Milwaukee Road's Cedar Rapids to Ottumwa line in the early '70s

[@blainenodes8182]

As a railfan since 1950,does my ❤️good to see 3 great granger roads,moving branch line traffic... THANKS 👍 from MSP 🥶

[@billgreenley9364]

I'm completely biased, but this is the best RR video I've ever seen. It's the line I hire out on in 1971, in the era I hired out in featuring guys I worked with for years, and a little vignette of me switching Kingsbury when I was still braking. Yeah, I'm a little bit biased. Thankyou to Ben Safourek for saving this history and Andy Brown for putting it together and out in public to be enjoyed. Kudos, Andy.

[@tracie3890]

Bill, are you from Sigourney?

[@nothanks1627]

Wow. Great story, and what a wonderful way to fill your career days. My first locomotive in H.O., was a beautiful F9 in Milwaukee Roads orange and black paint scheme. That was 1977, I still have it❤

[@triton199]

You know my dad then Bill, he is also shows up in this video a few times. i was talking to him this morning and he was on the computer looking at youtube videos and found this one, was fun to see his reaction when he turned up in the video at 7:05 and 7:09 lol.

[@utubewatcher806]

Wow, comparing to present train length, these were some short trains! and, a caboose..

[@paulremmey398]

Great video and great comments on here

[@oddjobz9858]

Wow different planet time capsule footage glad someone was filming

[@tuffy1124]

Making 1977 look like it’s a hundred years ago Hysterical

[@oddjobz9858]

Cuz it was ! The disconnect between now and then is so significant. I really wish it wasn’t. I enjoyed life more simplistic

[@mikeredenius425]

This footage reminds me of the CNW operations on the Belle Plaine-Blue Earth line in the same time period in Parkersburg, Iowa.

[@donreed]

Excellent! And I love that "you will be forced" copyright declaration.

[@andybrown1539]

Ha, yes that's one of Ben's little trademarks...

[@jeffpierce725]

My Aunt and Uncle lived in Toddville. Their property boarded a Rock Island line that ran from Cedar Rapids to Alburnett. I used to walk the tracks hoping I would see a train. By the late 70's I think the trains ran only once or twice a week. The rails had been torn up by the early 80's and a wooden trestle that crossed the creek was all that was left. It was dismantled by the mid 80's. Now on Google earth I can barely see where the right of way was. I can still find my Aunt and Uncle's house though. Great memories from my youth. Thanks for posting!

[@chriskrazmuski745]

Marvelous time travel! The maps and written information are very helpful. Someday I'd like to check out that antique shop in Hedrick.

[@timetable5245]

Great film of a great railroad. Thanks for posting. These film clips are catch some history. Fewer railfans are left to appreciate railroading in the early 70's. Almost all of the equipment and practices are gone now. I miss the caboose, the depot and the train orders, not to mention the clerks that worked in the small agencies all along these branch lines and main lines. All gone now.

[@m.e.g.a.n.l.e.i.g.h]

Great 👍 old footage of Milwaukee Road in action. My dad remembers it well.

[@danielhutchinson6604]

Nice images, I got a whiff of Wheat when that Boxcar Paper was flapping out the door. I liked them GP-30 too.....

[@m.e.g.a.n.l.e.i.g.h]

Oh my dad lived in cedar rapids Iowa back in the 50's and remembers Milwaukee road and Chicago northwestern. And the Iowa steam engines that came into the cedar rapids terminal there.

[@DelayInBlockProductions]

Hi Andy, I am working on a project about the CRANDIC and would love to use some clips from this video with credit attributed to you and Ben. May I have your permission to do so? Thanks for your consideration. -Drayton

[@Paradox7539]

My friends and I knew every inch of MR track from the Rock Island overpass near Homestead to Main Amana. I lived in Middle Amana and remember hearing the switching at Amana Refrigeration. The ties were rotten and never replaced. We used to play on the box cars hunt the right-away. The Amana station still exists with the names of the BOs scratched in the building. Our local State Game Warden rode the last train from Ottumwa Northward collecting cars along the route in 1983. He presented a slide program at the Amana Museum of the last train from Ottumwa. I often wonder what happened to that slide presentation.

