia, Iowa on the split mains of the BNSF Ottumwa Sub. BNSF 5999 and 9935 bring up the r... (more)

The afternoon local out to Manchester and back has an easy night ahead. Only 3 cars off 338 is what they have to run out. Since it is Sunday, they will not connect with any Cedar Rapids Job, so th... (more)

"Line for 2 track, kick EJE 703," the conductor on L586 commands to his engineer. A puff a smoke comes out of these 2 old girls and the tanks are off for a ride. The crew on L586 continu... (more)

About 7:30am on a cold Super Bowl Sunday morning, a westbound U705 broke a couple rails east and west of Jesup on the CN Dubuque Sub. The signal maintainer came out and found a couple 2 inch break... (more)

Crazy how unit trains sometimes come in fleets to the Iowa Zone. This is the 3rd empty ethanol train to run the past 16 hours out of Hawthorne. An empty bound for Tara, IA, rolls between switches ... (more)

On Christmas Even the CN got somewhat creative and ran a doubled up ethanol train instead of the normal 338 with Iowa freight traffic. The lack of people probably drove the decision? The train was... (more)

The city of Independence has a decent railroad display on the northside of town. The Buchanan County Tourism Visitor Center has the Chicago and Rock Island Depot and the Illinois Central Depot res... (more)

The CB&Q originally built across the Missouri Rive back in 1880. The Burlington and Missouri River Railroad had reached Plattsmouth in 1870 while working west from Creston towards Lincoln. The CB&... (more)

A short CN local returns south from Sioux City as it nears Council Bluffs.

A pair of GE's leads BNSF's Galesburg to Des Moines manifest as it begins its trip up the branch on the Des Moines Sub after diverging off the Ottumwa Sub at the junction in Albia, Iowa. Once out ... (more)

Westbound UP 7283 glides down the Boyer River valley near Woodbine, IA on an August afternoon in the Heartland.

A combo ballast empty is parked in the siding at Rutledge on the CP Ottumwa Sub. The train will park til a 14:00 crew could take it to Nahant this afternoon. The train will spin power at Fruitland... (more)

A combo ballast empty rolls north on the CP Ottumwa Sub. The train has just crossed the BNSF Ottumwa Sub and now will climb the steep 1.8% grade to Rutledge. This inbound crew is taking this train... (more)