Grinnell, Iowa
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Do you have any railroad information about Grinnell, Iowa?If you have any photos or other information relating to Grinnell, IA
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This is from the May 1958 Switch Lamp, publication of
the Iowa Chapter NRHS Between 1935 and 1937, I was enrolled at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, which gave me a chance to enjoy some extra-curricular railranning in that area. In those days I knew nothing about railrans, but railroads interested me greatly. As my home was in Omaha, I had a chance to take the Rock Island trains to and from home occasionally, or just to Des Moines for the train ride. Intersecting the Rock Island main line at Grinnell was the M&StL which ran through the campus. Their trains could be seen from certain classroom windows, and the afternoon "Doodlebug" bound for Marshalltown passed during my economics class. No doubt the professor had occasion to wonder what the attraction outside the window could be at a certain time each afernoon. One Saturday I passed up an important social event to ride the motor train to Marshalltown, returning on the south-bound motor a short time later. My explanation of wanting to ride the train to Marshalltwon must have labelled me as a screwball of the first water to those who felt a student rally was infinitely more important than a train ride. The passenger station was adjacent to the intersection of the Rock Island and the M&StL tracks which crossed at grade. Near the station was a small tavern called the B. of R. T. Just why it had been given this name (which, of course stands for Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen) escapes me. However, one day a fellow student who must certainly have been a railfan composed the following poetic gem about it: There's a place called the B of R T Where the hoggers can violate rule G For it's near, so they tell To the M&StL;And also the CRI&P; Whether or not any hoggers ever violated Rule G there is not a matter of record but that immortal verse clung to memory, while the great works of literature learned at Grinnell have vanished from mind. |
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