Midwest Central Railroad

The Midwest Central Railroad is a narrow gauge heritage railroad operating on the grounds of the Midwest Old Thresher's Reunion in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. The railroad is a non-profit organization operated by volunteers mainly from the Midwest. The track is a clockwise loop approximately 1 mile in length. It features 2 stations, one being an original station and the other being a new wood structured metal sided building.

Locomotives

1923 Lima #9.

1951 Henschel #16.

MCRR Baldwin Mogul Number-6 001

Baldwin 2-6-0, dismantled, awaiting restoration.

The Midwest Central has five steam locomotives: three are currently running, one is in need of a new boiler and is going through a complete restoration, and the other rolls around the yard rusting and needing work. Some of the steam locomotives have been featured in several films.

• #6 is a 2-6-0 made by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1891 that came from Argent Lumber of South Carolina along with #2. It is the flagship locomotive which just came back to operation in September 2010 after going through a complete boiler overhaul.
• #9 is a Class C (3-truck) Shay locomotive made by Lima Locomotive Works in 1923 and came from West Side Lumber Company of California. In January, 2011, the MCRR and the Georgetown Loop Railway entered into a 7 to 10 year agreement where the 9 will be refurbished by and reside at the GLRR (where her West Side sisters #8, #12 & #14 previously operated). There are ongoing negotiations regarding exchanging the #9 with GLRR's 2-6-2, #12.
• #16 is an 0-4-0 made by Henschel of Germany in 1951 and is the only coal burning locomotive on the Midwest Central.
• #2 is a 2-6-0 made by Baldwin in 1906 that came with #6 from Argent Lumber of South Carolina. #2 ran for many years before it was discovered it needed a new boiler and has been waiting for funding since. A new boiler was ordered but the delivery date of the finished product is unknown.
• #1 is a Mexican 2-8-0 that has been in need of repair for many years.

There are also two Plymouth diesel locomotives that came from Ohio. These were originally 38 inch gauge and were regauged to 36 inch gauge after arrival in Mt. Pleasant. The 14 is used on a regular basis while the D-9 is undergoing restoration. They have a gasoline powered Vulcan switcher. There is also a Model A and Model T fireman and foreman trucks.

Railroad Cars

The railroad built their passengers cars from flat car frames that they made into passenger cars. They also have 3 cabooses one is a metal construction from the White Pass and Yukon, another is of a wood construction from the Bellevue and Cascade in Iowa and the third was homebuilt by scaling up a model caboose to full size.

See also

• List of heritage railroads in the United States

External links

• Railroad's website