D. E. Holmes Collection

In addition to the Iowa Central locomotives on this page
there are more photos here.

The discovery of coal in Eldora brought about the formation of the Eldora Railroad and Coal Co. The railroad first began north from Eldora to Ackley in order to connect to the Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad. After a dispute with the Ackley road a route was selected that went south to Marshalltown to connect with the Chicago Northwestern who had reached Omaha in 1867. By the time the line to Marshalltown was completed in 1870 that railroad was named the Central Railroad Company of Iowa. It eventually became the Iowa Central. (IaC) The Iowa Central was said to have poor equipment and a high turnover of men.

The 1874 logo, shown above was nicknamed the "Hook and Eye" because the sideways C looked like a hook and the large letter I was called "Eye" thus the "Hook and Eye" the employees are credited with the following jingle:

I came here broke
And it was do or die
So I hired out
On the Hook and Eye.

The Minneapolis & St. Louis and the Iowa Central merged on January 1, 1912, although they were operated as a single railroad since 1900. The M&StL was bought by the C&NW in 1960. And was itself assimilated into the Union Pacific in 1995.

Picture of an item sold on eBay in 2003

Iowa Central System Map

Edwin Hawley Letter Minneapolis to the Gulf of Mexico? A letter from 1908 written by Former Iowa Central President Edwin Hawley discussing the connectiing of 3 railroads to make a line from Iowa and Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico.

Born in 1850, Edwin Hawley was president of the M&StL from 1896 until his death in 1912 and president of the Iowa Central from 1900 to 1910. He remained the chairman of the board of the Central until the M&StL merger in 1912.

Central Iowa Railway Letter March 23, 1887 From E.L. Dudley Receiver to H.L. Huff Attorney, Eldora.

My model of a former Iowa Central steam locomotive M&StL #304

Iowa Central No. 116 Photo from D. E. Holmes Collection

The following is from A HISTORY OF THE IOWA CENTRAL RAILWAY by Don L. Hofsommer
(Don has a new book coming out soon)

From the Iowa Central Railway Annual Report 1903
1 - four wheel switcher
5 - six-wheel switcher
2 - eight-wheel switcher
15 - eight-wheel passenger 4-4-0
23 - eight-wheel freight 4-4-0
6 - eight-wheel "Mogul" engines 2-6-0
36 - ten-wheel freight engines 4-6-0
88 - total locomotives
I added the italic wheel arrangement designations. Cash

By June of 1908 the Iowa Central owned 45 pieces of passenger equipment and 2,924 freight cars consisting of box cars, furniture cars, stock cars and coal/flat cars.

In 1911 the Marshalltown roundhouse was destroyed. It was immediatly rebuilt and a new 75 foot turntable was installed.

A large number of Iowa Central trains were double headed because of the numerous hills along the lines.

Pass from one of the earlier incarnations of the Iowa Central

1884 Central Iowa Railway Co. pass.

Central Iowa Railway Letter March 23, 1887 From E.L. Dudley Receiver to H.L. Huff Attorney, Eldora.

Iowa Central 2-6-0 No. 200 Photo from Lyndon Groth Collection

From a glass negative taken in Utica NY during flood of 1901
Doug Harding Collection

Iowa Central boxcar #04492 - Click Here

Iowa Central engine #57 - Click Here

Iowa Central engine #55 - Click Here

43 IaC photos from the Vaughn Ward collection on Jim Sands Webshots page

REMARKABLE RAILWAY COLLISION IN IOWA.
Scientific American—January 3, 1891

Central Iowa Railway 4-4-0 Charles Alexander
Renumbered 104 in 1910
M&StL renumbered 160 in 1912
Built Built by Mason 11/1880 dropped by 1917
Cylinders 17"x24", Drivers 64", Steam 140psi., Weight 84000, Tractive effort 13500
Ia.C. Class D-1, M&StL Class D1-13
photo from Keith Christenson a/k/a "Alaskaloco" collection
Click here for larger photo

Photo from Dennis Holmes Collection Dated 1911 - Shows engine #421

This is from the Marshalltown Times Republican. Typed up by Dennis Holmes
Another item in the paper said it was the 92nd anniversary of the organization of the IOOF

Rolling stock was demolished, merchandise destroyed and part of a steel bridge torn down when fast freight No. 92, south bound on the Iowa Central ran off the track and went thru the bridge over the Iowa River at Steamboat Rock at 5:10 Tuesday evening. From the standpoint of property loss the wreck is one of the worst the company has had in years, but it was most fortunate in that no one was injured, and it is hard to understand how the enginemen escaped. Two spans of the bridge were torn out, and twelve empty and six loaded cars were derailed some of them being demolished and their contents badly damaged. One engine kept the track, the other hangs partly off the bridge and its tank is a wreck..

Traffic will probably be delayed for 24 hours or more. According to the trainmen the derailment of a refrigerator car, the first car in the rear of the locomotives, was the cause of the wreck. It left the track about 200 feet north of the bridge. The engine tank ahead of it was dragged off and cars following it were likewise derailed before the bridge was reached. When the derailed tank and cars struck the north end of the steel bridge over the river they displaced and then tore out the two north spans into which the derailed cars were dumped. Others were piled up along the track and right-of-way approaching the bridge.

The head locomotive stuck to the rails and crossed the two spans before they went down. The rear locomotive got part way across before the bridge was torn loose, then it partly toppled off the bridge. The enginemen jumped from their locomotives as soon as they saw that part of the train was derailed, and that it was probable that the train would go off the bridge. This accounts for their escaping injury or death.

There is no water under the north two spans of the bridge, the drop from the bridge to the river bed at this point being about 8 or 10 feet. Oscar O. Green engineer, and G. Baxter, fireman both of this city were on the head locomotive, No. 100. J. H. Benson, engineer and his fireman J.C. Carberry, were on the 421, the second locomotive.

It is estimated the train was running from 25 to 30 mph when the derailment occurred. Charles Worley, conductor, of this city was in charge of the train. The wreck presented a curious sight. A great iron girder of the bridge was run thru the locomotive tank, and an immense wooden beam was forced thru the firebox of locomotive no. 421. Among the merchandise in the debris was a car of butter and eggs, one of canned goods, one of lumber, and one of oats. Several of the empty cars were reduced to little more than kindling. The track was torn up for a distance of about 200 feet.

Upon receipt of the news of the wreck here, W. J. Fordham a conductor, who had been sent north with an extra at 3:45 o'clock was stopped at Gifford and hurried back here to take the wrecker and crew to Steamboat Rock. During the night no effort was made to get any trains but passengers thru. the trains with the heaviest equipment and engines were detoured by the way of Gifford over the Northwestern, to Webster City, and from there over the I.C. to Ackley. No. 6, the southbound night passenger, made this roundabout journey, reaching here at 9 o'clock this morning. The lighter trains were detoured by way of Eldora, the Northwestern to Iowa Falls, and the I.C. to Ackley. No 3, the northbound psgr, ran no farther than Eldora Tuesday evening. There it remained during the night returning south as No. 4 this morning. When it was announced in the northbound psgr No. 3 last night that the train would not go farther than Eldora, many passengers due for points north of there got off and remained here.

It is not known how long it will take before the wreckage is cleared and the bridge repaired sufficiently to be used, but it will probably not be before some time Thursday.

More Steamboat Rock information

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