Nostalgia & History > Some IMRL

Some days I really miss the IMRL. Say what you want, but the old Milwaukee Lines in Iowa were fun to railfan between 1997 and 2002. Here some shots I dug out.

1. Loaded coal train taking a cut at the bottom of Rutledge Hill in Ottumwa from March of 1999. Look at the power then! R.W. Lyon photo, my collection.

2. June 27 of 2000, my dad took this photo of train 99 at Samoa with the 262 in the lead. D.P. Kroeger photo, my collection.

3. And this is what he was waiting for.......MILW 261 deadheading back from Kansas City to the Twin Cities. 4 years later I would get to ride behind 261 on this very same portion, only under the IC&E banner. D.P. Kroeger photo, my collection.

Thanks for looking.

MILW86A

---

---

---

Thanks for posting, back when I was a kid my grandpa use to run me by the tracks in Liberty, Missouri to see if there were any IMRL trains sitting there waiting to meet anything. I remember seeing IMRL F45 #393 a lot which I now own an HO model of that exact unit. I wish I was a little older at that time so I could of railfanned that railroad a little more.

Sure would love to catch an Oakway, C30-7 and SD40-2 on a coal train today!

Andy

Thanks for these memories!

Posted from iPhone

MILW86A Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
Say what you
> want, but the old Milwaukee Lines in Iowa were fun
> to railfan between 1997 and 2002.

> 1. Loaded coal train taking a cut at the bottom of
> Rutledge Hill in Ottumwa from March of 1999.

Around that same time-period, 1999-2002, the wife and I were passing-thru Ottumwa, and pokin'-around town a bit. Quite by accident, we spotted an IMRL train "assaulting" (it WAS an assault!) Rutledge Hill, and gave chase from the BN(SF) crossing up towards some rural -- but still residential -- neighborhoods.

Playing "tag" with the train (which wasn't easy, 'cuz these guys were shoving that train up-and-OUTTA-here), and watching it storm out of the Des Moines River Valley was a tremendous show.....one that I hadn't expected at all.

The "help" (seem to recall them being 'Flares' pushing on the rear) eventually cut-off 'on-the-fly', which is something my wife had never seen happen; she said to me: "Did they just do what I think they did?"

I just smiled back at her...

Thanks for the reminder of that IMRL encounter, MILW86A!


Pat from Littleton, Colorado.

I know I fondly remember my short time there. Wish I got a decent camera sooner than I did so I could have recorded everything I saw.

imrl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I know I fondly remember my short time there. Wish
> I got a decent camera sooner than I did so I could
> have recorded everything I saw.


Still enjoy your yarns of working there. Gary Freeman, Dale Old, and the late Dean Stout. Met all them guys down there.