Nostalgia & History > Maroon Monday - Off the Beaten Path tours.

Looking for something to do next weekend?  You can't do this anymore.

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Do any T.O. members remember taking this tour?

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Well, you can do this tour, I did some of it Saturday, but not by train.  The map shows
the roads through the Amanas which remain intact.  The rail lines through the area are
also intact, both ex-RI and ex-MILW, although the latter is gone south of US6 west
of Homestead.  Rail access in this area is very restricted, however, especially once 
you get west of Main Amana.  Between there and the now Yoccum Connection, you
can't get to the tracks, unless you walk the right-of-way, and I DON"T recommend that.

Interesting information.  Thanks for posting.  

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

Any idea of the date of this brochure?

No idea.  I was hoping someone on T.O. would know.

There are some clues in the brochure which narrow the date range.  Excursion operated June to September weekends and it mentions President Hoover laid to rest in October 1964.  Earliest it could have been is 1965 and probably did not make it to Amtrak days.

Prior to July, 1970, RI had passenger service across Iowa (Trains 7-10, the Cornhusker) and could have detrained passengers closer than Rock Island (e.g., Iowa City) for this tour. Conversely, Train 10 would have provided the Sunday afternoon departure to Chicago that is implied in the brochure.

Your guess is as good as mine!​

NZ​

EDIT: Re-reading the brochure, it mentions rail transportation "to Rock Island and from Davenport"...that means in all likelihood going west on Train 5-9 (Chicago-Rock Island) and return on Train 10 (after the discontinuance of the Golden State in February 1968, the only eastbound train that still served Davenport).​ I will guess that dates this brochure to no later than 1969, as 7-10 came off in July 1970.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/31/15 22:55 by NebraskaZephyr.

That's a great brochure!  Thanks for posting.  I too am curious why they operated it from the Quad Cities; maybe Butterworth's or their predecessors put it together and wanted to keep it local.  Also the river cruise might be one of the big draws. 

Andy

I spent the better part of a day at the Colonies and thoroughly enjoyed the time spent. There is a tour that allows you to visit some of the houses and other buildings. I ate at one of the restaurants and enjoyed a good meal. I also stopped in West Branch and visited the Herbert Hoover site. It was a weekday in October and I pretty much had the place to myself. 

Oh, yes, these are the folks who started the Amana brand, and Whirlpool still has a plant in the area.