Right, the F units made it across before the bridge collapsed. Sorry for the confusion -- the Spoon River bridge wasn't the one I was told had to be kept open, it was the Mississippi River bridge at Keokuk (my mention of it was only a P.S. relevant to rail service in the Keokuk area near the Depot).

That Mississippi bridge had some damage from a derailment a few years ago, but the city had it repaired. I was given to understand recently that they had to do it, rather than get rid of it, because the DoT (or some agency) insisted on keeping that rail crossing over the Mississippi. However, my comment about it wasn't entirely irrelevant to the Spoon River situation, because the Keokuk bridge might not do much good unless the line through to the Peoria area would remain intact. There are only two other connections between Keokuk and the Spoon River bridge, one at La Harpe where the old TP&W goes to a connection with the BNSF Transcon at Lomax (only back west in the direction of Fort Madison) and the other with the BNSF line at Bushnell (coming from Galesburg and splitting south of Bushnell for Quincy and Kansas City, or for southern Illinois). So I assume the value of the Keokuk bridge as a Mississippi crossing is limited pretty much to traffic headed for Peoria, through the Spoon River bridge site. I suspect Pioneer would want to replace the bridge; some of those trains to the Peoria area can run up to 50 or more cars, mostly corn products (syrup, screenings, steepwater) from Roquette plus wheels from Griffin Wheel in Keokuk. It will be interesting to see how that traffic is handled in the near future. (I should add, I'm a Pioneer Railcorp stockholder -- I own all of 37 shares!)

I see someone in Iowa has a depot bench for sale ($1K), though it's different from and not as nice as the original Keokuk benches.

Thanks, can you email me details in a PM, rleonard@railarchive.net ?

Of further note regarding the collapse of the Spoon River bridge, the KJRY is still running out of Keokuk as far as Bushnell, where there is an ADM dogfood plant. Between Keokuk and Bushnell there are also several elevators (such as Burnside, La Harpe and Blandinsville) plus a fertilizer business at McCall, that are online customers. I have seen mention of the KJRY's intent to rebuild the Spoon River bridge, which is logical since their recently built shop at La Harpe is now cut off from the east end of their operation. The Illinois EPA is making things difficult for the railroad, but no doubt those issues will eventually be resolved. Corn syrup spilled into the Spoon River deprived fish of oxygen, but most of the fish that died were invasive Asian carp which the EPA wants to get rid of anyway. Hopefully reason will eventually prevail.

The Depot has received a $14K grant from the Questers for interior woodwork renovation. Read the article in the Keokuk Daily Gate City: http://www.dailygate.com/news/article_c22099bc-e290-11e3-8e40-001a4bcf887a.html

Also, the Keokuk Junction Railway reopened the Spoon River Bridge on May 21; see YouTube video by David Jordan as F units break the ribbon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6MnkPPWmks

Congratulations!

These Keokuk Junction F units are really nicely painted, but they sure do need a herald painted on their nose! Pioneer Railcorp uses a diamond herald with a circle according to their website. What could it cost to paint a herald on these two units? Maybe the boys at the Keokuk Union Depot could donate just a little of their time to do the painting, and get a bit of free publicity for the Union Depot as a by-product of their efforts.

Les

I think the Pioneer Railcorp people would be the ones to receive your interesting suggestion, Les. I am sure the KJRY La Harpe shop guys are more skilled at diesel painting than our Depot crew would be! We never see the F units in Keokuk; normally they only run as far west from the Peoria area as Good Hope, where they exchange trains with the GP20 units that run out of Keokuk. Thanks for your interest in our project, and we also follow your progress at HVRM.

This thread concentrates on developments with the Depot building itself. There is another thread devoted to the "Depot 125" Capital Campaign to raise the $1M to replace and restore the roof: http://www.rypn.org//forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=36763.

As a teaser, here's a model (in O-scale) that has been created that depicts the projected restoration. The roof is removable to reveal interior details. (The existing, shingled roof is in the shelf behind.)

To promote interest in the restoration of the Depot, the Keokuk Union Depot Foundation is running a series of articles in local media about the railroad history of Keokuk. Today's (December 24, 2014) DAILY GATE CITY carries an article about the last time a steam locomotive operated in Keokuk (CB&Q 4960).
http://www.dailygate.com/news/article_5e4d4458-8b7d-11e4-9528-935afaabce1f.html

Work began in August 2015 on restoring the eaves and decorative brackets around the waiting room area, and also on extending the chimney to its original height. These projects are part of the two-thirds matching campaign to secure the $333,000 Jeffris Foundation grant, but are being financed by a grant from the State Historical Society of Iowa, Historical Resource Development Program.

THE HAWK EYE (Burlington, Iowa) had an article on the project on October 9, 2015:
http://www.thehawkeye.com/news/local/work-continues-on-the-union-depot-in-keokuk/article_9834334f-5e94-5f0c-81cd-0d3706c52735.html

The Keokuk DAILY GATE CITY ran this article on October 8, 2015:

The chimney has been restored to its original height and capped, and the scaffolding has been removed. Also, the refinished decorative brackets are being put back in position now that masonry repairs to their sockets have been competed. The brackets are attached to the roof support beams (some of which have been replaced or reinforced). Restoring the soffit will be the next step. The eaves work is being done around the waiting room area only (upriver side). The chimney and eaves restoration project is supported in part by the State Historical Society of Iowa, Historical Resource Development Program.

New bead boards, finished in faux oak wood grain, are now being installed to form the soffit over the decorative brackets. December 2015 photo by John Miller.

Richard -

Thanks for keeping us posted on progress.


Les

As the Keokuk Union Depot Foundation nears its goal of raising $1M to restore the roof, scaffolding has just gone up around the former central tower. The leveled-off (c1950) section will be rebuilt to accept a newly constructed apex, restoring the Depot roof 22 feet to its original height. The apex will be built on the ground and hoisted into place, probably in September.

The Keokuk DAILY GATE CITY carried this article about the central tower project, and the nearing of the fund-raising goal, on July 6, 2016.

http://www.dailygate.com/news/article_e73dd080-4390-11e6-b355-0bb14b4544ff.html