[@Paradox7539]

I may have the dates wrong on the last train, remember distinctly the slide presentation by the game warden.

[@railroadwolf]

Alot of great history about the Milwaukee road railroad!. Thank you for this great video!.

[@stephensaasen8589]

What a great record of a truly historic railroad. I grew up around the Milwaukee in the West. It's great to see other parts of this great railroad. I really appreciate him recording the "Internal Spark Arrestor" lettering that some of these later GP9's and SW1220's had under the unit number that NO model RR decal company seems to want to print in their decal sets!!

[@spencercorby4571]

My dad worked for the Milwaukee road during this time, although he was up by Clinton, ia. Delmar, and Green Island to be specific. He also worked for the Chicago and Northwestern around this time as well at the car shops in Clinton. He said working for either railroad at the time wasn't bad paying/good benefits. I would like to see some old footage from Delmar or Green Island, maybe my dad would be in it. A good story he has from working on the Milwaukee road is getting plastered drunk after work with some friends, and climbing a pole outside the bank in Delmar. He wound up breaking the pole, and having to pay for it.

[@dd_railvideos]

Wow had no clue footage of a train through Sigourney existed. Very cool!

[@bsalightning69]

I can't help but notice that most of the tracks were overgrown with weeds and all. Reminds me of how many of the tracks had gotten that way during the years around here unfortunately. Politics really messed things up, and it never really recovered. Really liked the video, will incorporate some ideas onto my o scale layout, thanks

[@peterhanahoe4913]

Fantastic stuff, thanks for putting this on line, really enjoyed it.

[@FrogandFlangeVideo]

Hello Andy. That was just amazing to watch. Thank you. James.

[@fiddlyphuk6414]

What a treasure. I was hoping he caught the Ottumwa airport switcher. Did it!

[@ICUNA22]

I LOVED the breaking glass sound at the two couplings (one example at 2:04)!!! Some Mopac boxes in the video, so I guess it's ok!😃

[@codyhilton1750]

It is sad to see all the fallen flags especially my favorite, The Milwaukee Road.

[@jasonrash849]

The row was horrendous with overgrowth….def lacking in the mow department in those days . Great video and thanks for sharing!

[@billking772]

I still remember watching these trains from my grandparents farm South of the Pigeon Road where the line ran between North English and Webster. Late 60's, very early 70's. I think there is one short clip of a train crossing a short trestle where there was a s-curve passing underneath that was down the road from the farm. From up on the hill I could watch for quite a ways. Thanks for sharing this and bringing back those memories.

[@daleferber2096]

I grew up in WI in the 70's Also remember the SOO line Only RR left by the time I left in 80 was the Chicago Northwestern

[@bezuglich]

The scenes at the stations are my favorite parts.

[@knelson8359]

So many fallen flags in those consists. Even an RB unit was captured. Still love the looks of those Milwaukee GP 30s. It's bittersweet to watch this video. It's sad to think of all those lines being abandoned, their rails pulled up, and the stock scrapped. I grew up in a town served by both the Rock Island and the Waterloo, Cedar Falls, and Northern. Spent four years as a teenager working at a feed mill loading grain into 40' boxcars. What a tremendously dirty job that was. Only thing dirtier was unloading coal cars.

[@jachymverosta3603]

Looked this branch up on aerial maps and there is almost nothing left of this line, crazy how it just disappeard.

[@m.e.g.a.n.l.e.i.g.h]

Just to say from my dad, he loves the old cabooses in the video. He once had a ho train collection of all Milwaukee road cabooses and engines and cars. His collection of trains of all sorts were in 700 pieces. All gone now. Had to sell. Very sad for my dad.

[@richardbaker-simmons2042]

I watched many Milwaukee Rd trains move through North English in the 50's/ 60's from my granddad's acreage next to the tracks. Thanks for the memories on video.

