IowaFarmBoy
Member
This post was inspired by memories triggered while replying to Josh's grain elevator thread. My post is disjointed because my memories of days long ago are disjointed. 
I was born in 1949 so I'm a WWII baby boomer and I have lived much of the transition era of railroading. I remember diesels in the 50s and 60s. I am saddened that I do not remember steam engines although they were running strong still when I was young. Those shiny new Es and Fs I do remember. I was especially impressed by RPOs passing through delivering and picking up mail on the fly since "our" station was a flagstop.
Some of my relatives worked on the Rock Island. I have a pair of switch locks and a key from one of them. The CNW, the Milw, WCF&N (IC), and Crandic were all here but my relatives were Rock Island men. I don't remember them but I fuzzily remember the stories. The Rock Island line north to Postville, Iowa, abandoned and removed now, is the western border of the farm we live on. It was commonly called the Pea Vine since there were many vegetable farms and canneries along it years ago.
Some 50 years ago my father repaired and upgraded the scale on the dump pit at the elevator I patronize the most. Our family back to my grandfather at least, used this elevator. We bought coal there from bins right next to the railroad track. I have been through most of that building's main floor and basement multiple times but my memory is weak on specifics. I 'helped' fill grain-loading boxcars at harvest time. I remember the car puller and then the upgrade to a farm tractor to move the cars. I loved that because that tractor had a loader and we didn't have to fill Grandpa's 53 Chevy pickup by hand any more. That coal sure did make the house warm in winter though.
I was born in 1949 so I'm a WWII baby boomer and I have lived much of the transition era of railroading. I remember diesels in the 50s and 60s. I am saddened that I do not remember steam engines although they were running strong still when I was young. Those shiny new Es and Fs I do remember. I was especially impressed by RPOs passing through delivering and picking up mail on the fly since "our" station was a flagstop.
Some of my relatives worked on the Rock Island. I have a pair of switch locks and a key from one of them. The CNW, the Milw, WCF&N (IC), and Crandic were all here but my relatives were Rock Island men. I don't remember them but I fuzzily remember the stories. The Rock Island line north to Postville, Iowa, abandoned and removed now, is the western border of the farm we live on. It was commonly called the Pea Vine since there were many vegetable farms and canneries along it years ago.
Some 50 years ago my father repaired and upgraded the scale on the dump pit at the elevator I patronize the most. Our family back to my grandfather at least, used this elevator. We bought coal there from bins right next to the railroad track. I have been through most of that building's main floor and basement multiple times but my memory is weak on specifics. I 'helped' fill grain-loading boxcars at harvest time. I remember the car puller and then the upgrade to a farm tractor to move the cars. I loved that because that tractor had a loader and we didn't have to fill Grandpa's 53 Chevy pickup by hand any more. That coal sure did make the house warm in winter though.
