A map from 1900 that
highlighted Kansas railways would have just been one giant black blob from all
the crisscrossing railways, The Morning Sun in Pittsburg, Kan., reports.
That’s
no longer true. Five counties in the state no longer have any railway of any
sort (Rooks, Graham, Greenwood, Chautauqua and Comanche).
Union Pacific
Chairman and CEO Jim Young, Iowa Department of Transportation Director Nancy
Richardson and Boone, Iowa, Mayor John Slight commemorated one of North America’s
tallest double-track railroad bridges, the new Kate Shelley Bridge in Iowa
spanning the Des Moines River. Young, Richardson and Slight rode a Union
Pacific train over the bridge, which is more than 2,800 feet long and 190 feet
high.
Freight trains have begun
moving across a new $43-million bridge over Iowa’s Des Moines River that
reportedly is the tallest double-track railroad structure in North America, the
Des Moines Register reports.
The Boone High Bridge, which is 2,550 feet long
and 190 feet high, will improve operational efficiency and customer service on
Iowa’s busiest railroad corridor, said Mark Davis, a spokesman for the Union
Pacific Railroad, which commissioned the bridge project.
The collapse of the Union
Pacific railroad bridge in downtown Waterloo, Iowa, during last year’s historic
flood has cost the Iowa Northern Railway, the primary user of the span,
millions of dollars. Farmers, grain cooperatives and ag manufacturers have also
suffered economic and efficiency losses due to costly detours, according to the
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier.
Before highways, there were
railroads – Houston’s first circulatory system. Civic boosters bragged in the
1920s that Houston was the place "where 17 railroads meet the sea." The trains
hauled cotton and grain. Downtown had three passenger stations, the Houston Chronicle
reports.
A group of local grain
producers is playing a live game of monopoly, local newspapers report. However,
it is taking the "Chance card" from the game by taking matters into its own
hands. The members of the group will be the first Alberta independent co-op
owners after coming up with the winning bid to purchase a rail line from
Camrose to Alliance.
The distinct whistle blaring and the distant, thunder-like clanking commonly heard through Aberdeen, S.D. are the sounds of the Hub City’s history, the Aberdeen News reports. And, one railroad official said, they are the sounds of its future.
The celebration will include a display of about 45 North American Rail Car Operators Association motorcars during an open house at the Harsco facility in Fairmont. The 45 restored cars were originally built at the Fairmont plant and shipped to railroads around the United States and Canada.
