Canadian Pacific's, former IC&E, Kansas City Sub runs between Nahant Yard and Air Line Jct in Kansas City. The CP considers their trains to be running north/south. The KC Sub is a mix of
track warrant controled ABS and CTC. I'll be covering the KC Sub between Nahant and the Ipsco switch at Montpelier. This portion of the railroad is double tracked with a mainline and industrial (slow) track. Track
warrants are given to trains on the mainline while only verbal permission is given to those on the industrial as it is governed differently. All industries are located off the industrial track. IA Rte 22 follows the tracks
all the way to Montpelier and beyond, making for an excellent chase route.
The southern yard limit board for Nahant is located at Utah Ave. The first grade crossing south is Utah Ave and this is where the
industries at Linwood begin to spring up. Down the line, you'll find: a grain facility, some sort of transload that will somtimes get open-top hoppers, a liquid asphault unloading point, and the sand quarry of LaFarge.
The #927 "Stone Train" can spend hours switching these industries, shuffling cars back and forth. The grain facility owns a blue GE 44-tonner while LaFarge owns an SW type switch engine.
The next town south of Linwood is Buffalo. A block signal is located at Buffalo and it also sports a gazebo and beach along the Mississippi River, with public access. There are a couple grain
facilities that receive cars as needed. A set of hand-throw crossovers can be found at Montpelier East. CTC begins at Montpelier, which also hosts a set of powered crossovers. The industrial ends here, but a portion of
it has been turned into a staging track for cars bound for Ipsco. About a mile south of Montpelier is the power switch for the branch that runs up to Ipsco. Trains going into Ipsco must negotiate a steep grade to get into
the plant and as a result of the branch being built in 1997, IA-22 was bridged over the branch, making for a nice perch for photographing the Ipsco turns. A detector is located on the mainline just south of the Ipsco switch
at MP 207.3.
