Milwaukee Road, Rock Island, CB&Q, and CGW in the 1950s - The Films of George Niles

C. Vision Productions takes you back to the 1950s to view classic train action on the Milwaukee Road, Rock Island, CB&Q, and Chicago Great Western, captured by cinematographer George Niles. We begin by covering steam and early diesel operations on the Rock Island in and around Des Moines, Iowa. Next, we’ll view passenger and freight action on the Milwaukee Road’s Omaha main across Iowa. The impressive Des Moines River bridge west of Madrid, Iowa is featured in this segment. We also get a chance to see very rare footage of the Milwaukee's gas car passenger route between Des Moines and Spirit Lake, Iowa. Then it is off to La Crosse, Wisconsin, where George captured Milwaukee Road and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy movements, including several scenes at Grand Crossing. More CB&Q trains are seen east of La Crosse along the Mississippi River. Heading back to Iowa, our focus shifts to the Chicago Great Western in Oelwein. After our brief look at the CGW, we end the show with some brick and tile quarry operations in Redfield, Iowa.
Copyright 2011, C. Vision Productions/George Niles
Music by Bensound
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[@jaydee975]

Beautiful movies of wonderful train days gone by. I’d love to go back in time and ride Milwaukee Road’s Olympian Hiawatha between Chicago and Seattle. ❤

[@CVisionProductions1]

Thank you very much! The golden days of passenger rail travel were marvelous…

[@raycooney7632]

FANTASTIC!11. A real Time Machine video!

[@CVisionProductions1]

Thank you, Ray!!! We owe it to the late George Niles for capturing this fantastic footage. Through his work, we really do have a window into the past. Your comment is appreciated.

[@anthonyhunt701]

Thank you for this wondeful era of Midwestern railroading. As a Chicagoan.. I love this

[@CVisionProductions1]

Well, thank you for appreciating it! And you’re right, this was an incredible era in Midwest railroading. Changes came swiftly after these scenes were filmed, for better or worse. Thanks again.

[@AhmearClayIombo-dj6di]

Awesome Movies

[@CVisionProductions1]

Thank you very much!!! We’re glad that you enjoyed them.

[@mwand89]

Thanks for posting this impressive video of the golden age of railroad!😊

[@CVisionProductions1]

You’re very welcome!!! We appreciate you taking the time to watch the video and share your thoughts.

[@mjrodriguez8670]

These films are food for my mind! I really enjoyed watching the early Rock Island diesels and the Milwaukee Road gas-electric car!

[@CVisionProductions1]

We’re happy to hear that, MJ! George really did leave us a gift with all of this incredible footage. We are grateful for the opportunity to share it with you. As always, we appreciate hearing your thoughts on the video.

[@jimc9399]

Back in the 40's and 50's, my Mom used to take the train from Des Moines to Arnolds Park to spend the summer at the family cottage. She'd ride her bike to the depot in Des Moines and hand it up to the crew. They would give it back to her once they got to Arnolds Park. From there, she'd ride the quarter-mile from the depot to the cottage where she'd have it for the summer.

[@CVisionProductions1]

What an incredible story. Life sure was simple and wholesome back then. We can imagine how relaxing those summer days in northwestern Iowa must have been. Thank you for sharing.

[@josephmauricesornaretnam]

these documentries are worth watching , need more of those . thanks for the video chris .

[@CVisionProductions1]

Thank you for the kind words. We’re glad that our audience appreciates these videos. You’ll see more from the George Niles collection in the future. Thanks again, and stay tuned!

[@frankbucholtz8713]

Great videos of these very interesting railroads in Iowa and Wisconsin. I particularly enjoyed seeing the pontoon bridge at Prairie du Chien being moved into place - never seen that before. It would be fascinating to see a train cross that bridge.

[@CVisionProductions1]

Thank you very much! And yes, that was quite the interesting bridge. You certainly won’t find anything like that in the modern day. We appreciate you checking out the video.

[@TheOklahomaHotrail]

Another great video by the best of the best!

[@CVisionProductions1]

Thank you so much, Trey! It’s always good to hear from you. Thank you for watching the video.

[@TheOklahomaHotrail]

@CVisionProductions1 Same from yall as well! It's always a good day when C Vision uploads!

[@jimikrentkowski4073]

Redfield IA- I was working on a house in Highland Indiana. I was replacing Brick and they had about 250 brick in the basement. Guess where they came from? Yep! Redfield IA. These brick in particular are called Normans. It hasRad field Iowa stamped on the back. Great videoC vision.

[@CVisionProductions1]

Now that’s some cool stuff! Thank you for sharing that information. It’s interesting to trace the origins of those materials, if at all possible. Redfield really must have been a major supplier of bricks and other materials in its heyday. We appreciate the comment, Jimi.

[@844SteamFan]

0:40 The former MILW depot in Spirit Lake, IA is now the Dickinson County Museum. Was a pretty neat thing to come across.

[@CVisionProductions1]

That’s good to know! It’s always nice when an historic depot gets preserved. Thank you for watching the video.

[@Zephyrdaze1819]

The view of the Rock Island Corn Belt Rocket in Des Moines was particularly fascinating. That was quite the switching operation! Note that the observation car ‘Memphis’ was originally made for the RI’s Choctaw Rocket, but was already reassigned here, likely with the “Corn Belt Rocket’ drumhead added. A fragment of this observation car exists. I own the “Memphis’ nameplate.

