Western Railroad Discussion > BNSF at Creston IA 4 20 24

Saturday April 20th was the NRHS Iowa Chapter Spring Meet at Creston, IA which has been a long time division point on the BNSF(before that BN and CB&Q). There were 20 in attendance and the Union Co Historical Group gave a great program about the railroad and the history of the Creston Depot. Plus there were a few trains as well. 

1. Sand train getting a crew change. 
2. Empty hopper arriving in town 
3. MLINGAL getting out of town from US 34.  

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4, Another MLINGAL arriving 
5 and 6: A 5 hour late California Zephyr. 

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After our meeting
7. Empty headed for Lincoln 
8. EB Coal for the CPKC at Ottumwa stopped for a new crew. 
9. Power for the local. 

There were 3 ballast trains in the yard there. From what I was told there is undercutting going on between Creston and Pacific Jct. 

Thats all. Thank you for looking. 

MILW86A 

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This is pretty neat ! Creston is our son's home terminal. Lincoln is his away terminal.

Posted from Android

Do trains still struggle to make it into Creston?  It seems like back in BN Days the trains had a hard time with the hill.

Dave

trainman Wrote:
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> This is pretty neat ! Creston is our son's home
> terminal. Lincoln is his away terminal.

Glad to read that, Trainman. In my working days, Creston comes to mind because we "almost"
encountered a Tornado there, while I was working the CA Zephyr #5 WB. The local warning Sirens were
blazing. We were On Time at Creston that night. We worked the platform and got the heck out of there! 
The actual Tornado was only a mile or two away from our Train, we heard later. 
 

RSD5 Wrote:
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> Do trains still struggle to make it into
> Creston?  It seems like back in BN Days the
> trains had a hard time with the hill.
>
> Dave

To my knowledge no. Without looking at a profile, Balfour Hill east of Glenwood IA , Whitebreast Hill west of Chariton, Albia Hill, and Agency Hill east of Ottumwa are some of more challenging grades across Iowa on the BNSF. 
MILW86A 

MILW86A Wrote:
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> RSD5 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Do trains still struggle to make it into
> > Creston?  It seems like back in BN Days the
> > trains had a hard time with the hill.
> >
> > Dave
>
> To my knowledge no. Without looking at a profile,
> Balfour Hill east of Glenwood IA , Whitebreast
> Hill west of Chariton, Albia Hill, and Agency Hill
> east of Ottumwa are some of more challenging
> grades across Iowa on the BNSF. 
> MILW86A 

From memory I think Red Oak is steeper than Balfour but a bit shorter and has a good run up to it unlike Balfour. Unit trains run nearly identical power and there are HPT requirements for both directions so short of losing a motor it's uncommon to have issues under normal conditions. Wet rail or snow might be an occasional exception. I have had to push a conventional 2x0 load years ago up Balfour when the 2nd motor tripped a ground relay fault even after it was reset. They couldn't get it started but that was also during a blizzard.