Exhibit, opening ceremonies focus on Eastern Iowa’s vital rail history
Diana Nollen
Judy Garland’s heartstrings weren’t the only ones going zing, zing, zing at the clang, clang, clang of the trolley. Plenty of riders on the rails passing through the Center Point Depot heard that siren song, as well.
Historian David Wendell of Marion still hears it.
“The trolleys were the Fords, Chevys and Chryslers of their time,” Wendell said in announcing his opening program for the exhibit “Swing and Sway: 170 Years of Railroading in Iowa.” Pieces from his private collection are the hub of what’s being billed as “the largest model railroad layout in Eastern Iowa,” on view through October at the Center Point Historical Society and Museum Depot.
Wendell will deliver the keynote address, “Rail Trails: Trains and Interurbans in Iowa,” during opening ceremonies at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023, at Center Point’s depot museum, 700 Washington St.
If you go
What: “Swing and Sway: 170 Years of Railroading in Iowa”
Where: Center Point Historical Society Museum Depot, 700 Washington St., Center Point
Opening program: “Rail Tales: Trains and Interurbans in Iowa,” free discussion by historian David Wendell of Marion, with a Q&A on area railroad history
When: 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023
Exhibit: Model trains and historical photos on display Aug. 13 through October
Hours: 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday; by appointment Monday to Saturday
Admission: Free
Information: thecpchs.com/
“Just as we go to work or escape for fun in our automobiles today, the trolleys were the only way to quickly get to visit a distant relative or shop in a department store, or spend a day on vacation,” Wendell said. “They were as vital as our cars are to us now.”
And he noted Center Point had the second-largest interurban trolley line in Iowa, as well as “the legendary Rock Island and Illinois Central railroads, two of the largest rail lines in the legacy of American transportation.”
During his years living in Chicago and Washington, D.C., Wendell said he rode the electric subway trains every day, so he feels a connection with the trolley riders of yore.
“Except that I got to ride in air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter — and they did not.”
The exhibit, honoring the 170th anniversary of Iowa’s first railroad, also commemorates “Iowa’s legacy of more than 10,000 miles of track in its role as the rail crossroads of America,” according to a news release.
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The display will include rare vintage photos dating to the 1850s, capturing the elegant passenger trains and vital freight lines that ran through Iowa, connecting the country from east to west and north to south. Also in the spotlight is Iowa’s electric interurban trolley system, including the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway, marking its 120th anniversary this year, and the Waterloo Cedar Falls and Northern, which the Center Point depot served for more than 50 years.
The exhibit showcases 30 HO and O scale models from every Class I major railroad that crossed the state, including the Rock Island, Illinois Central, Burlington Lines, Chicago Milwaukee St. Paul, and Chicago Northwestern, Wendell said.
“It also highlights the lesser known lines, such as the Iowa Interstate; Waterloo Cedar Falls and Northern; and the Burlington Cedar Rapids and Northern railroads,” he added.
Wall murals surrounding the display will provide close-up views of details and color schemes, and little passengers can hop aboard the “Pointer Express” on the Little Tykes railroad, and take home a free train whistle.
Linn and Black Hawk counties were “critical links” connecting rail lines coast to coast and north to south, Wendell added, creating “a steady and reliable avenue of commerce. John Deere and Quaker Oats relied on them every day.”
The Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway, more commonly known as the CRANDIC line, carried as many as half a million passengers between those two cities every year, Wendell noted, many of whom were Hawkeye fans wanting to get to a game and back in one day.
He also said the Center Point Depot, now a museum, sparked him to dig into its history.
“When I found out this used to be a trolley line powered by electricity, I was shocked,” he said. “I thought only major cities had such mass transit lines.”
He wants others to discover the connections between past and present.
“It is my hope that the public will come to see this exhibit, by bike or car, and gain an understanding of what transportation was like for their ancestors,” he said.
And as Garland sang in “Meet Me in St. Louis,” maybe they’ll even “lose a jolly hour on the trolley.”