Something new in Waterloo
Back to the recent past. After my last set with M338 I zipped back to Waterloo to make sure I wasn't missing any moves on the Iowa Northern. With no pending transfers, I stopped by the home base of the newest operation that I had located earlier.
Waterloo Railroad is a Jaguar Transport operation. They operate 7 miles of track leased from Union Pacific. Railroading in Waterloo is an interesting conglomeration of former Illinois Central, Rock Island and Chicago Great Western mainlines. Only the old IC is intact as a through route, CN today. The CGW from Waterloo to Oelwein was retained to serve the shop there, much of that was eventually sold to Iowa Northern. UP did retain the "Waterloo Industrial Lead" the first 7 miles from Waterloo running east and home to several steady customers. In time the UP remnant of the CGW was leased to IANR. In 2024 with the sale of IANR to CN looming UP decided to break the lease with IANR. CN was on the verge of being the only game in town, traffic off the lead would have all gone to CN. Waterloo Railroad is the new operator and I assume there is a way to bill cars through to UP in Cedar Rapids as everything now must leave Waterloo via CN.
From a fan perspective, the Waterloo is a hit with it's ex-Santa Fe GP30s. The 2422 looks particularly nice. The crew has come on duty and fired up the old Geep with the cold north wind blowing it sideways while they perform a walk around inspection of the power. November 11, 2024.
Something new in Waterloo
Back to the recent past. After my last set with M338 I zipped back to Waterloo to make sure I wasn't missing any moves on the Iowa Northern. With no pending transfers, I stopped by the home base of the newest operation that I had located earlier.
Waterloo Railroad is a Jaguar Transport operation. They operate 7 miles of track leased from Union Pacific. Railroading in Waterloo is an interesting conglomeration of former Illinois Central, Rock Island and Chicago Great Western mainlines. Only the old IC is intact as a through route, CN today. The CGW from Waterloo to Oelwein was retained to serve the shop there, much of that was eventually sold to Iowa Northern. UP did retain the "Waterloo Industrial Lead" the first 7 miles from Waterloo running east and home to several steady customers. In time the UP remnant of the CGW was leased to IANR. In 2024 with the sale of IANR to CN looming UP decided to break the lease with IANR. CN was on the verge of being the only game in town, traffic off the lead would have all gone to CN. Waterloo Railroad is the new operator and I assume there is a way to bill cars through to UP in Cedar Rapids as everything now must leave Waterloo via CN.
From a fan perspective, the Waterloo is a hit with it's ex-Santa Fe GP30s. The 2422 looks particularly nice. The crew has come on duty and fired up the old Geep with the cold north wind blowing it sideways while they perform a walk around inspection of the power. November 11, 2024.