Iowa Railroading and Railfanning In "The Hawkeye State"

Iowa railroading is known for flat, open countryside and farmland as far as the eye can see. The state, rich in railroading history, still even today is home to several important main lines, particularly those heading east and west. Along with the state’s nearly 4,000 miles of operating railroads it is also home to several museums and excursion trains. In all, the Hawkeye State offers a little of everything!

Iowa railroading has its beginnings dating back to 1853 when the Mississippi & Missouri was chartered to build a line between Davenport, Iowa City, and Muscatin which was completed in 1855 (this line would become part of Rock Island’s east-west main line). In the following years, Iowa would become home to most of the West’s best-remembered Class I railroads from the Rock Island and Milwaukee Road to the Chicago & North Western and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. Others include the Santa Fe (whose Transcon line clips the southeastern corner of the state for 17 miles), Illinois Central, Chicago Great Western, and the Wabash.

With so many Class Is once dotting the state it is not surprising that at one Iowa was one of the top states in total rail mileage. While today it carries less than half of its all time high Iowa is still home to several important rail lines.

Of these railroads perhaps the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific (Rock Island), Chicago & North Western and Milwaukee Road are best remembered in Iowa. All three railroads had sprawling branch lines fanning out all over Iowa and their main lines passed through Iowa to reach cities like Des Moines, Omaha, and Kansas City. Likewise, all three’s most celebrated passenger trains passed through Iowa such as the Rock Island’s fleet of Rockets, the C&NW’s Cities (these were trains of the Union Pacific, relayed by the C&NW to Chicago via its Chicago-Omaha main line that sliced straight through Iowa), and perhaps famous of all, the Milwaukee Road’s Hiawathas.

Already famous for its Pacific Extension, the electrified main line that stretched from the Midwest to the Puget Sound region, it also became renowned for its Hiawatha passenger trains that were introduced in 1935. The Milwaukee's Midwest Hiawatha would serve the Heartland on its main line that reached the cities of Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska and they quickly became recognized for their blazing speed across the open country. Originally featuring steam locomotives of the Hudson (4-8-4) and Atlantic (4-4-2) classes they could regularly reach speeds of over 100 mph across the flat plains along track that was virtually as straight as an arrow from Chicago to points West and their "Reduce to 90" trackside signs are legendary.

While the railroad’s Olympian Hiawathas were discontinued in the 1960s due to very stiff competition with the Northern Pacific and Great Northern it retained its original Hiawathas serving the Midwest right until the end when Amtrak took over intercity passenger operations in May of 1971.

With its web of branch lines in the Midwest, along with several other railroads like the Rock Island and C&NW who were fighting for the same amount of traffic that could no longer support so many railroads, the Milwaukee Road found itself in a hopeless situation as did its competitors (these three railroads also had the most abundant amount of branch lines in Iowa).

The Rock Island was to be purchased by the Union Pacific but after a long, drawn out decision by the ICC it was mostly in ruins by the late 1970s and was shutdown in 1980 with its lines being auctioned off. The Milwaukee was in a likewise precarious position.

However, the company’s fate was sealed when, in another short lapse of vision, management decided in the late 1970s to scrap the entire system west of Miles City, Montana, some 1,100 miles of track! While the results of this and other abandonment projects on the eastern side of the system worked in cutting costs the now much smaller railroad, which no longer competed for the lucrative traffic entering the Port of Seattle (which today is booming), made for a prime merger target and in 1985 the Soo Line Railroad purchased the company.

The Chicago & North Western was the only system to survive the volatile 1960s and 1970s and emerged in the 1980s as a strong Midwestern carrier once again. In 1995 it was purchased by Union Pacific for direct access to Chicago and the lucrative coal reserves of the Powder River Basin in Wyoming.

Today, Iowa railroading is dominated mostly Class Is, BNSF Railway, Union Pacific and Canadian National. The rest of the Hawkeye State’s rail network is operated by Regionals Iowa Interstate (whose livery is inspired by the University’s of Iowa and Iowa State) and Iowa, Chicago & Eastern (owned by the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern which has been purchased by Canadian Pacific) as well as shortlines Burlington Junction Railway and Iowa Northern Railway.

For a more in-depth look at Iowa railroading in terms of route mileage throughout the years please refer to the table below.

While the Rocket, City, and Hiawatha passenger fleets may no longer operate through Iowa, Amtrak does dispatch its California Zephyr and Southwest Chief through the state.

Passenger and freight trains aside, Iowa railroading is also home to a number of tourist lines and railroad museums, the most famous of which is likely the Union Pacific's own, the Union Pacific Railroad Museum based in Council Bluffs (it alone, is worth the trip to see!). Others include Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad, Delmar Depot Museum, Hobo Museum, Midwest Central Railroad, Rails West Railroad Museum, Trainland USA, and the Hub City Heritage Corporation.

Lastly, Iowa railroading is also home to Rail Merchants International, a dealer in used railroad equipment for sale to the general public. If you have the resources you can own your own boxcar or caboose!