[@tomstarcevich1147]

Cool video Running trains in the weeds 😮

[@MilePost106]

Awesome video!!! I miss the old days of railroading, video came out great for its age.

[@shortliner68]

Love seeing branch line action, and all those old freight cars with fallen flag reporting marks.

[@freddykagin]

A true blessing of trains thanks 😊

[@rjdio3750]

Great piece of work. Thank you for uploading this!

[@davewallace8219]

Wonderfull! Thanks

[@markchicwak370]

Love these old videos! Thanks for posting!

[@davewallace8219]

Well done!

[@kentayers4578]

This is really nice footage. Most of the camera's perspectives make it looks like the trains are just running on grass with no rails visible except occasionally. Surprised at the running speed considering how possibly bad the rails could be. Would anyone know approximately how many trains a day or week, would use this route?

[@andybrown1539]

Some of the train speed appearance is from Ben's camera running film too slow, but there are also sequences where he speeded up the video in post production. But overall yes, they ran surprisingly fast on that track! Operation was I think 5 days a week each way.

[@OldFart2023]

I thought the same about the speed but the loco's and other equipment were A LOT lighter at the time.

[@timothygeorge1191]

The Milwaukee Road Line from Madison Wisconsin to Prairie du Chien Wisconsin. Still used today by Wisconsin Southern Railroad. The Prairie du Chien Wisconsin to Marquette Iowa the railroad Bridge was removed in early 70s the the line is owed by CP rail now

[@chrisbell52310]

The S тLO&CR line has been long overlooked

[@stevenikitas8170]

Nice video. It's great to see the old cars without that horrible graffiti. I am always amazed that the Milwaukee came to paint their locomotives almost the exact same color scheme as Union Pacific (which you can see at 37:16). Maybe they were trying to absorb some of UP's success before the Milwaukee went under.

[@stephensaasen8589]

In actuality, that F-Unit was painted to match Union Pacific's paint scheme. It was their final scheme for their passenger fleet. After Amtrak took over all passenger service on the Milwaukee, any passenger unit not assigned to commuter fleet was used in freight service if still viable. This Union Pacific paint scheme was part of a Union Pacific campaign in the 1950's to pool passenger fleet equipment between the UP, the Milwaukee Road and the Chicago & Northwestern. It was Union Pacific's attempt to remedy dwindling passenger patronage by expanding their reach to other cities not normally reached by the other railroads. In the spirit of UP's trains titled "City of...", a new train would be dubbed "City of Everywhere". It would be best to read it's history as my knowledge is a bit crusty but basically the idea was for C&NW and Milwaukee to paint their passenger equipment in Union Pacific colors (which both railroads did) so locomotives and equipment could be pooled. This Pooling of equipment would allow for minimized delays at changeover points. That way passengers wouldn't necessarily have to switch trains. Long story short, the idea didn't work as well as planned in the equipment pooling and apparently it was worst for the C&NW. I think there were revenue discrepancies as well as far as who got how much for how long passengers were on any given route and again, C&NW was least pleased with that. In my estimation, this arrangement benefited UP most because it gave them direct access to Chicago via C&NW. C&NW dropped out of the program first and rather quickly repainted their passenger fleet back to their own scheme. While the Milwaukee remained in the "City of Everywhere" campaign much longer, they kept the UP scheme to the end of passenger service and most remained so until the equipment was retired. A handful of FP7's did receive the orange and blackscheme, but unlike other F-units in the scheme, sported the red Herald on the front nose door along with the two on the side. But the rest of the FP7's, E-units, and passenger F9's kept their UP scheme to the end. Oh yeah, the FP45's also were repainted to the orange and black. The FP45's were the last passenger units acquired by the Milwaukee Road I think in 1969 and originally painted in the UP armor yellow scheme.

[@supercuda1950]

Those were the good old days. No computers, cell phones. Not the greatest film quality, but who cares.?

[@bbradleyism]

Why is the Milwaukee so missed? It outsells all the other historical society mags and has a great deal of interest still. It's my fav rr from when I was a child but it's so dearly missed.

