Future Family Members at the Waterloo Terminal
Iowa Northern Railway train BUWA has IANR 4100, 3809, 3802, and 3803 for power on this December Sunday to make the run from Butler Yard near Shell Rock, Iowa to Bryant Yard in Waterloo. The train had 75 cars out of Butler, but have brought the head 15 into the CN Waterloo Yard for interchange. In the background EJE 667, still in orange, is paused in between it's duties as the yard switch engine, and a few other motors are laying around at the engine facility including EJE 658 in CN paint.
The CN is in the process of purchasing the IANR but is still awaiting STB approval, and so this is perhaps a bit of a look into the future. Meanwhile the past is well represented in this view too, as the Illinois Central Roundhouse here in the background has been present in at least in some form, (it's had stalls added and removed over the years) back to as far as 1901 (and possibly longer, it was hard to pin down a good date for the roundhouse construction from just some quick online research).
The Iowa Northern Railway uses the CN Mainline in Waterloo and Cedar Falls for a few miles from Waterloo West to Cedar Falls Junction as part of an arrangement going back to the 1980s and a highway project that saw the consolidation of some lines in Waterloo to make room for US 218. Normally from what I've seen the interchange work is typically done by the IANR in either direction at some siding tracks just west of Waterloo West and so they don't come into the yard like this. But occasionally when traffic warrants the CN will have the IANR come directly into the "A Yard" here at the Waterloo Terminal to make their setout and pickup as seen here. They would tie onto a cut of cars and shove back out of the yard to the rest of their train waiting on the mainline.
I had gone out after this BUWA even though it was likely to be a cloudy day because IANR 4100 on the point is one of the road's newest units (arrived to the IANR in August 2023 per some online notes, though it's originally a C&O unit) and still looks pretty sharp. But it was a nice bonus to get them making this less-common move, and this angle normally would be a heavily backlit-view if the sun were present.
Future Family Members at the Waterloo Terminal
Iowa Northern Railway train BUWA has IANR 4100, 3809, 3802, and 3803 for power on this December Sunday to make the run from Butler Yard near Shell Rock, Iowa to Bryant Yard in Waterloo. The train had 75 cars out of Butler, but have brought the head 15 into the CN Waterloo Yard for interchange. In the background EJE 667, still in orange, is paused in between it's duties as the yard switch engine, and a few other motors are laying around at the engine facility including EJE 658 in CN paint.
The CN is in the process of purchasing the IANR but is still awaiting STB approval, and so this is perhaps a bit of a look into the future. Meanwhile the past is well represented in this view too, as the Illinois Central Roundhouse here in the background has been present in at least in some form, (it's had stalls added and removed over the years) back to as far as 1901 (and possibly longer, it was hard to pin down a good date for the roundhouse construction from just some quick online research).
The Iowa Northern Railway uses the CN Mainline in Waterloo and Cedar Falls for a few miles from Waterloo West to Cedar Falls Junction as part of an arrangement going back to the 1980s and a highway project that saw the consolidation of some lines in Waterloo to make room for US 218. Normally from what I've seen the interchange work is typically done by the IANR in either direction at some siding tracks just west of Waterloo West and so they don't come into the yard like this. But occasionally when traffic warrants the CN will have the IANR come directly into the "A Yard" here at the Waterloo Terminal to make their setout and pickup as seen here. They would tie onto a cut of cars and shove back out of the yard to the rest of their train waiting on the mainline.
I had gone out after this BUWA even though it was likely to be a cloudy day because IANR 4100 on the point is one of the road's newest units (arrived to the IANR in August 2023 per some online notes, though it's originally a C&O unit) and still looks pretty sharp. But it was a nice bonus to get them making this less-common move, and this angle normally would be a heavily backlit-view if the sun were present.