On the loop at Manly
Manly, Iowa is the far north end of the Iowa Northern Railroad, and home to one of their yards and a number of customers for the railroad. On this particular Tuesday, the sun is sinking low in the western sky and the shadows are long as a quad pack of GP38s (all originally L&N engines that spend time on the Seaboard Cost Line and CSX before coming to Iowa) are tied down on the on the loop track waiting for a crew. The yard job has built the train with IANR 3808, 3802, 3809, and 3805 ready to lead the way, and the "North Job" crew is cabbing up from Waterloo to get it.
It would be around sunset before the crew reached the train and then the IANR dispatcher would instruct them to wait for a set of intermodal cars that a UP train was *supposed* to be delivering to Manly about 1700 - apparently hot cars that had to make the connection! In this era the IANR's Butler Intermodal Yard was pretty new and they were likely trying to provide good, timely customer service. That's the UP Mason City Sub (former CGW) on the far right, which the IANR weaves across through a pair of switches at Manly Junction to head southeast on the old Rock Island mainline.
On the loop at Manly
Manly, Iowa is the far north end of the Iowa Northern Railroad, and home to one of their yards and a number of customers for the railroad. On this particular Tuesday, the sun is sinking low in the western sky and the shadows are long as a quad pack of GP38s (all originally L&N engines that spend time on the Seaboard Cost Line and CSX before coming to Iowa) are tied down on the on the loop track waiting for a crew. The yard job has built the train with IANR 3808, 3802, 3809, and 3805 ready to lead the way, and the "North Job" crew is cabbing up from Waterloo to get it.
It would be around sunset before the crew reached the train and then the IANR dispatcher would instruct them to wait for a set of intermodal cars that a UP train was *supposed* to be delivering to Manly about 1700 - apparently hot cars that had to make the connection! In this era the IANR's Butler Intermodal Yard was pretty new and they were likely trying to provide good, timely customer service. That's the UP Mason City Sub (former CGW) on the far right, which the IANR weaves across through a pair of switches at Manly Junction to head southeast on the old Rock Island mainline.