[@kevinpurcell2093]

These were the best days.

[@davewallace8219]

this line went from c.r. ia. to the s.w. it's still there... and in use.. the milw. rd. line from c r. ia. to the Northeast was abandoned in 1980...

[@Greatdome99]

Those white Manufacturers Railway cars carried beer.

[@lm1m]

MW didn’t believe in unnecessary expenses like ballast 😂

[@dws3500]

Just lay the rails out in the field and start running trains.....

[@b3j8]

In Indiana the Milwaukee used cinders and dirt.😄 Had some real nice stations tho.

[@oddjobz9858]

Who needs stone to turn tricks 😂

[@triton199]

@6:55 thats my dad there in the stripped shirt.12 years before i was born. Super cool that this footage is out there on youtube.

[@andybrown1539]

Excellent! Glad you found him and like the video.

[@tobylou8]

Copyright violators will be forced to watch the video again. ROFL!!!!!!!!

[@waylin6161]

I live in ottumawa

[@huntercoleman460]

Where’d you get this footage Andy?

[@tracie3890]

Is this the one that went over a bridge on Pleasant Street?

[@andybrown1539]

What town?

[@tracie3890]

@@andybrown1539 sorry about that! Sigourney.

[@andybrown1539]

@@tracie3890 Looks to me like that was a grade crossing but I wasn't familiar with the line when it was still in service, maybe someone who was there at the time can comment.

[@nickkeeling9554]

Is this Super 8 film? Or is this 8mm?

[@andybrown1539]

I think it's 8mm but I'll have to ask Ben!

[@briankriz5271]

It’s a shame that America decided to invest in roads and trucks instead of rail. I personally think rail is a more greener choice because you can haul way more with less.

[@johnryman-f3c]

THE MOST EFFICIENT AND LOWEST COST TO MOVE FREIGHT. EISENEHOWER BACKED DOWN FROM THE TRUCKER UNIONS AND GAVE RAILROAD MAINTENANCE MONEY TO JIMMA HOFFA TRUCKERS. RAIL ROADS ARE MAKING A HUGE COMEBACK IN EUROPE AND RUSSIA, AMERICN FREEWAY AND ROAD AND THE AUTO INDUSTRY WON..

[@Kevin-sj3yk]

Look at all the trashy graffiti

[@hounddog946]

The quality of old home movies reminds me of the quality of the porns back in those days

[@bradhardy2629]

Too bad the management ran the Milwaukee road into the ground. Sad. The B.N.Got the Pacific coast business from the S.P Just like they wanted. Crooked politics and poor decisions by Management

[@stephensaasen8589]

You're one of the few that sees that reality. There are alot of people who refuse to see the sabotage that occurred in the last 10 years of the Milwaukee in the West. They relegate it to just poor management or meager traffic never realized. But after the BN merger, the Milwaukee was given 11 new gateways for traffic they didn't have before and a huge chunk of overseas container traffic just handed to them, and it leaves one to scratch their head. Management seemed to work hard to kill every opportunity to get the upper hand. But what's really interesting is the hierarchy decided to bring executives from BN on board to supposedly help them out and I think they helped the Milwaukee over a cliff. Things REALLY went downhill after hiring those execs from BN. Ties that had been laid out for replacement between Milwaukee and Portage, WI were suddenly taken up and never installed. 1974 saw huge cutbacks in maintenance to where nobody wanted to ship anymore because there was no guarantee the freight would get there due to poor track. Most mysterious of all was the 1978 audit during reorganization that revealed double charges for overhead of Lines West, which had they been accurately recorded would have revealed a small profit. Employees kept seeing suspicious acts of sabotage which some onlookers I guess saw was a desperate attempt to try to keep a sinking ship afloat. Most who studied the railroad much at the time were well aware of the sabotage. BN benefited greatly by killing the Milwaukee. I think the only ones who don't believe that are those who were born well after the railroad was but a memory and never talked to those who knew the employees and just read articles on a page.