Western Railroad Discussion > Bridges of Iowa City

Back on October 10, we drove out to Iowa City to visit our oldest child who is a sophmore at University of Iowa. As this was a family trip, trains were not on the agenda. With the great weather, we decided to walk along the Iowa River. There are two railroads that cross the Iowa River, the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City and the Iowa Interstate.
Photos 1 and 2 are of the CRANDIC bridge over the river and photo 3 is the CRANDIC bridge over Iowa Avenue. 

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Last photo is of the Iowa Interstate's ex-Rock Island bridge.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/20 17:31 by kevink.

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Anyone know the last time a train when across either of those CRANDIC bridges? My son graduated from there last year and that line had a lot of rust and other debris on it making it look dormant for a very long time. Too bad as that would be a great location for a student rail fan to go to school with that line still active.

Thankfully the Iowa Interstate seems pretty active and in excellent shape these days.

 Crandic bases a switcher/slug set in Hills, and as needed (once or twice a week) a crew drives down from Cedar Rapids to serve Hills and North Liberty.  All traffic is delivered to/from IAIS at Iowa City. When Crandic runs to North Liberty they cross the bridges shown in these nice photos.

The low clearance bridge in the photo with the Old Capitol in the background has claimed more than one overheight vehicle. One day I was walking home from classes under that bridge when a large dump truck tried to fit under.  The loud crash was easy to hear even over the Walkman (yes, I am old) earphones in my ears.

Milwaukee Wrote:
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> Anyone know the last time a train when across
> either of those CRANDIC bridges?

My friend Barry from Iowa City caught Crandic's North Liberty job going over them on Sunday or Monday. 

Here they are, photos by Barry Anderson.

Andy



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/20 05:13 by AndyBrown.

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Thanks, Andy.  that's the real trick these days; actually catching a train on the Crandic bridges.  It's easier on the Iowa Interstate bridge but still if you sit, you can have a long, unrewarding wait.  

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

Thank you for sharing the CRANDIC run over those bridges. I knew they ran south of Iowa City but didn't know they still ran north.