One of the more interesting developments lately is the coming of two Chinese QJ Class 2-10-2 steam locomotives (7081 and 6988) to Iowa Interstate. Railroad Development Corporation, IAIS’s parent company, purchased these two and options for three more several months back. The pair have now arrived in the United States, having been offloaded at the Port of Houston onto flatcars. They’ll be moved across the BNSF from Houston to Rock Island, IL, where they’ll be set on IAIS rails for FRA inspections and a test run or two. BNSF’s online employee newsletter has an article about the move [here], and photos have shown up in threads on RailroadForums.com [here] and Trains.com [here]. In addition, Ed Blysard has built a gallery of photos post-unloading [here]. Update (6/13 – 1340h): Ed has given me permission to repost his photos in the new Delivery of the Chinese QJs gallery here.
If anyone photographs these units as they move north, we’d greatly appreciate any photos you’d like to contribute. My goal is to build a gallery of this very special move, along with photos from the test run. Just email iais@iaisrailfans.org if you’d like to contribute, and one of us will get back to you.
– NDH