Nostalgia & History > DRI-LINE Caboose hop ready to go north with 3 SW,s!

In 1986 I caught up with this caboose hop ready to depart Bettendorf IA northbound to pickup a ballast train. Was suprised to see an MNS caboose on the train but this was after the SOO-MILW merger. I missed the orange ALCOS and cussed the white SW,s but they sure look good now! 

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I was in Rock Island to audition for a small music scholarship at Augustana college during high school, and I was able to discover the DRI&NW purely by blissful accident.  I went through that part of town more recently and it looked like there was no trace of anything I had seen in the area.  IIRC I remember going out to eat after some fanning in downtown Rock Island, so this must have been near downtown, like by the Blue Cat Brew Pub or RIBCO or something like that.  Was there a small yard that got torn up?  Were the assets divided up between Soo/CP and BNSF or were they totally absorbed by one or the other?  Did the line have a lot of its own trackage?  If so, were a lot of tracks removed later on?  What became of the engines? I'm aware that at least one ended up at the Illinois Railway Museum.  The little info I could Google wasn't very thorough, so I be grateful for a little help.  Thank you.  

BTW great photo.  

The DRI Line was 50-50 owned by the MILW and Q(BN). Its last year of operation as an independant was 1995. 

I would recommend getting Burlington Bulletin Issue 49 that covers the DRI Line from a Q Persepective. 30.00 and you can order it from the BRHS. Well worth it. 

MILW86A 

The Dri-Line was split up in 1995.  There was a small yard (3-tracks today) and office in downtown Rock Island under the Centennial Bridge and the small yard and office in Bettendorf.  A larger yard and roundhouse was located near downtown Davenport, under the Centennial Bridge, but it is all gone today.  When the Dri-Line roundhouse was removed, they used the MILW/SOO/CP roundhouse at Nahant Yard.  The Dri-Line owned the Crescent Bridge, the line from Davenport to Clinton and its own line from Rock Island to East Moline.  In the split, CP took all of the Iowa trackage and BNSF took the Crescent Bridge all of the Illinois trackage, including what was left of the MILW-owned Nitrin Branch to Cordova, however, CP/IC&E/DM&E continued to operate to Cordova.  The IC&E/DM&E eventually bought the Nitrin Branch back from the BNSF.  The locomotives went to CP with the exception of DRI 121 which went to IRM and was repainted back to its original CBQ paint and number.

The MNS caboose pictured above was eventually patched, but never fully repainted.

Erik

Here is a photo of their # 620 at Davenport, Iowa in June 1983

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