Restoration of the tile roof of the Keokuk Union Depot was completed on October 8, 2018, with the tiling of the two hips over the waiting room. While most of the building's roof had been completed in 2017, these two hips could not be finished at that time due to a delay in receiving tiles of the correct angle for the hip corners or the roof ridges over the waiting room.

The tile replaces a worn shingled roof, which replaced the original 1891 tiled roof around 1950. At that time the central tower was also cut down. The bottom photo shows the Depot in 2011, before restoration efforts began. The central tower was restored to its original height in 2016, when a reconstructed apex was lifted to the top of the building and gables and turrets were constructed.

The Depot's restoration has been undertaken by the non-profit Keokuk Union Depot Foundation, which raised around $1,300,000.00 in a two-year capital campaign with the help of a $333,000 challenge grant from the Jeffris Family Foundation. Other grants came from the the State Historical Society of Iowa Historical Resource Development Program and other national and local sources. Restoric LLC of Chicago managed the project. A future project is restoration of the train shed (platform umbrella), shown in the second photo.

The Depot is a popular venue for Keokuk community events including concerts, weddings, receptions, baby and bridal showers, class reunions, and anniversary parties. For more information about the restoration project and the Depot's history, visit the web site at https://www.keokukuniondepot.org.

The trackage in front of the Depot, originally serving passenger trains of the Burlington Route and other railroads serving Keokuk, is used for car storage and maintenance by Pioneer Railcorp (Keokuk Junction Railway), which conveyed the building to the City of Keokuk in 2011.

Congratulations, Richard!
You have a lot to be proud of, and it is nice to hear that the community has embraced this restoration effort with use of a very interesting building.

I hope one day an excursion with vintage coaches could depart from your platform, if just for a special event.
Regards,
Olin

Richard -

Fantastic job! The folks in Keokuk should really be proud.

Les

That looks spectacular!

The Depot has a short piece of stub track (not connected to the rail network) on which we would like to display some piece of rolling stock, especially a caboose or maybe a boxcar. We do not have funds to buy anything like that, but if any museum or organization has equipment you would like to de-accession by giving it away, that can be transported to Keokuk, Iowa at reasonable cost, we would be interested in knowing about it. (Please, no tank cars or covered hoppers -- there are plenty of those in front of the Depot as a result of the Keokuk Junction Railway's operations!)

Absolutely stunning! Keep up the great work.

Hear Hear! I visited the depot in 1980 behind NKP 765 on the TP&W from Peoria (765 had mechanical problems and it was a long day).

The depot was once served by trolleys, here is one of them after Keokuk closed its streetcar line and it ended up on Georgia Power Co. I assume it was scrapped but a replica would be neat (and expensive I understand). By the way what is this type of car (St Louis Car Co ca. 1920) called, with the sort of cantilevered operator's station:

Richard - I seem to recall a boxcar not far from your area, that I pointed out to you back when the Keokuk Union Depot restoration was first starting and a thread was begun on RyPN. The older I get, the worse my memory gets, but I seem to recall it was from a railroad that served Iowa, and perhaps KUS itself! The car may now be long gone. Anyway, I wish you luck in finding a suitable car to display. BTW, how long is that stub track?


Les

I don't know the exact length, but the stub track is long enough to hold a Pullman (formerly held the parlor car "Chief Keokuck," former Wabash car now at NOPB under another name). See the photo on this page: https://www.keokukuniondepot.org/history.html

Regarding trolleys, I thought of that but they ran on the street railway, not on Depot trackage (except when used in tourist service with a portable generator by the old Keokuk Junction operation). Still, to have a former Keokuk trolley would be great, if available!

Regarding the 765, did it actually run into Keokuk? If so, I would like to get photos of it because it must have been the last steam engine to operate here (instead of the CB&Q 4960).

[quote="rlsteam"]I don't know the exack length, but the stub track is long enough to hold a Pullman (formerly held the parlor car "Chief Keokuck," former Wabash car now at NOPBT under another name). See the photo on this page: [url]https://www.keokukuniondepot.org/history.html[/url][/quote]


NKP 765 operated between East Peoria and La Harpe where it was turned and serviced. A pair of TP&W GP38-2s powered the train between La Harpe and Keokuk and return.

NOPBT?

Interestingly, this photo on the page you listed shows a Zephyr, one of which sits on the ground off its trucks at Gateway Rail services in St. Louis. It has drifted around for over 30 years, stripped of its windows and interior furnishings, I manged to look around it when it was at the then Chicago Missouri & Western (former Chicago & Alton) yard in Bloomington IL in 1988. I really wonder if they haven't had enough of storing an articulated trainset and would take an offer., would you have room if you extended a stub track?

I believe that the car is now on the New Orleans Public Belt (NOPB) and is now known as the "Louisiana".

Les

Right, Les, for some reason I added an extra "T."