Saturday, December 4, 2010

Weekend Steam: Winter In Southeast Iowa


Mt. Pleasant, Iowa draws steam enthusiasts even in December, when the Midwest Central Railroad hosts the "North Pole Express."  I just checked the North Pole Express page, and all the scheduled rides are sold out for this Christmas season.  Click here to have a look at photos from 2008, and watch for info about 2011.  Evidently, you must sign up well in advance to have a seat.  Steam and railfans are welcome to come and watch Number 9 pull the train around, and if you get lucky, you may get some video of the train running in snow.
The above video was posted courtesy of steamairman, one of the many volunteers who make this railroad run.

3 comments:

Hobie said...

How come they have a White Pass caboose on that train? Well, it is almost the correct color scheme. Is there another White Pass RR? I've ridden the White Pass from Carcross to Skagway. http://www.joeordonez.com/pics/train.jpg

David aka True Blue Sam said...

Hobie: The MCRR picked up this caboose around 1990, according to their website: http://www.mcrr.org/PAGES/cabooseMain.html

I heard at the time how it happened to come to Iowa, but I have managed to forget> I will send out an inquiry to my uncle who volunteers at MCRR.

David aka True Blue Sam said...

Hobie: I received a reply to my info search! "White Pass caboose. It was gifted to MCRR from a benefactor who was very interested and supportive of the RR. He was able to buy the caboose, I assume at the time of the break-up of the White Pass RR in Alaska. He donated it to MCRR. In addition to this, he purchased two Henschel engines and donated both of these to MCRR. One of these engines was not repairable due to having bullet holes through the boiler from World War II."

Donors and volunteers have been extremely important to make this little railroad work.