[@CVisionProductions1]

Very cool! It’s great that people like you (enthusiasts that appreciate classic passenger trains and historic railroad operations) have found this video. It’s nice to know that it has reached the correct audience. Thanks for watching the video, and also for sharing what you know.

[@Supersnow145]

love this video maybe someday I'll get to see an M&STL video between Minneapolis and albert lea in the 50s after seeing old photos of new Prague I can only imagine how cool it must have been!

[@CVisionProductions1]

Thank you!!! And yes, that would be neat. As you probably know, we’ve released videos that include coverage of that route in later years, but nothing in the M&StL era. We appreciate you watching.

[@raycooney7632]

A wonderful Time Machine!

[@CVisionProductions1]

Indeed! Mr. Niles has truly given us a special gift with these films. Thank you for watching and commenting.

[@AC_WILDCARD]

long live The Rock... LONG LIVE THE ROCK ISLAND RAILROAD!!!! 😭 damn I love the winged tuxedo paint scheme so much

[@CVisionProductions1]

Oh, yes. The Rock Island definitely had some neat paint schemes. The railroad put a lot of effort into those designs. The Rock rocked! (sorry, we couldn’t resist)

[@silurian9420]

Loveley video, many thanks from the UK (A Rock Island modeller).

[@CVisionProductions1]

Thank you so much! Modeling Rock Island from across the pond? Very cool! We appreciate you checking out the video.

[@markgoggin1015]

The Grand Crossing tower now sits in Copeland park in La Crosse.

[@CVisionProductions1]

Yes, sir! It’s great to know that La Crosse appreciates their railroad history. Thank you for mentioning it.

[@peytonboyd8829]

YESSS!

[@CVisionProductions1]

Thank you!!! We appreciate you tuning in and supporting the video.

[@Professional_Foaming]

love this do you guys have footage of the MILW and CNW/CGW in austin mn?

[@CVisionProductions1]

Yes, we do have footage from that area. The late Fred Crissey covered that trackage well, mostly in the 1970s. Stay tuned, and thanks for watching!

[@Greatdome99]

18:15: Those red-silver Golden State cars (coach & SP 6-6-4 sleeper) were likely through LA-Twin Cities cars taken off the Golden State Ltd in Kansas City.

[@CVisionProductions1]

Thank you for that information. The Rock Island’s passenger operations were quite impressive. And it’s interesting to know that LA-Twin Cities service was provided. We appreciate you watching.

[@brandancruz2696]

Your timing is amazing... it was late last week I was thinking to myself I should message y'all about some Rock Island action. Great stuff!!! Do y'all have any other Rock Island Footage farther south in Oklahoma and Texas?

[@CVisionProductions1]

Thank you!!! We must be on the same wavelength. Regarding your Rock Island Oklahoma and Texas question, unfortunately we don’t have any of that in our archives. But there’s still plenty of classic railroad action to come. Your comment is appreciated.

[@AC_WILDCARD]

Steve Goen is a good source of that, and a few others I have found here.

[@SMichaelDeHart]

@ 2:05, somebody better be checking that 2nd Baggage Car...looks like a Hot Box to me!!

[@CVisionProductions1]

Oh, wow. Look at that! Hopefully that was just a leak in the steam line back to the train, and not a hotbox. If that is a hotbox, it looks pretty serious! Thanks for keeping an eye out for those details in the video.

[@SMichaelDeHart]

@CVisionProductions1 I had a good friend of mine who started out w/ C&O (later Chessie System) just after the Korean War and retired as a conductor just as CSX was being formed. He was also our mechanic at the Fire Department I was on. Hot boxes were still a thing when I started railfanning 52 years ago at 8yo. He always told us to look at the trucks first, then go up. Hot box's were the most dangerous (other than derails & collisions) thing to watch for.

[@CVisionProductions1]

That absolutely makes sense. They happen fast and intensify quickly. Even with modern roller bearings, things can go downhill in a hurry if a hotbox isn’t caught in its early stages. Recently, hotbox detector spacing has gotten closer on many railroads following some high profile derailments.

[@SMichaelDeHart]

@@CVisionProductions1 like Palestein, Ohio, for one!!

[@CVisionProductions1]

Exactly!

[@peterabashian4156]

I remember running them MILW Hiawatha’s through LaCrosse, I would have that throttle all the way to the left. But the damn dispatcher always ran the freights ahead of us. And why is there no closed captioning? I’ve gone deaf from years of running those steam engines and Fs. Help???

[@CVisionProductions1]

Welcome back, Peter. Those dispatchers have a difficult job. Some are very good, while others won’t even answer the phone! It must have been frustrating flying by an approach signal at 87 mph. Thank you for sharing a little bit of your story on the Milwaukee Road. As for the CC… Eventually, auto captioning will improve enough where it will be more widely used. It hasn’t reached that point yet. We appreciate you checking out the video.

[@renegadetenor]

Present-tense is sooo lame. Everything good is well back in the past. I missed almost all of it:(

[@CVisionProductions1]

We’d have to agree with you there. Railroads of the past were vibrant and captivating. Thank you for watching the video.

[@lablaine1981]

75 yr railfan in MSP...#9 r.r. passed by my house,the colors,freight & passenger,the diesels,1956 end of steam here...so so 🍀🍀to have lived 24/7 trains...