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Following a wild night of 65 mile an hour winds plus waking up to the sounds of pouring rain and thunder, I knew it was going to be an interesting day in my life. Enterprise Rental Car picked me up at the Depot Inn & Suites in a pouring down rain shower and we headed to Kirksville to their offices. There I received a Chevy Cobalt LS for my day of driving. I headed north up US 63 to Ottumwa, Iowa and my first stop. I went inside the Amtrak Station and a sign on the window said the train for Chicago would be here at about 2:43 PM {9:39 AM}. Behind the station was what I stopped here for.
CB&Q Steam Locomotive 3001 on display at Ottumwa, Iowa. I continued north up US 63 until I neared Oskaloosa where I took Iowa Highway 163 west. I stopped in Pella at an Arbys and Walmart. Back on 163 I took that west through two major thunderstorms to near Des Moines where I took US 65 north to Interstate 80 west to Interstate 35 north to US 30 West. I stopped for gas at a Krun & Co in Ames before driving the rest of the way to Boone. I followed the signs that took me to my next train ride.
Boone & Scenic Valley RailroadI parked the car and went inside a very crowded Depot to wait my turn to get my ticket for today's trip at 1:30 PM. With a ticket in hand, I went outside to look around.
Our train for today's trip consisted of Engine 1003, Caboose CNW 1136, Coaches BVSR 3207, 3218, Rock Island 2584, BVSR 9101, CNW Transfer Caboose Valley View 12517 and Rock Island Caboose 17051.
BSVR NW-2 1003.
Southern Pacific City of San Francisco SP 9044.
Union Pacific City of Los Angeles.
BSVR FP9A CNW 6540.
CNW Caboose 1136
South Shore Line 106.
The Valley View Open Car.
Rock Island Caboose 2584.
Rear of the excursion train.
The Water Tower.
The busy Union Pacific mainline two blocks away south of the station.
Crab Orchard and Egyptian Railroad 2-8-0 17 on display.
Fort Dodge & Des Moines 2254.
RS-1 208.
Ex Metra Electric.
Steam Engine JS 8419.
Passengers boarding the train. I boarded the Valley View.
Boone Station Board.
Boone Station Sign.
Passengers in the Valley View. We left Boone on time.
More ex South Shore Line Cars.
Passing Division Siding.
Curving out of town.
Union Pacific S-4 1098.
More stored equipment.
Kreiger Siding.
The most unique snowplow that I have ever seen, CNW XSC 28300 MWK.
Kreiger Greenhouses.
Iowa cornfields along this route.
Starting down the grade.
Looking back at a cornfield.
Through the Rock Island Caboose.
The High Bridge Sign over Bass Point Creek.
The High Bridge is 864 feet in length and 154 feet high.
A most impressive bridge.
We now start down the grade to our crossing of the Des Moines River.
The Oak Park Sign.
Crossing the Des Moines River.
The siding to the Pumpkin Patch.
Our route is now on the west side of the Des Moines River.
Through the trees the Des Moines River. The train passed some trees with some carvings on them before we crossed a road to reach Fraser Siding our turnback
point.
Fraser Siding Sign. Here the engine will run around our train.
The NW-2 running around our train at Fraser Siding. Once he had coupled up, we headed back for Boone.
The Des Moines River.
Me and my shadow riding the Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad.
Crossing the Des Moines River.
YMCA Camp.
Looking through the trees at the Des Moines River far below us.
On a fill with the water dammed below us.
Crossing the High Bridge.
The High Bridge Sign again.
Pritcher'S Crossing.
Passing by the cornfields which Iowa is known for.
More snow plows.
All too soon we were back in Boone.
The train at the Boone Station. What A fantastic trip I had on the Boone & Scenic Railroad. I thanked them for having me and made a phone call to Steve Grande before I visited the gift shop for a T-shirt and post cards. I still had one more thing to take a picture of.
The Water Tower in Boone as I walked towards the object I wanted a picture of.
Chicago and Northwestern Railway Kate Shelley Museum and Lounge Car. I fired up the air conditioning on my rental car and said goodbye to my conductor of the trip before I started back for La Plata over the same route that brought me here. I stopped for gas in Ottumwa before finishing up the drive to La Plata. I went to the Red Rooster for another Top Sirloin Dinner. Ray and Shivam from Trainweb.com stopped by for a visit and they fixed me up to be on line at hotels as the wireless connection was damaged. I did some laundry then used the Sauna Tub before calling it a night.
8/14/2007 Up early I worked on this story and learned that the Southwest Chief was running over an hour late into La Plata. I went to the store for some trip supplies before I finished up this story. Enterprise picked up my rental car at the Depot Inn as I left the keys at the front counter. Later I was driven down to the Amtrak Station ending another excellent visit to the Depot Inn & Suites in La Plata, Missouri.
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