Ghost Trains from the Past
By jimrob | May 19, 2008
My home sets a mere half block from where the former Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad passed through Centerville, Iowa. Looking out my back door, I can still see where the grade of the departed railroad curves from it’s generally Southeastern direction, passes by a cement plant and auto parts store, and makes a wide, sweeping turn to head due south for two miles before returning to it’s original heading.
As I sat here this evening, I heard a ghostly sound that rarely makes its way to my home. The sound of an Iowa Chicago and Eastern freight train passing fifteen miles north. I only hear it when weather conditions such as very low ceilings or other such events conducive to the reflection and transmission of sound exist.
Tonight it was as loud as I’d ever heard it before. With remorse, I thought this must be what it was like when The Rock passed nearby. I envisioned this sound as being the trumpet call of an incoming freight train hauling grain, autos, or whatever other cargo the CRI&P would be handling this day, had it not succumbed to bankruptcy in 1979.
I rose from my chair and went out to stand on my patio. The sound outside the house was incredible. Not only could I hear the undulating pulse of the turbo-charged engines of the IC&E, but I could even hear the steel wheels of the train’s cars clacking and banging on jointed rails.
The train’s horn sounded as it approached a distant crossing. So loud was this noise that I half expected the train’s headlamp to begin illuminating the the Ideal Ready-Mix plant, and then the North side of NAPA Auto Parts. What would the show be tonight? Would the Rock have a rag-tag lashup of faded and beat-up SD units, or would tonight’s consist be lead by a brand-new EMD SD70MAC locomotive?
Alas, I will never know. The Rock’s bankruptcy caused this rail to be ripped from its bed thirty years ago. Even had that not happened, I realized, the mainline had been relocated South of town and the grade I tearfully imagined a passing freight train on had been relegated to local spur status in the late 1940’s.
As I stood there listening to the sound of tonight’s MKCSP head to Ottumwa, I wondered, as I often do, just why the many railroads that once traversed this part of Iowa no longer exist. As if in answer to my silent question, a low-flying jet passed overhead and obliterated the train’s sound. When the noise of the jet faded away, I observed with much sadness that the sound of the train was gone as well. Much like the rail from the grade and the trains to the past.
Topics: Trains |
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