Western Railroad Discussion > BNSF's Bayard (Iowa) Local

I had the day off yesterday for MLK day, and so did my 4 year old son Adam from pre-school. So what were we to do? Oh, lets drive over to Iowa and chase the Bayard Local.

We left Omaha about 7:30 AM with overcast conditions and moderate fog. The temps were not as cold as it looked in the following photos, only about 30 most of the time. As we got further into Iowa, the fog seemed to get thicker with about 0.25 mile visibility and it didn’t really let up. It made for driving a bit slower than what it should have been. We finally crossed the Bayard Sub near Manilla at about 9:00 on Hwy 141 and got down to Coon Rapids around 9:30.

We were told that the local had a late start and would still be in Coon Rapids by the time we got up there. Driving around town, there was no sign of it. This was the first time I was at this end of the line and with the 0.25 mile fog, it was hard to find anything. Then we were told to go a few miles east and it might still be at the ethanol plant, which it turned out it was. It finally pulled about 10:30 and we went back into Coon Rapids to set up for the first few shots.

The power were three B40-8W’s, 500, 551 and 556. All ex-Santa Fe, built in October 1990. It’s hard to believe that this branch line power used to hustle hot TOFC trains down on the Transcon. Harder to believe that these units are almost 20 years old.

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This local was pretty easy to follow as the track speed along most of the Bayard Sub is 10 mph. This next shot is just west of Coon Rapids. After Coon Rapids, we got about 7 miles up ahead of it and found an overpass just east of Dedham. We probably waited about a good half hour until it got there. Notice the white frosting on the trees, formed from the freezing fog.

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Then at the town of Dedham, it had a boxcar to pick up. As you can see in one of the photos, the power was plowing snow as it backed into the spur. By the time the local put it’s train back together, it was noon and we had been in the car for 4.5 hours. The next stop for the local was Templeton, about 5 miles ahead, and more switching work which probably would consume about the next hour. I figured this was a good point to break off for some lunch. We headed 10 miles upto Carroll for some McNuggets, and then home after that.

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Last shot.

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Nice series Chris. That power's sure a far cry from the BN SD9s that held that job about the time those GEs were built.

Joe

IAISfan Wrote:
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> Nice series Chris. That power's sure a far cry
> from the BN SD9s that held that job about the time
> those GEs were built.
>
> Joe

When I go out along that line, my thoughts tend to wonder to what it was like back during the Milwaukee Road era. But other times, my mind wonders back to what it was like back in the 1980's with green SD9's, GP38-2s and GP20 as well.

The "white frosting" on the trees is called hoarfrost. Very nice atmospherics in those shots!

Hard to beleive come this March will be 30 years since The Milwaukee Road ran their last train over these rails.

What time does the Bayard local leave Gibson these days? Seems like it always arrived at the Amtrak station maybe mid to late morning. I don't go down to the Amtrak station much anymore and probably haven't seen that train in a couple of years. Thanks Chris. Liked your photos by the way.

Not sure on departure but it seems to come west (CB)
late afternoon. Has best assortment of 4 axle power
around.