Category: Uncategorized

This morning, 14-Aug-2008, Iowa Interstate and RRDC issued a press release announcing that once again, Railroad Development Corporation’s two Chinese 2-10-2 QJ-class steam engines will run on passenger excursions on IAIS. On October 18 and 19, a series of different runs will be made between Iowa City and Silvis, IL. All proceeds from the events…

Iowa Interstate has placed an order for its first new motive power – a set of twelve 4400 horsepower, AC-traction General Electric ES44ACs. The units are being purchased to handle new traffic anticipated to come online in 2009, as well as for both for fuel and maintenance savings. All twelve are anticipated to be on…

Another IAIS SD38-2 has arrived via the IC&E – IAIS 156. Having gone through some maintenance, upgrades, and repainting at Mid-America Car in Kansas City, MO, 156 should be interchanged to the Iowa Interstate at Davenport either today or tomorrow. 157, the next SD38-2 bound for IAIS, is still reportedly at MAC in Kansas City….

In the last two months, the Iowa Interstate roster has undergone yet more changes. IAIS 250, the road’s only true switch engine, has been sold to Patriot Renewable Fuels in Annawan, IL. It’ll serve as the plant switcher for this new ethanol plant, and won’t be far from home rails, as Iowa Interstate provides the…

After being hosted from a computer at my house (or in my dorm room, or in the corner of an ISU lab) for the last ten years, the Unofficial Iowa Interstate site has finally moved to a real web hosting firm. The result should be a faster, more stable site with plenty of room to…

IAIS received its newest addition to the motive power fleet last week when the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern delivered slug 650 to the Davenport interchange. Slugs are units with no diesel engine or generator of their own, only traction motors and a lot of weight. They’re paired with another unit for power. This allows the…

For those of you on the west end, the two Chinese QJ-class 2-10-2s are moving your way under power. They were steamed up yesterday, and after leaving Newton in the late afternoon, made it as far as Booneville. As of 0745h Saturday morning, they were still in Booneville. While no one has provided official details…

Joe Atkinson announced this morning on the IAIS list that all of the original GP38 600s – save 601 – will be leaving the roster shortly. That means you have about a month to get any remaining shots of 600, 602, 603, and 604 that you may need. 601 will be staying on to become…

IAIS has leased two more units – GMTX 2668 and GMTX 2672. Both are apparently GP40s that have been rebuilt without turbochargers, essentially turning them into GP38-2s. The two made their way north via Canadian National from Paducah, KY, to the Cedar Rapids CRANDIC interchange. The pair can be seen at the start of their…

Iowa Interstate has filed with the Surface Transportation Board for permission to acquire 100% ownership of the Lincoln & Southern Railroad. The L&S is a railroad on paper only – it was created by BF Goodrich to save the portion of the Peoria line from Henry, IL, as a second connection to their Henry chemical…