These guys get into Silvis anywhere from 5:00 to 7:00 a.m. and also make a set-out and a possible pick-up before heading west. Typically they try to make CBBI and BICB meet just east of Iowa City yard limits near First Av- enue in town, but that doesn’t always work. Otherwise, there are four sidings that can be used between Rock Island and Iowa City; from east to west they are Walcott, Twin States (east of Wilton), North Star (west of Wilton), and West Liberty. After CBBI departs Iowa City and makes its meet with the west train, it will continue on east into Rock Island. It may work the CP interchange at Tay- lor Street in Davenport, Iowa, before
crossing the Government Bridge into Illinois. Once on the Illinois side, it will traverse the jointly owned single track called the BN Industrial Track from 44th Street in Rock Island, to 7th Street in East Moline. The BN indus- trial track is owned by BNSF with both CP and IAIS granted trackage rights. Once on its home rails again at 7th Street, it’s only a couple miles or so un- til it reaches Silvis Yard. Once at Silvis, the train performs an abundance of switching maneuvers, re-blocking the train
for the east, and setting out ethanol or grain blocks for other jobs or extras, usually killing most of the day- light. Once work is complete, the New- ton crew will forward the train just east
of Silvis to Carbon Cliff siding, where they will tie the train down, and await a Silvis recrew to take the train the re- mainder of the way to Blue Island un- der the cover of darkness. The SI crew is normally called between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m., so like many other trains on IAIS, the long days of summer are ideal. Backtracking toward Iowa City, if you wish to follow CBBI west, the same kind of terminal work is performed as the East train does before departing Iowa City. Usually heading west around lunchtime or a little later, it’s pretty much a straight shot to Newton where the train will be tied down, and await a new Newton based crew that comes on duty at 5:00 p.m. to take the train west to Council Bluffs under the cover of darkness.
After both the east and west trains have cleared and the ICRI turn has made it into Iowa City, a new Silvis turn crew will come on duty to forward the Crandic traffic to Silvis. Usually on duty in early afternoon at IC, this turn is a good candidate for the long days of summer. Making it into Illinois in the mid-afternoon,
if the swapping of trains takes place in a timely manner,
LEFT: Iowa Interstate 2-10-2’s 6988 and 7081 double head an ICRI (Iowa City-Rock Island) photo freight passed the restored West Liberty depot in fine fashion on October 18, 2008. BELOW: Stricken by the blizzard of 2011, the IAIS was forced to use the only two units they had at their Burr Oak Yard to pow- er a 100 car extra BISI three days after the storm, making for a rare daylight westbound, seen here near Joliet, Ill., on February 12, 2011.
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