The Rock Island Railroad:  

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​Its predecessor, the Rock Island and La Salle Railroad Company, was incorporated in Illinois on February 27, 1847, and an amended charter was approved on February 7, 1851, as the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad. Construction began in Chicago on October 1, 1851, and the first train was operated on October 10, 1852, between Chicago and Joliet. Construction continued on through La Salle, and Rock Island was reached on February 22, 1854, becoming the first railroad to connect Chicago with the Mississippi River.

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At the end of 1970, it operated 7,183 miles of road on 10,669 miles of track; that year it reported 20,557 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 118 million passenger miles.      Wikipedia

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The Union Pacific is one of many ABC railroads.  It began circa 1872.  The first four towns of the ABC railroad are in Thayer County and they are each over 140 years old.

 

Towns along the rail are:

 

Alexandria, Belvidere, Carleton, Davenport, Edgar, Fairfield, Glenvil, Hastings, Ingleside, Juniata, Kenesaw.

Lowell would have been next in the same direction, but the rail turned southward and went to Heartwell and then Minden.

 

The UNION PACIFIC is the largest track network in the world, made up of over 32,000 miles of track. 

 

The trains passing through often have over 100 cars and can be well over a mile long.

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In 1927 when school children went down to the track to see one of the first trains.  The engine was a 1916, and it carried relics of the past, including items related to Abraham Lincoln.

  “ The Bruning Banner  2/3/1927 “

 

In April 1934 School was let out again to watch a train. This time a new diesel streamliner train, with Alcoa Pullman Cars, slowly passed by a the huge crowd.

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On May 28th. 2011 nearly 500 people showed up to watch the UP 844 steamer make a 15 minute stop.

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In August of 2021, a 1941 Big-Boy Steamer, number 4014, stopped while on a tour, and over 500 people came to see it.