Iowa Traction Railroad

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The Iowa Traction Railroad (IATR) is an American shortline railroad company based in Mason City, Iowa . The company operates a 21 km long route with four electric locomotives. This is electrified with an overhead line with 600 V direct current. The company was formed in 1987 to take over the Mason City Division of the Iowa Terminal Railroad. Goods to be transported are primarily food, chemicals and scrap . The company has connections with the Iowa, Chicago and Eastern Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad .

history

Route network of the Iowa Traction Railroad and predecessors

In 1896, the Mason City & Clear Lake Railway was established to connect the city to the Clear Lake settlement. From the beginning the route was planned as an electric train and not as an interurban (regional tram). The route came to the United Light & Railroad Company in 1913. In 1937, passenger transport was replaced by a bus route. On December 28, 1950, the railway line and the bus route were taken over from the bankruptcy of this company by a newly founded Mason City & Clear Lake Railroad (MC&CL). In the 1950s, the volume of traffic decreased and it was not possible to make more profit. In 1959 the bus service was given up and a year later the railway line was also for sale. On December 16, 1960, Detroit businessman Harold C. Boyer founded the Iowa Terminal Railroad and took over MC&CL on July 1, 1961.

By 1963 Boyer acquired 2/3 of the shares in the Charles City Western Railway (CCW), a neighboring electrified interurban line from Colwell via Charles City to Marble Rock. In 1963/1964 this company was completely taken over. From this point on, the two parts of the company were called Mason City Division and Charles City Division. There was an exchange of personnel, machines and vehicles between them when this became necessary. In May 1963 the facilities at Clear Lake were given up and in 1966 operations by Clear Lake were also given up, so that the line ended on the outskirts to serve the companies there. At the same time, work began on plans to link the two networks by a route between Mason City and Oakwood. With the death of Harold Boyer on May 24, 1965, these plans came to a standstill.

A fire on November 23, 1967 in the vehicle shed of the Mason City Division in Emery and a tornado on May 15, 1968 in Charles City lead to far-reaching changes in operations. Since a reconstruction of the destroyed catenary on the CCW was uneconomical, the remaining lines are reduced and the vehicles to Mason City implemented where it passing through the halls brand replace the destroyed vehicle park. An operation with smaller diesel locomotives remains in Charles City. Towards the end of the 1960s, losses were made again. Only the settlement of new companies in Emery at the beginning of the 1970s will make profitable operations possible again for the next 10 years. The Charles City Division ceased operations on the route between Charles City West and Marble Rock in 1972 due to the poor condition and the few customers. The route between Monahans and Colwell was abandoned in 1965. When one of the main customers in Charles City, a tractor factory , had to cease production due to bankruptcy and other companies also reduced their production, this had an impact on business operations. However, due to the deregulation in the railway sector, it was always possible to make operations more economical. At the beginning of 1986 the previous owners decided to sell the company.

The remaining lines of the Charles City Division were acquired by the Cedar River Railroad and operated as an industrial connection for a time.

The Mason City Division was acquired by local David Johnson with the help of local investors and continued to operate as the Iowa Traction Railroad. In 2012, Progressive Rail took over the railway company and continued to operate it as the Iowa Traction Railway.

vehicles

Locomotive 60 at Ag Processing Inc. in Mason City (Iowa)

The vehicles used today were originally built for other railroad companies by Baldwin-Westinghouse and, after they had given up electrical operations, were acquired by Iowa Terminal.

The vehicles with the numbers 50 and 51 were built in 1920/1921. They were in service with the Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Railway until the mid-1950s and then with the Kansas City, Kaw Valley & Western Railway. In 1963 they were acquired by the Iowa Terminal Railroad.

Locomotive number 54 was in service with the Southern Iowa Railway from 1923 to 1968 and then came to the Iowa Terminal.

Locomotive number 60 was built for the Youngstown & Ohio River Railroad in 1917, joined the Union Electric Railway in 1932 and joined the Mason City & Clear Lake Railway in 1948.

The fleet also includes railcar No. 727, which was originally built for the Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee Railroad. Today it is used for occasional tourist trips.

literature

  • Peter J. Rickershauser: Last of the steam-road trolleys . In: Trains . 4/1986. Kalmbach Publishing, pp. 48-55, ISSN  0041-0934

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