Rock Island's Montezuma line part 3

We have another installment of Ben Safourek's home movies from the Montezuma, Iowa branch line operation on the Rock Island. Ben followed the local eastbound in 1971. All rights reserved, original movie and production work by Ben Safourek.

[@blainenodes8182]

Spark arresters & caboose,great rural track,great post ❗👍,chased Rock in St Paul,1949-1980,my kinda railroading,did not want film to end...😞

[@hongs8867]

Sure miss the caboose on trains today, reminds when I was little watching CNW and UP go through my area with cabooses.

[@cbalducc]

The train looks like it’s moving mighty fast.

[@tonyjanney1654]

Thank you for preserving this moment in history. Iowa Interstate still services those industries in Hills. The rest? All gone.

[@blainenodes8182]

As railfan since 1949,over my history,amazed at amount of track Iowa had,compared to any other state it seems?

[@KSRailfan]

Great stuff! I can’t believe that he took all of this!

[@lenaweerailfan8162]

Thank you for uploading the films in this series. They are fantastic time capsules.

[@ricklowers8873]

Grew up on a farm north of Atlantic, IA. the Rocks spur line to Audubon ran through our farm. And I thought THOSE tracks were bad😳. From what I recall bough it looks like that the speed limits on these two lines were about identical.

[@willwozniak2826]

OUTSTANDING Video My friend! My dad was a big fan of the Rock Island.

[@mikewalsdorf8744]

WOW !

[@GoodbyeKamala2024]

Sad the line is gone, another piece of history faded away. 😢

[@retr0bits545]

Love the series, what happened to part II? If it was lost/ unrecoverable that is fine… might need to head down to the revived operation down in the Mississippi Delta, Gulfport, or their newest acquisition The Midland railway (MKT 142 is staying “KATY” from what I have heard).

[@andybrown1539]

I never did get Part 2 from Ben but have let him know that his fans would love to see it!

[@samwillson5814]

That track is horendous condition. Can't see the tracks in part of the movie.

[@bradhardy2629]

The Milwaukee Road ran near some of this line by Webster i think . they kept going for a while after this line was tore up for good . why not spin it off to the milwaukee and combine all the trackage , then maybe there would've been enough revenue to keep both lines open . Or did they run parallel to one another ?

[@andybrown1539]

Brad the two lines crossed in Webster but did not parallel each other. Milw was a north-south line and RI east-west.